GOP Governors: Thanks, but Meh...No Thanks

Strolling across the AP wire, I ran across this little tidbit that I found exceptionally remarkable, yet ultimately futile and meaningless at the same time, and since paradoxes amuse me, I thought I'd share it.

It seems that several GOP Governors are considering saying 'no' to the literally billions in federal funding that the stimulus will provide for their respective states.

So is this looking a federal gift horse in the mouth or mere political posturing? Wait, those are both negative things. Wait...huh?

I'm still trying to figure this little bit out. So some governors are tossing this around, as if they will be the one's to turn down literally billions of dollars that would be directly inserted into their states. They talk a big game, but I'd be shocked to see any of these Republican governors balk at the federal stimulus.

Apparently one of these governors — South Carolina's Mark Sanford — rubbed their Democratic congressmen — James Clyburn , the No. 3 man in the U.S. House — the wrong way, causing him to put some clauses into the make up of the stimulus bill that will make legislators able to override any pesky gubernatorial hurdles in getting the respective state stimulus money.

So these conservatives can elbow with their conservative buddies in their conservative primaries, claiming that they were against it to the point of turning it down, knowing all the while that they'll get that money anyway.

Apparently a big concern is attachments, or set up programs that will use the stimulus money budgets in the long-term, eventually running state economies into the ground one the federal funds expire.

Maybe these people ought to be more worried about their competency being questioned with regard to budgeting. If you can't figure out some short-term uses for a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime federal gift in a way that won't hinder long-term sustenance, I'd have a bigger problem with that than with putting up a fight about the stimulus.

Like it or not, the stimulus train is moving now, whether those in the GOP are on the platform or on the tracks. While I don't think that these leaders would genuinely put their politics and political ambitions in front of the livelihoods of their constituents, like the Democratic leader of South Carolina Carol Fowler claims, I certainly think that these people aren't thinking of the immediate future as much as their ideal and long-term futures.

Political ideals can shift or adapt momentarily, without permanent transfiguration, as conservatives have to deal with a questionable inheritance from the Democratic House, Senate and Executive. There might be good reason, as a conservative, to feel uneasy about such a proposal. But the check is in the mail, and no amount of political posturing is going to unwrite it.

Plus, who wants to be known as the guy who turned down a kajillionbajillion dollars?

UPDATE: Apparently Sanford isn't one of those guys. He says he's taking the dough. “Being against it doesn’t preclude taking the money,” Sanford said, which is like saying "I hate chocolate but I love Hershey bars."