Phil Bredesen Joins Forces With Dixie Wingnuts to Stick it to the Unemployed
For the purposes of maintaining one’s non-profit tax status, it’s always nice when you can have members of both parties on both sides of a political debate. So while the stimulus legislation was mostly a Democratic bill, it did have the support of several Republican Senators as well as the Governator and Charlie Crist. But until today, only Republicans governors had been willing to really go way out on a limb and say they were going to refuse to take extra Unemployment Insurance funding on the grounds that this might lead their states to enact more generous UI on a permanent basis. But as is often the case when you need an example of a Democrat getting on board for some reactionary public policy, it seems that Tennessee’s own Phil Bredesen is ready to ride to the rescue.
So from the bottom of this blogger’s heart, thank you governor Bredesen. Your state’s unemployed won’t feel the same way. Nor, for that matter, will other citizens around the country all of whom are suffering from the economic contraction and all of whom are hurt by your pro-cyclical policy agenda.
28 Responses to “Phil Bredesen Joins Forces With Dixie Wingnuts to Stick it to the Unemployed”
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February 24th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
So let’s terminate this motherfucker with extreme prejudice in the next primary.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
If hundreds of AIPAC members in California and New York could send checks to Cynthia McKinney’s opponent in that Georgia Primary, why can’t we off one dumb fucker in Tennessee?
That’s the problem with you young people. You lack initiative.
And get off my fucking lawn.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
How is it that the Tennessee Democratic party consists of Phil Bredesen and Harold Ford? I mean, is there really such an enormous consistuency for right-wing uberclass economic policies that it TWO major parties can find electoral success representing its interests?
February 24th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
In your earlier post about FDR and Reagan policies, Boaz seemed to say at one point that one reason FDR failed to end the GD but WWII succeeded was that we drafted a sizable chunk of the working population and sent them on extended overseas adventures with pay. When you reconstruct WWII to today (without an actual war), one aspect would be to pay people to move to another country and not work. Paying people extended unemployment benefits does this even better by letting those people paid not to work to spend that money here instead of north Africa. Intellectual consistency is too much to ask, I guess.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I am curious to hear a substantive rebuttal to these politicians, since they all seem to be rejecting the same part of the package (expanded unemployment benefits). It does seem like Jindal and Sanford may be doing it for political purposes, but I would like to hear why accepting this federal money would NOT require them to expand unemployment down the road after the federal money dries up.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
The fact that pragmatic governors like Bredesen and Perdue are talking about rejecting some of the stimulus money leads me to doubt the validity of your critique.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Jamie: That’s a good question, but the answer is easy. They’re not required to continue the program with state funding after the federal funding expires. They can just let it end. Apart from the explicitly partisan posturing, what they’re worried about is domestic (in-state) political pressure to put in state funding when the federal funding runs out. So, rather than trust in their ability to make a rational argument in favor of their position at that time, they want to pre-empt the issue by declining the federal funding. It does seem perverse to punish your state’s unemployed right now because you lack confidence in your political skills down the road.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
That’s the problem with you young people. You lack initiative.
And get off my fucking lawn.
Damn kids with their car-phones and their e-pods.
Doug,
Ah, but they’re NOT rejecting “the stimulus money.” They’re rejecting something on the order of 1% of the stimulus money. And by some bizarre coincidence, it just so happens that the money they single out would to to people on the bottom of the economic ladder.
Which means there is no principle behind this, and they’re picking on “weak claimants, not weak claims.”
February 24th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
AJC
February 24th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Doug,
Do you really think that Sonny “the rat” Perdue is a pragmatic governor? His head sits just 2 faces down from Jindal, buried in the rump the elephants ass. Name one right wing talking point that the dumb red neck does not follow hook, line and sinker.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I wanted to ask the same question as Jamie above (#5.) Is there any substance to the claim that accepting the funding requires them to make permanent changes to their unemployment program?
(I see you Rich in PA, but I want confirmation, or a link or something)
February 24th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
With the possible exception of Crist, it would be hard to find a southern governor who is not a woolhat wingnut professional backslapper. Ability seldom figures in southern state politics… who you know and who knows you are much bigger factors than native ability.
I’m from Alabama and we’ve always known that Tennessee sucks, but we can’t really say too much as long as Boob Riley is our Governor. Of course, Tennessee folks know that we suck, too, but at least we didn’t hire Lame Kitten as our football coach. Go Viles!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Bredesen will be term-limited. I think he is trying to get ahead of his newly Republican (for which many blame him) legislature.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Think positive. Doesn’t this mean Bredesen has become certain he won’t be picked as HHS secretary?
February 24th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
There’s a lot that we don’t know, and the states will be looking very carefully at the consequences of taking the money. I think that’s reasonable.
Jindal and company are worried that the federal law will require them to permanently change state law to expand unemployment insurance. I would personally argue for such expansion. However, these are conservative states. Passing a law to expand unemployment insurance without an automatic 3-year phaseout (which Jindal and company seem to fear is prohibited) would be real change in the law, even if everybody promises that the law will be reversed in 3 years. It’s easier said than done, and businesses have to make decisions based on what is on the books. Also, if there is a limit on the amount of federal aid and unemployment doubles, the federal money may not necessarily cover the increased costs for a full 3 years.
You can disagree with the Southern governors on whether expanding unemployment insurance is bad for their states, but the fact is that their constituents would agree that it is. It is unfair to accuse them of putting principle or ideology over the interests of their states. They in good faith believe that changing state unemployment insurance laws will be bad for their states.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
msw,
Classy comments. You are clearly taking an objective approach.
I am a Democrat who voted for Barnes against Perdue, but I did vote for Perdue for re-election. I disagree with him often and he’s a shameless panderer, but you could do a lot worse in Georgia.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
On a political note, Bredesen has managed to go from potential cabinet nominee to outcast in two easy steps. Who’s advising this guy?
February 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Doug,
Name one right wing talking point that Perdue does not ascribe to. Here he is echoing Jindal claiming that extending unemployment is a burden to the state. It’s simply BS, the extension will simply expire as they always do.
Republicans (yes and that’s you Doug) make shit up, they are liars.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
it would be hard to find a southern governor who is not a woolhat wingnut professional backslapper. Ability seldom figures in southern state politics
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You bet: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton
February 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
only Republicans governors
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I think MY’s careless error rate is up
February 24th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
The only time I have ever voted for a GOP candidate was in oposition to Bredesen. He is corupt and stupid. This latest asshattery is nothing compared to what he did to TN’s drug procurment. He hired his own company to manage that at a fixed price per request for prior aproval and then limmited the list of approved drugs so that there would be more requests for prior approval.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
It is unfair to accuse them of putting principle or ideology over the interests of their states. They in good faith believe that changing state unemployment insurance laws will be bad for their states.
Doug, in a word, bullshit. Non-ideological good faith? From professional wingnut liars like Jindal and Sanford? My understanding, acquired from sources with some credibility, is that nothing would legally require states to maintain expanded unempoyment benefits when the federal money is discontinued. (Admittedly, you can theorize that there would be political pressure to do so, but the political clout of the unemployed versus the heartless right wing moneyed interets is rather lacking everywhere, let alone in these southern paradises.) These pricks are obviously positioning themselves for the race to the bottom of the Rethug base for 2012 and beyond. I don’t see how that can be denied, even by wingnuts, except by concern trolls.
As for Bredesen, why do heartless bastards like this even identify as Democrats? He’d do less damage to the party as the Republian he clearly is.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Campesino,
You only had to go back 16 years to find one too:-)
How about one elected this century
February 24th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Doug, it is far more likely that Jindal and Perdue are being dishonest for the purpose of manipulating you.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Not to defend Doug, but Perdue has taken a more liberal position in one area. He campaigned against Barnes’ education reforms and then overturned the most Republican parts of Barnes’ reforms – merit pay and earning tenure. Of course he was pandering to the teachers who helped get him elected. Perdue will be remembered a few years from now about like Joe Frank Harris – wasn’t he a governor sometime in the past?
February 24th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I remain skeptical that there is no way that the states could not take advantage of the federal money, but I am not prepared to dismiss the purported concerns of the governors and call them liars. Additional study seems reasonable.
The stimulus certainly requires that states at least temporarily change the calculation of unemployment benefits, the consequences of such a change being worthy of further analysis. Also, having read Sections 2002 and 2003 of the final bill myself, it seems plausible that an automatic sunset would be prohibited by the law.
You can call me a Republican or a troll all you want if that makes you feel better about your apparent total inability to see the other side. I donated a sizable portion of my income to Obama. I have voted exactly twice for Republicans for federal or statewide office in the last decade – Isakson and Perdue. I don’t apologize for either vote. Living in a Republican state, I think it’s important to support those Republicans who are more sensible than the wingnuts. And I have never been accused by anyone that knows me of failing to see through Republican BS.
Of course these governors are on the right side of the political spectrum. They’re Southern governors! Because they are on the right, they oppose expansion of unemployment insurance. It’s nothing nefarious. On the contrary, support for such expansion would be more surprising. Maybe some of you need to get outside of your liberal bubble every now and then.
Again, you may feel that state unemployment insurance should be expanded. I happen to agree with you on that! That’s a different issue from whether the governors are lying and putting their own self-interest above their states.
I have never known Perdue to be a man of principle. Perdue is, above all, a panderer. If he determines that 50% or more of Georgians support changing the laws on unemployment insurance, he’ll do it in a heartbeat.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:51 am
How about one elected this century
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Just wanted to make sure they weren’t left off the list