Reply #4: Political patterns: Gov. Rick Perry yet again rejects federal funding

[sonias]

Houston Chronicle Editorial 5/4/10
Political patterns: Gov. Rick Perry yet again rejects federal funding that could help millions of Texans

It's one thing for a state governor to have legitimate concerns about accepting federal programs. It's quite another when he or she repeatedly rejects or stonewalls such programs to curry political favor.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the pattern with Texas Gov. Rick Perry: The federal government is forever the enemy and state sovereignty must be preserved at all costs.

But in today's economy, when so many Texans are struggling to survive, it just doesn't make sense that we are refusing taxpayer dollars that would bring some relief to those very same taxpayers when they most need it.

(snip)
Same song, different verse: Last summer, with unemployment at record highs, Perry rejected $556 million in unemployment stimulus funds rather than make minor changes to the state's restrictive eligibility criteria. At that time, only 27 percent of unemployed Texans, the second-lowest ranking in the country, were receiving benefits — due in part to those restrictions.

(snip)
But surely he could draw the line at using children, the unemployed, the uninsured and the hungry as fodder for his political appetites.

Hell no he couldn't. Perry would tell the "the unemployed, the uninsured and the hungry" to get a job! Just like the mantra his party always says. :grr: