After Opposing Stimulus, Lindsey Graham Will Take The Money

Oh, Lindsey Graham, he is one of our favorites! The South Carolina Senator has, for weeks, cast himself as one of the stimulus package's most fervent opponents. This time last week, he and John McCain were in the well of the Senate, performing a grand duetto buffo di due gatti against the stimulus, and when the media metanarrative required that someone take a ream of paper and wave it around in the air with dramatic flair, Graham was only too happy to accommodate.

Ah, but now the bill's passage draws nigh, and lest you think he was going to school us all by allowing South Carolina to become a laboratory for whatever the hell economic plan he thought would work better, guess again. Graham will take the dollars, thank you, even if he's not convinced it will be of any good! Or so he told Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: South Carolina will get money out of this bill.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Should South Carolina take the money?

GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state, but I've got a job to do up here, and that is to try to help people and not damn the next generation. We had a $415 billion package to help people who have lost their jobs, that cut taxes, that create new jobs. We've got a spending bill, not a job creation bill. And we're being all things to all people.

Shucks, Lindsey, if you don't think it'll do South Carolina any good, by all means, don't take it!

Comments

[Scoppertop]

What was that Little Red Hen story? You didn't help plant the wheat, you didn't help grow the wheat, you didn't help harvest the wheat, you didn't help grind the wheat, you didn't help knead the dough, you didn't help bake the bread, and now you want to eat the bread? Get Lost!

[bluguy8]

I'm sure when he's up for re-election he'll say they got the money because he voted for the bill--lol. He's a snake . and yes he's crazy , no insane--he's in the GOP what else could he be.

[Mdazes]

They want the money but they dont want ownership of the bill.

[doesnotsufferfools]

What we have here is sort of a political free-rider problem: Graham votes against the stimulus (thus not "paying" the political price), while still reaping the benefits for his state, which (count on it), he'll tout all over the place come re-election time.

It stinks, but I doubt much can be done to change things, and it's not fair to hurt the folks in South Carolina. Best we can do? Make sure no one forgets his (and other Repubs') hypocrisy. Maybe his constituents will decide Democrats are more to their taste, next time around.

[GardenStateDemocrat]

I think that if BOTH the Senators of a state voted against the bill, the state itself shouldn't get the funding. Let it stay with the government . That way, these upstanding Senators don't have to worry about adding to the trillions of debt they already helped Bush accrue, preserving their consciences. Furthermore, it will prove to their constituents how selfish and idiotic they are, thus voting even more Repubs out of office in 2010.

[lotuslike]

And if one DID vote for it, the state gets 50%.

[LABC]

Well, South Cakalakee thanks ye, Ms. Graham...

He reminds me of Beverly Lesley on "Will and Grace"

[bluguy8]

LOL--he's the real deal there-lol

[BUTCHER111]

GOP Hypocrisy! What a shock.

[LoloZ]

This guy is such a ba$tard. He voted for the bank bailout, but hates the stimulus package. He and Cantor and all the other republicans are hypocrites.

[oneblackvote]

The MSM should ask everyone Republican that voted against the Stimulus Bill if they are going to take the money. They will all be in the soup line. the same soup they tried to poison.

[lotuslike]

Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of watching MSNBC's Contessa Brewer (I think it was her) ask one of the other hysterical repub, anti-stimulus blowhard senators if, since the senator kept saying that his state would be getting too much money, he was in favor of taking only what his state 'needed' and passing on the extra to another state who could use it. He stuttered and stammered and said eventually said no---that his state would take the money anyway.

They are a bunch of feckless hypocrites.

[1liberalconspirator]

They really are a bunch of hypocrites.

[clearthinker2008]

Can a pug speak for more than 5 sentences without saying "tax cuts"?

[BlueBoomer]

Lindsay Graham makes my skin crawl...Ee­www....

[OldHeathen]

HIPOCRITE

[buckbuck11]

I can't believe that Blitzer had the stones to actually ask the question! Amazing.

[Geria]

Of course Lindsey Graham will take the money even though he opposed the bill. Republicans aren't THAT principled. Besides money is the only thing they love, not their country, not their families or the families of those who vote for them.

[bazokbros]

If Graham will accept this money, then what do Republicans stand for besides being the foil to Democrats?

[Wilsonv]

i wonder if McCain will take it.