David Gregory had on the program Meet the Press this morning Bobby Jindal, Republican governor of Louisiana. Gregory challenged Jindal on salient points, but left out some key context: Louisiana historically and currently ranks 50th in surveys of the states' social spending. The poor in Louisiana are desperately, chronically poor.
I could go on a rant here about Katrina and the neglect and criminality seen in local and federal governments before, during, and after the storm. Jindal was not in office at the time, of course, but the housing crisis in New Orleans, and the astonishing, frightening levels of crime (crime always increases where there is want), continue!
Jindal says he is refusing the extra, emergency unemployment dollars in Obama's stimulus package because he does not want even to suggest that he is making extended unemployment benefits permanent. The ease of inserting language about the benefits being temporary is obvious, so I think Jindal is, as was suggested on the program, already posing for 2012 campaign posters.
If the poor, unemployed, and disabled got together and filed a class action suit, maybe we could see him instead in a mug shot. Not as extreme as it sounds.
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