Much ink was spilled in the media, and much laughter was generated on the left, by the sight of teabagger insurgent candidate and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth hawking government grants in a television infomercial.
It will surprise absolutely no one on the left to learn that J.D. "Miss Cleo" Hayworth is hardly alone on this front:
Former Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth warned against “more and bigger government, reckless bailouts, endless deficit spending” when he announced for Senate. Rick Scott, the former health care executive running for governor of Florida, warns in an ad that “if we don’t stop the government from growing and spending, the American dream won’t be there for our kids.” And Shelby County, Tenn., Commissioner George Flinn has run a commercial warning that the federal government is “bankrupting us with bailouts” and “runaway spending and debt.”
All three Republicans have sung different tunes in the private sector, where they’ve profited or helped advertise opportunities for financial support from national government programs.
Hayworth's hypocrisy has been covered in some depth, both here and elsewhere. But Scott and Flinn add their own special dash of face-palm audacity to the mix.
Scott, the hard-right upstart who has wrenched the frontrunner's role in the GOP gubernatorial primary away from longtime Republican politico Bill McCollum, ran for Governor in part by assailing state acceptance of those damned confiscatory stimulus funds. As it happens, of course, Scott is part-owner of a telecommunications firm (XFONE) that has extolled the fact that it has cashed in on $60 million in stimulus funds and other goverment grants.
Flinn already had a wincer of a moment this past week when his own loose lips let slip that the only reason he was running for Congress in Tennessee's open-seat 8th district was because he "couldn't get elected" in his hometown 9th district. Now, to top that, Flinn gets nailed by Politico for operating a website (called "Your American Dreams") that encourages users to apply for federal stimulus funds.
So, if you would please, put Mssrs Hayworth, Scott, and Flinn on the shelf next to Bobby "Cardboard Checks" Jindal and the rest of the gang, evidence to those who really believe in the notion of "fiscal conservatism" that the modern-day GOP is great at the rhetoric...not so much on the follow-through.
Comments are closed on this story.