Friday, December 05, 2008

Texas Governor Looks to Washington for Solutions after Telling Others Not to

It took all of 72 hours for Republican Governor Rick Perry to come down from his anti-state-bailout high horse and request $300 million in federal aid to assist Texans who were displaced by the floodwaters of Hurricane Ike. Let's not forget that an original meaning of bailing out is to throw water out of a storm-swamped boat. Hence, Gov. Perry is asking for something closer to a bail out than are those to whom he was preaching in his WSJ editorial

Understand:  I don't have a problem with GOP leaders asking for FEMA aid (although it is hypocritical, since Republicans tend to trash government aid when they aren't acting entitled to it). I just have a problem with the State of Texas lecturing others about pulling themselves up by their boot straps while requesting money from the federal government themselves. It's the definition of shifting the goal posts, changing the rules, or redefining what constitutes an emergency. It would have been better had Rick Perry not editorialized, postured, and otherwise niche dived for the openings in neo-Hooverism so en vogue among conservative Republicans now.

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