(AP) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been the leading voice among Republican governors who have criticized President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan as a pork-laden boondoggle that will plunge the country further into debt. It's won him praise from many conservatives and boosted his national profile, fueling speculation he will run for president in 2012. But the governor's announcement this week that he may reject nearly a quarter of the money headed to South Carolina has stirred criticism in the state and elsewhere that he has placed his own political future ahead of the needs of the state's most vulnerable citizens. "I have come to conclude that it would be a mistake to simply accept the money as offered," Sanford wrote to state legislators in announcing his decision. "When one is in a hole, the first order of business is to stop digging." |
Good advice, Mark. You ought to take it. Your hole's as big as it needs to be right now. The article tells us:
Of course, Sanford's already running for president in 2012 and is burnishing his flat-Earth economic bona fides. Too bad he feels the need to do make that run the backs of his citizens.
[H]is announcement came the same week that South Carolina's unemployment rate shot to 10.4 percent, the second highest in the nation. With those dire figures as a backdrop, national Democrats -- keenly aware of Sanford's rising national stature -- piled on.When your unemployment's the second worst in the nation, you don't turn down funds to expand unemployment benefits. That's what most experts refer to as "stupid as all hell."
Of course, Sanford's already running for president in 2012 and is burnishing his flat-Earth economic bona fides. Too bad he feels the need to do make that run the backs of his citizens.
