From “Drill Baby, Drill” to Cries For Help From Big Government - FDL

[WillyT]

From “Drill Baby, Drill” to Cries For Help From Big Government
By: Ruth Calvo Tuesday May 25, 2010 11:00 am

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It was almost diverting to hear calls for the government to step in and clean up their disastrous spill from last month’s adherents of Drill Baby, Drill come-ons to the Big Oil lobby. From those governors and congressmen who were insisting that the stimulus was anathema while touting what they’d done for constituents when it passed over their votes, the call for help from that Big Government was sounding loud and clear as oil spilled from those drilling sites they loved such a short time back.

Jindal led the crowd yesterday with his injunction for the Federal Government to take over pulling his state out of the mess they strove to create with lax regulation advocates. He had lots of company from the very folks, who were dead set on getting government out of their free market economies.

It may have taken an ecological disaster, but the gulf state conservatives’ newfound respect for the powers and purse of the federal government is a timely reminder for them. As conservatives in Washington complain about excessive federal spending, the ones who would suffer the most from spending cuts are their own constituents.

An analysis of data from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation by Washington Post database specialist Dan Keating found that people in states that voted Republican were by far the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending. In states that voted strongly Republican, people received an average of $1.50 back from the federal government for every dollar they paid in federal taxes. In moderately Republican states, the amount was $1.19. In moderately Democratic states, people received on average of 99 cents in federal funds for each dollar they paid in taxes. In strongly Democratic states, people got back just 86 cents on the tax dollar.

If Sessions and Shelby succeed in shrinking government, their constituents in Alabama will be some of the biggest losers: They get $1.66 in federal benefits for every $1 they pay in taxes. If Louisiana’s Vitter succeeds in shrinking government, his constituents will lose some of the $1.78 in federal benefits they receive for every dollar in taxes they pay. In Mississippi, it’s $2.02.

That may explain why, as the oil slick hits the Gulf Coast, lawmakers from the region are willing to swallow their limited-government principles as they dangle federal aid before their constituents. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he would "make sure the federal government is poised to assist in every way necessary." His colleague Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said he is making sure "the federal government is doing all it can" – even as he added his hope that "industry" would pay.

More rich material for comedy also came from the queen of the Drill Baby, Drill crowd, as half-term governor Palin accused the president of oil ties.

That slick has lots of gunk for the foes of (y)ore of Big Government to muck around in. The criticism of the Democratic administration they’re spewing seems for the most part to assume that their Base won’t notice that their tunes have changed. From a crowd that calls for the government to keep its hands off their medicare, that’s a safe enough assumption.

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Link: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50664

:kick:

[cap]

1. if the situation wasn't so dire,

I'd be snarkin'

but I think it is over people's heads to realize what they are really asking for...

I think sometimes the anti-Big Government cry is really a "Make Sure, I Get Mine and the Heck With Everyone Else"

I think, unfortunately, we will be seeing a lot of cognitive dissonance as the people in these states cry out for help from the Feds and lack compassion for other people in other predicaments. Especially if those folks are of a different color.

[nashville_brook]

2. i've witnessed some 'drill baby drill' elites (at work) change their tune...not so much

fun to run your giant fishing boat from your waterfront property into an ocean-wide oil slick.

[Xipe Totec]

3. We live in a Hypocracy n/t

[WillyT]

4. Ooo... VERY Good !!!

:applause:

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[gratuitous]

5. Oh, come on, you libruls

Nobody could have possibly predicted that one of those oil wells would fail so spectacularly. At least nobody drawing a fat paycheck and benefit package from BP could have predicted it. And they provide jobs, particularly for those luckless 11 guys who got themselves killed when the platform blew up, but nobody could have foreseen it.

Besides, as the original post notes, the constituents for these folks won't notice that the tune has changed at all. They'll cry for government intervention right up to the second they feel better, and then turn on it again like a nest of vipers, bitching about having to pay taxes for their freedom (which isn't free, but damn if they're going to pay for it).