The Most Pious Of Neighbors

As I expected, other GOP governors are following suit on Bobby Jindal's "noble" efforts to turn down stimulus cash in a clear game of political "me too".

Though they support some federal action to help their states recover from the recession, several Republican governors said Sunday they plan to turn down a portion of what's offered in the stimulus bill that President Obama signed last week.

"If we were to take the unemployment reform package that they have, it would cause us to raise taxes on employment when the money runs out -- and the money will run out in a couple of years," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

The Republican governors of Idaho, Alaska, Texas, South Carolina and Louisiana have expressed similar concerns.

In a couple of years of course is when the 2012 GOP primary will start to heat up. No serious GOP candidate can ever raise taxes for any reason, lest they become anathema. Screw the people who need help right now, anyway: if being unemployed is truly a problem for them, then they're likely to be Democrats anyway. Those with Presidential ambitions for the Party of No have to have the theme song down pat. Those without, however...well they can actually act on conscience.

But one of their colleagues, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, had a message for them Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

When asked about broader complaints from lawmakers such as South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford about the debt that the stimulus package will lead to, Schwarzenegger responded, "I am more than happy to take his money or [that of] any other governor in this country that doesn't want to take this money. I take it because I think California needs it."

Schwarzenegger called it "a terrific package," and said he does not foresee a need for a tax hike in the future to sustain the unemployment provisions.

A leading Democrat, meanwhile, said he does see a potential problem.

"I'm not sure that we can, over the long run, cope with the high unemployment compensation standard that this mandates for states," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, the head of the National Governor's Association, told "Fox News Sunday."

"But I don't care. My people are suffering," he added. "They need that extra money. And right now that's paramount in my mind."

So yeah, live in the South in a state with a GOP governor? Unemployed? Sorry, your Governor has Presidential aspirations. Screw you.

Remember that plan where the Dems were supposed to take full responsibility for the "Obama Depression?" That one just died on the altar of political stupidity...and now these governors have a huge weakness in any general election in 2012...or re-election for that matter.

The NY Times has more, as does Steve Benen. Remember folks, this plan only works for the GOP if they stay united, and right now they aren't...not by a long shot.