(AP photo Mary Ann Chastain)
Mark Sanford's morphing into some form of a Grover Norquist flesh-eating organism that consumes itself, and it's about to take his state with him. Earlier today it was reported that:
The Obama administration is developing legislation to fix what it now concedes was a flaw in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill.
With it appearing that Sanford will stand alone among governors in rejecting two-thirds of his state’s education funds in the stimulus plan, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is working with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., on a special appropriations measure that would direct the $700 million Sanford has rejected to South Carolina. This despite the governor's statement at a news conference in his office Thursday where he called the Friday deadline bogus and pointed to another pot of money available to save teaching jobs. Sanford was joined by handful of senators who say the chief legislative budget writer, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, is ignoring a $578 million pot of money. Leatherman has said Sanford's budget ideas are "smoke and mirrors."
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I’m asking you to pray for us, because that’s about all we have left,” Senate Minority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, said from the podium on the Senate floor after learning what Sanford had to say during the press conference.
Virtually every legal analysis — including one done by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service — has concluded that Sanford’s deadline to accept his state’s $700 million in stim money is tomorrow. But Sanford — an apparent contender for the 2012 GOP primary — held a press conference today in his office, where he announced that the deadline was, in fact, bogus.
Little Bobby Jindal has nothing on this guy. Now it looks like Sanford is going to take the money.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will comply with a midnight Friday stimulus deadline and become the last governor in the nation to seek millions of dollars in federal economic-recovery funds for his state, aides said late Thursday.
Sanford will continue contesting $700 million in education and law enforcement money for South Carolina, but his 11th-hour move to meet the deadline buys time for schools fearing mass teacher layoffs and draconian cuts.
Does he really think he has a shot at running for president in 2012? Well, the way the rest of the Neanderthal Republicans are acting, I guess he fits right in.
