Drill, Baby, Drill

Bobby Jindal

The governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, visited Grand Isle to assess the needs of local officials there. The Republican governor has, so far, asked federal aid several times in relation to this spill, including a request for "a federal funds should B.P. fall short of meeting the needs of our people, a request for federal unemployment benefits funding to help pay for disaster-related workforce training and job placement services and unemployment benefit services for workers displaced as a result of the oil spill, a request to the Small Business Administration to approve more loans for to small business owners, a request to the Department of Commerce for a declaration of a ‘commercial fishery’s failure’ so that more government assistance may flow."

This is the same governor who decried the stimulus package which was meant to help lessen the most painful aspects of the worst recession since the Great Depression. It is the same governor who mocked stimulus money for the monitoring of volcanoes that could create crises of near or equal proportions in other states. Of course, Jindal posed with a mock stimulus check that reached local communities in his state, despite his rhetorical protestations.

Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey quoted Jindal, "Well, you know, here we go. You know, the governor of Louisiana says the federal government should stay out of the state’s business."

MSNBC’s Keith Olberman discussed the situation with Marcos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos.

OLBERMAN: So, is Jindal essentially asking for special government aid above what another state would get in this situation, is he not?

MOULITSAS: Yes. He’s essentially asking for a bailout of his state. I mean, he’s realizing that the state now faces a cataclysmic disaster. They cannot pay for it. They can’t handle it.
And the federal government exists for a reason. There’s a reason that people like me and you have always advocated for the role of the federal government in helping those in need. And I think Bobby Jindal is starting to realize that the mighty state rights crowd doesn’t have the answers when they’re actually hit by real crisis. They now need the federal government.

And, again, I wish that they would have this kind of empathy for the rest of the country because there are times that it’s right for the federal government to come in and lend a hand, because only the federal government has the resources to make that happen.

My question is “what happened to The Republican war cry “Drill, Baby, Drill”. Ask Sarah Palin. She usually has all the answers. How is that working for you, Sarah?

Source: Daily Kos; MSNBC Countdown