Gov. Rick Scott turned down $2.4 billion from the Department of Transportation to help Florida build a rail-line between Orlando and Tampa. As a result, former Republican congressman and current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, has distributed the money to fifteen states, most of which make up part of President Obama’s Electoral College majority.
LaHood said that he was awarding $2.02 billion to 22 projects in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest. California also received funds.
The biggest winners were in the Northeast rail corridor, which will get $795 million. Projects in the Midwest, including a Chicago-to-St. Louis Railway, will get a total of $404.1 million with $186 million going to the Chicago-St. Louis line. California will get $300 million to add 20 miles to its proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco line.
In the words of Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Rick Scott is “effing retarded.” More importantly, this kind of hardball move by the administration doesn’t just divert money to his political base of support; it sends a clear message to moran Republican governors. And how do you think the Floridian congressional delegation feels about their governor’s decision to piss away over two billion dollars and the jobs that would have come with it?
“And how do you think the Floridian congressional delegation feels about their governor’s decision to piss away over two billion dollars and the jobs that would have come with it?”
That depends on if they’re republicans or not. If they’re Republicans, they probably have no idea, since they think that cutting unemployment benefits helps people find jobs.
Not true.
I’m not going to bother to get links, but Floridian Republicans on both the state and federal level are pissed as hell.
you speak the truth, local GOP ers SUED to fight Scott on this.
I’ve said it before, the DNC needs to make a political ad for 2012: simple ad – video showing folks working on HIGH SPEED RAIL IN OTHER STATES
the voiceover?
THIS COULD BE YOU, BUT YOUR GOVERNOR TURNED DOWN THE MONEY.
period.
end of ad.
run it in an endless loop.
the internets aren’t so good with the nuance required for snark, but that’s what my comment was.
I’m sure they’re pissed off. Sucks to be them, but frankly i could care less. Did they work to elect Rick Scott? If so, it’s just desserts. “Lie down with dogs”, etc. They’ve spent how many years cultivating The Stupid as their base? And now they’re upset that Teh Stupid did the only thing its capable of doing?
I’ve always said the republicans have no foresight. Frankly, I don’t think they have any right to be upset: they got the governor they wanted.
PS: I just got off the phone with the governor’s office of tourism, trade, and economic development. I told them how grateful PA is for Rick Scott and his decision to reject federal high speed rail funding. “As a result of the governor’s decision, $800 million to improve service between DC and NY. Philly’s right in the middle, so that means jobs and improvements for us!” I said. “Please tell Governor Scott thanks a bunch, and that in the future he should continue to reject federal transportation funds, since Philadelphia seems to have benefited.”
The guy was laughing and clearly trying to come up with a snappy “michael moore is fat” comeback, but he was unable to do so.
The guy was laughing and clearly trying to come up with a snappy “Michael Moore is fat” comeback, but he was unable to do so.
Are you on Twitter? If so, you missed Fonzie of Freedom(aka Nick Gillespie of Reason) do exactly that to Moore himself last night. Moore was Tweeting stuff about his mother and well .. this just explains it all:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/05/08/hahahaha-michael-moore-is-fat/
I saw that. I’m not on twitter though. Everyone tells me I need to be, but it took me forever to do facebook. It’d be another timewaster.
When ever President Obama goes to these states, he needs to remind people how ass backwards Scott, Snyder, Kasich and Walker are. He also needs to remind people when Jindal and the rest show up for photo ops at stuff that was paid for by stimulus funds that all the clown shows poo-pooed it or voted against it.
Politically, this is a twofer for the Dems and Obama. They get to shore up their turf with more money and jobs while the FL GOP is left to explain why it threw away billions and the jobs that would have gone with it.
Dare one hope that the Dems in both constituencies will use their advantage mercilessly? Just this once? Please?
The problem is that expanding rail into the Midwest might help grow the Democratic brand rather than just shoring up the base.
That’s, of course, why the Republicans in Ohio opposed it whole hog – if Democrats do good things you have to stop it because otherwise people will expect government to do good things.
Another is that without all the states on board, the rail will be less effective than it would otherwise so people might be able to point to it and say “it loses money” or “it has bad ridership” etc. simply because some states didn’t participate so it didn’t reach full potential.
That said, I have little problem with Democratic supporters being rewarded because of Republican stupidity. The Republicans did it to the Dems all the time, trying to funnel money and patronage to their guys first and their opponents get only the minimum required by law.
WI turned down $800B for a Milwaukee to Madison line, which eventually was going to extend to Minneapolis. Afterwards, the moran teabagger traitor Walker realized that money to improve Chicago-Milwaukee was included. He applied for that late, and was simply excluded from the deal. I monitor the Journal-Sentinal of Milwaukee, a right-wing rag. There are about 1 B comments about this, and they are running 2:1 calling Walker a moran.
Here is one Republican in Florida basically calling Scott a liar.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/florida-republican-blasts-gov-scott-
misinformation