Conservatives seek government solutions after oil spil

[depakid]

Source: AP

Ben Brooks, a lawyer and Republican state senator from coastal Alabama, says he's no fan of big government but he expects an aggressive federal response as a gunky oil spill threatens the Gulf of Mexico. "There's nothing inherently contradictory in saying we believe in smaller government and demanding that the government protect public safety," Brooks said.

All along the Gulf Coast, where the tea party thrives and "socialism" is a common description for any government program, conservatives who usually denounce federal activism suddenly are clamoring for it.

Take Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican elected in 2007 when Democrat Kathleen Blanco opted not to seek re-election after she was widely panned for a bumbling response to Hurricane Katrina two years earlier. Since April 20, when a gulf rig exploded and blew out an underwater oil well about 50 miles south of Louisiana, Jindal has been a ubiquitous presence in the fishing communities and barrier islands along his state's fragile coastline. He's been out on boats and up in Black Hawk helicopters, doors open, to survey the spreading, rust-colored swath of crude.

Jindal, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, has demanded a stronger response from the Obama administration, accusing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of dragging its feet in approving Louisiana's plans for protective berms — a plan that took three weeks to approve. "This oil threatens not only our coast and our wetlands, this oil fundamentally threatens our way of life in southeastern Louisiana," Jindal said last week. Jindal is a fiscal conservative who made headlines last year by rejecting some federal stimulus money, then distributing other stimulus funds by handing out oversized cardboard checks to local officials.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hB4MkDFpEq9b5qRF9F-fUtyQs5yQD9G35UBG1

[izquierdista]

1. I'm sorry...

You burnt that bridge and now the help can't get to you --- too bad.

[UpInArms]

2. Jindal should clean up his own shit first and then he can beg for help

:shrug:

[Democat]

3. Republicans love "big government" as long as it isn't helping Mexicans or Black People!

That's about the way it works these days.

[JDPriestly]

4. Hypocrites -- about sex, about "big government," about everything.

What phonies. Why don't they take responsibility for their real views? They want federal money (much of it from New York and California) spent in their states but don't want it spent in other states. They are the real "welfare queens." They take willingly but give reluctantly.

Lazy to boot.

[SpiralHawk]

5. So sorry: You RepubliPharisees drowned it in the bathtub

Karma is a bitch.

[AlbertCat]

6. Sorry repugs.... this is your bed you made...

Unfortunately we all have to lie in it.

Conservatives are like 2 year olds who now want the "grown ups" to fix problems....which wouldn't have happened if they had planned for the future like grown ups. Instant gratification doesn't work, but it seems to be their "line". It draws in uniformed and superficial people.

Regulate!

[louis-t]

7. "Nothing contradictory about wanting smaller gov

and wanting gov to protect people. Nothing at all. Except that everything I say is a lie. So, that last sentence was a lie. So is the one after it." :crazy:

[emulatorloo]

8. Maybe Rand Paul can save them.

[Demit]

9. Course there's no contradiction. Republicans are all about "Socialize the cost, privatize the gain."

That's what they like about government. It's there for them to plunder.