Why not stand on your principles? If you cared SOOOOO much, you'd risk losing your job to stand up for what you believe in. I mean, your job isn't MORE important than doing what's right for America... right?

Oh, right, you're big dickbag hypocrites, and you don't have any principles, except casting the first and last stones in a glass house.

Mmmm...I love the smell of opportunism gone sour in the morning...

I don't know if Obama anticipated this going into the stimulus debate, but it's interesting to see how these guys have twisted themselves into knots. Conventional wisdom says that they must oppose the stimulus in order to win the nomination but must support it in order to win the Presidency. How they navigate this path without looking like hypocrites I don't know, but so far none of the current crop of dingbats have the political skill to do it.

The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

Mentat: I don't know if Obama anticipated this going into the stimulus debate, but it's interesting to see how these guys have twisted themselves into knots. Conventional wisdom says that they must oppose the stimulus in order to win the nomination but must support it in order to win the Presidency. How they navigate this path without looking like hypocrites I don't know, but so far none of the current crop of dingbats have the political skill to do it.

I said it before, and I'll say it again--it is an interesting bet that the Governors were making. And it's a tact that I didn't see many pundits grab a hold of: by rejecting the stimulus money, these Governors are betting that the stimulus package is going to work. By rejecting these funds, they are admitting that they are assured that the President's plan is going to work well enough, that they can risk the displeasure of their own State Congresscritters.

That can be the only explanation, because cash strapped as the states are, they can only really dig themselves out of it, if the economy takes a turn north. Does that, then they are clear, and they can say that they stood up to the President's wasteful spending, and NOT be voted out of office.

Then again, this backpedaling shows that maybe they've either tipped their hand, or misunderestimated the voter's response to their bet.

I have nothing to add; puffy999 has already summed up the situation nicely.

WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

No, but the unforgiving internet will, and it'll gleefully regurgitate all this mayhem in three years when Average Joe says, "Jindall... Jindall... he's the governor of Louisiana, isn't he? What's he done?"

Yeah, but get 'em on the Beck or Hannity and they'll be absolutely concern trolled to DEATH about socialism and teacher's unions and oh look over there some dirty liberal fag is getting married.

Besides Ron Paul -- who is nice but, alas, definitely not my cuppa -- is there a single elected Republican who actually practices what they preach?

Why IS Ron Paul a Republican, anyway?

puffy999: Why not stand on your principles? If you cared SOOOOO much, you'd risk losing your job to stand up for what you believe in. I mean, your job isn't MORE important than doing what's right for America... right?

Oh, right, you're big dickbag hypocrites, and you don't have any principles, except casting the first and last stones in a glass house.

To be fair they are all politicians and the dems would have put up the same act as well.

Mentat: I don't know if Obama anticipated this going into the stimulus debate, but it's interesting to see how these guys have twisted themselves into knots. Conventional wisdom says that they must oppose the stimulus in order to win the nomination but must support it in order to win the Presidency. How they navigate this path without looking like hypocrites I don't know, but so far none of the current crop of dingbats have the political skill to do it.

The only practical route is that taken by Ron Paul, who opposes virtually every federal program but, once it is put in place, takes as much as he can for his constituents.

There is a certain logic to that approach. If you're beaten, just eat your crow and do the best you can for the people you represent. Don't let your constituents suffer for your own personal "dignity" (that's not your job), take the blow and work with whatever system was voted into place. That's your job.

they'd like to win their home state when they run for President

LOLZ?!

Which one has the best odds? The bible thumping broad with a communications degree? The brown looking guy who preformed voodoo and exorcisms? Or the other bible thumper who might get a few African American votes? Just keep clutching to that "base" there, GOP.

kpottruff: puffy999: Why not stand on your principles? If you cared SOOOOO much, you'd risk losing your job to stand up for what you believe in. I mean, your job isn't MORE important than doing what's right for America... right?

Oh, right, you're big dickbag hypocrites, and you don't have any principles, except casting the first and last stones in a glass house.

To be fair they are all politicians and the dems would have put up the same act as well.

LOL! They're all exactly the same!!!11one

illegal.tender: Yeah, but get 'em on the Beck or Hannity and they'll be absolutely concern trolled to DEATH about socialism and teacher's unions and oh look over there some dirty liberal fag is getting married pantomimed burned to death.

FTFY

puffy999: you're big dickbag hypocrites

This, That, and I agree.

illegal.tender: Why IS Ron Paul a Republican, anyway?

He's VERY Republican. Like all quasi-libertarian republicans, he is big on preserving "all freedoms except the freedoms I don't like you to have."

Check out his stance and voting record on women's reproductive rights, for example.

It's just a different set of freedoms. The freedoms he wants to preserve are free-market and corporate freedoms, much more in line with the republican core value set; the Dems have their own too, which involve freedoms for individuals and a very humanist value set.

IF either party could get past the "Freedoms I like and curtail the ones I don't like" they'd be unstoppable.

illegal.tender: Why IS Ron Paul a Republican, anyway?

Because it's hard to get elected as a Confederate?

At least they are standing strong with what they believe in.
Loudly oppose it and quietly accept it.
Hypocrites.

WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

For the electoral vote in 2012!

They were for it before they were against it.

They were against it before they were for it.

WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but the information age has changed politics.

whereisian: WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but the information age has changed politics.


Exactly. More like 3 weeks.

What i don't understand is how come they dont just take the money and send out checks to everyone in their state. I mean the money is going to get spent with or without you. Its not going to stop inflation.

I'm pretty sure Ron Paul would do it that way.

So say another state might spend it building a much needed water fountain and park in front of the governors mansion or some other stupid pet project while you on the other hand give it directly back to tax payers.

whereisian: A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but the information age has changed politics.

And yet, Bush was still re-elected in 2004. Go figure.

whereisian: WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but the information age has changed politics.

But the attention span of Americans has come down to the crap they see on TV. 'Normal' people see news on 'normal' news channels that don't harp on lies and idiotic half-truths. Retards that soak everything in get the news from Fox.

Oh shiat. What did I just do? I am going to be jumped on by a bunch of mouth breathers. Fark.

I can't believe the Republicans is gonna shoot dem selfs in da foot again with a non-electable candidate.

whereisian: WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but the information age has changed politics.

It doesn't matter if people remember or not. If it comes up, they'll just lie and say they really did reject the money. In fact they'll probably bring it up. When has the truth ever even slowed them down in the past? If they say it, Fox News and Rush will repeat it constantly and a lot people will believe it.

mesohorny: What i don't understand is how come they dont just take the money and send out checks to everyone in their state. I mean the money is going to get spent with or without you. Its not going to stop inflation.

I'm pretty sure Ron Paul would do it that way.

So say another state might spend it building a much needed water fountain and park in front of the governors mansion or some other stupid pet project while you on the other hand give it directly back to tax payers.

Are you suggesting they take money from hardworking tax payers and redistribute it to everyone?



/hot like a very hot thing.

unlikely [TotalFark] 2009-04-11 01:35:25 AM
"IF either party could get past the "Freedoms I like and curtail the ones I don't like" they'd be unstoppable."

I was going to blame the lack of such a party on single issue voters (essentially both parties have locked-in stances to attract single issue voters most closely aligned with their party ideology)... but then again, how many single issue voters are there? Are they really that big of an influence?

puffy999: Oh, right, you're big dickbag hypocrites, and you don't have any principles, except casting the first and last stones in a glass house.

Choose which one you want: a world of principle where doing the right thing rules supreme, or a world of the free market where doing whatever most people think is rewarding rules supreme. You can't have it both ways. Choose wisdom or following the lead of appearances.

/I know, I know, Americans try to have both by electing a theocracy, but that ain't doing shiat for nobody in this century

BergZ: to blame the lack of such a party on single issue voters (essentially both parties have locked-in stances to attract single issue voters most closely aligned with their party ideology)... but then again, how many single issue voters are there? Are they really that big of an influence?

There are lots of anit-abortion voters. They got Bush elected.

Since when do whores turned down money?

gave up: Since when do whores turned down money?

When they're just run of the mill sluts?

/seriously, some gals just don't want to jeopardize their amateur status...

Or, they act like small children, "WAAAAAAA, New York got money, why can't we?"

Gripes! TURN.....getting late

PirateKing:

Are you suggesting they take money from hardworking tax payers and redistribute it to everyone?

[www.ufodigest.com image 250x242]

/hot like a very hot thing.

Maybe..... haha. Yeah they are damn if they do and damn if they dont.

but every state is getting stimulus money. Its already allocated and approved. depending on what that state pays in. if they dont take the money it will be spent somewhere else so they lose the money anyway. Its not going to stop the debt or inflation their supposedly fighting against.

actually if they dont take the money they will lose twice as much if you factor in what inflation might be in a year from now.

I've gotten to the point where I think the conservatives like Reihan Salam and Andrew Sullivan should make their way into the electoral circuit (well aware Sullivan is British). They're the only intelligent guys. Hell, I wouldn't be mad to see even Buchanan run again. They have ideas and can put up legit opposition points.

/Jindal needs to start wowing people if he'll ever become the star he's supposed to be.
//Palin needs to DIAF

Tripp Johnston Private Eye: I've gotten to the point where I think the conservatives like Reihan Salam and Andrew Sullivan should make their way into the electoral circuit (well aware Sullivan is British). They're the only intelligent guys. Hell, I wouldn't be mad to see even Buchanan run again. They have ideas and can put up legit opposition points.

/Jindal needs to start wowing people if he'll ever become the star he's supposed to be.
//Palin needs to DIAF

Never gonna happen until moderates start showing up to Republican caucuses.

Lenny_da_Hog: Never gonna happen until moderates start showing up to Republican caucuses.

Which will happen when the GOP abandons their hard-right and getting righter stance and moves back toward moderate conservatism. In other words, some time in two thousand and never.

Lenny_da_Hog: Tripp Johnston Private Eye: I've gotten to the point where I think the conservatives like Reihan Salam and Andrew Sullivan should make their way into the electoral circuit (well aware Sullivan is British). They're the only intelligent guys. Hell, I wouldn't be mad to see even Buchanan run again. They have ideas and can put up legit opposition points.

/Jindal needs to start wowing people if he'll ever become the star he's supposed to be.
//Palin needs to DIAF

Never gonna happen until moderates start showing up to Republican caucuses.


It's weird. All of the intelligent conservatives I know who can debate me have absolutely no interest in politics up until we decide to talk about it.

I'm probably the most lefty person I know, and I love getting the opposite view point told with elegance and legit plans.

As for the idiotic mainstream Republicans, I only have this to say: Your resistance only makes my penis harder.

PirateKing: Are you suggesting they take money from hardworking tax payers and redistribute it to everyone?

Call me a socialist, but I prefer that over taking money from hardworking tax payers and redistributing it to the already wealthy and those that know the president and his cronies.

No

Farking

Shiat

/this is my complete lack of surprise
//everybody, meet complete lack of surprise
///complete lack of surprise, meet everybody

There are people who think nobody's gonna remember these shenanigans in 3 years? B-b-b-b-but Clinton!!!1!

/Also, b-b-b-b-but Rutherford B. Hayes!!!1!
//and b-b-b-b-but Aaron Burr!!!1!

Occam's Chainsaw: WorldCitizen: The American attention span won't remember any of this in 3 years anyway.

No, but the unforgiving internet will, and it'll gleefully regurgitate all this mayhem in three years when Average Joe says, "Jindall... Jindall... he's the governor of Louisiana, isn't he? What's he done?"

We won't forget. And by 'we', I mean 'those of us in Louisiana'. We readily throw politicians' blunders in their faces with each and every passing Mardi Gras. I really wish this hadn't happened right after, because the floats for this debacle would have been epic.

Ask Nagin about Krewe of Chaos; there were at least ten floats dedicated either to things he did, or things city council did in relation to him.

Also, there are publications like New Orleans Levee (pops) (we don't hold anything back) and Red Shtick Magazine (pops) that lampoon the area's current events on a monthly basis. They're akin to local versions of The Onion.

Don't worry; he won't live this down. He might in the national mind, but when that time comes we in Louisiana will try to remind you all of now.

It's so funny...people were so optimistic about electing him after Blanco. They felt so jilted when Katrina happened, they felt they missed a great chance electing a great man, so they (yeah, even the ridiculously racist north part of the state) put Jindal in office. Personally, I voted for John Georges, as did most of the rest of Orleans Parish:



October 20, 2007 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election results by parish.

Red - Parishes in which candidate Bobby Jindal obtained a plurality of majority of the votes cast.
Orange - Parishes in which candidate Walter Boasso obtained a plurality of majority of the votes cast.
Light Green - Parishes in which candidate John Georges obtained a plurality of majority of the votes cast.
Blue - Parishes in which candidate Foster Campbell obtained a plurality of majority of the votes cast.



The religion stuff, combined with the fact that he ran as Republican*, sent up warning flags to me personally.

* I will admit that, in my attempt to remain distant from party affiliation, I will more likely side with Democrats than Republicans. However, there's a specific brand of Republican--those in their base, the religious wingnuts--that cause my apprehension towards their party.

/link is hot like Redoubt

I should also note that map and statistics were courtesy of wikipedia.

Well I think accepting the stimulus money COULD be a negative in the Presidential race down the road

but at least two of them have to stand for re-election before then

Democrats have relished the intra-party GOP warfare.

meh. I don't see any god damn warfare. I see the same shiat with the stupid floating to the top.

Flip-flopping Governors. I can't believe a Republican would ever flip flop

Tripp Johnston Private Eye: I've gotten to the point where I think the conservatives like Reihan Salam and Andrew Sullivan should make their way into the electoral circuit (well aware Sullivan is British). They're the only intelligent guys. Hell, I wouldn't be mad to see even Buchanan run again. They have ideas and can put up legit opposition points.

/Jindal needs to start wowing people if he'll ever become the star he's supposed to be.
//Palin needs to DIAF

Jindal is a superstar here in Louisiana because he's a super-social-conservative and a super-Catholic, and that's what plays here. But if he tries to go national, and campaign for president in places like Michigan and Maine and Oregon and California, *most* potential voters in the rest of the country are going to take one look at him and know him for the nutjob he really is.

I believe the election of Obama is the beginning of a period of rationality in which Americans -- most Americans -- will no longer be afraid to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

fireside68: It's so funny...people were so optimistic about electing him after Blanco. They felt so jilted when Katrina happened, they felt they missed a great chance electing a great man, so they (yeah, even the ridiculously racist north part of the state) put Jindal in office. Personally, I voted for John Georges, as did most of the rest of Orleans Parish:

And did you vote for Blanco in 2003? How did that work out?

Jindal is doing a fine job in Louisiana and he never claimed he'd reject all of the funds from Washington. Only those that were just frivolous and would hurt Louisiana.