GOP grabs for stimulus dollars
Gov. Jim Gibbons is not the only politician now trying to identify himself with the federal stimulus money he originally opposed.
Republican lawmakers in Congress are lining up at federal agencies trying to get the money they voted against for their states. “But Republicans say there’s no inconsistency in opposing wasteful spending while also backing worthwhile projects,” reported the Associated Press.
Every House Republican and all but three Senate Republicans voted against the stimulus legislation.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which recruits Democrats to run for the U.S. House, has set up a web page called the “Hypocrisy Hall of Fame” that lists GOP lawmakers who voted against the stimulus money they are now trying to grab.
But the DCCC isn’t all that careful about its postings on that page. In the case of U.S. Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada, the Democrats used a quote that sounds like he now supports the stimulus: “We can ill afford to lose any jobs in Nevada, or anywhere else for that matter.”
But Heller made that comment in February not about the stimulus package but to explain why he was opposing reform of the Mining Law of 1872.