Give That Governor a Microphone
How depraved do you have to be, as a Republican governor, to threaten to turn down stimulus money for your state, and then tell a constituent who is hurting economically and needs that help that you will be “praying” for him and his family?
On C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning, Sanford received a call from a Charleston resident who said he lost his job because he has been taking care of mother and sister, both of whom have serious illnesses. The caller told Sanford he is “wrong” to decline the money. “A lot of people in South Carolina are hurting. And if this money can come and help us out we need it.” In response, Sanford could offer him only his prayers:
CALLER: I hope you all are not playing politics with this. People in South Carolina are hurting. You know how unemployment rates are high right now and going up higher. We are running out of money in the unemployment bank — we need money for that, the people that need help. And I’m one of them, I can’t get no help. […]
SANFORD: Well I’d say hello to Charleston because its home and I’d say hello to this fellow this morning and say that my prayers are going to be with him and his family because it sounds like he is in an awfully tough spot. [Emphasis in original.]
Gov. Sanford also compared the stimulus legislation to Stalinist grain quotas and to the Weimar Republic, and praised the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge as “Depression-era” infrastructure projects “designed to get the economy going.”
Which they were not.
Steve Benen is praying that Sanford keeps talking.
