GOP Civil War: Schwarzenegger Slams GOP Govs' Stimulus Refusal

Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake at 9:52 AM on February 22, 2009.

Arnold Schwarzenegger told George Stephanopolous that he'd happily take the money Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindahl and others are turning down as part of a high profile GOP publicity stunt:

"Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money, the federal stimulus package money. And I want to say to him: 'I'll take it.' I'm more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesn't want to take this money, I take it, because we in California need it," Schwarzenegger said.

He also suggested his party's ideological opposition to tax cuts isn't always tenable.

"I think that the Republican Party or any party has to always think, when you make a decision, 'Do I want to make a decision that's based -- that's best for the party? Or am I a public servant and have to serve the people, what is best for the people?'" he said.

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Schwarzenegger said Republicans in Washington must put aside their ideology and work with President Barack Obama on solving the economic crisis.

"You know, you've got to go beyond just the principles. You've got to go and say, 'What is right for the country right now?'" he said. "I think that, if they -- they should make an effort to work together and to find what is best for the people, because by derailing everything, it's not going to help anybody, and it creates instability and insecurity."

The wedge between those Republicans trying to rebrand the party after the wreckage of the Bush years and those struggling to clean up the mess continues. It also underscores that the GOP in crafting its message is speaking to a regional Southern base, and Republicans outside of that are dealing with the reality that most people view the whole thing as nothing more than a big temper tantrum in the midst of a crisis.

Update:  Schweitzer takes a swipe at Jindahl:  "Simply what I have said is that if you don't like these federal dollars, what about the other 95% of the federal dollars you've already received? If you reject 98 million dollars for unemployment, why did you receive the 10 billion dollars for all the rest of the programs that came from the federal government?"

"We're getting wrapped around the axle on these new stimulus dollars as if the federal government never sent any money to states before," he said. "Who builds the highways? They send the money, we do. They send the money, we fix them. Who shares in Medicaid? This is not something new. People act as though these dollars are a brand new source of dollars that are going out to states. They've added about 20%, maybe 25% this year, but during the time that these governors -- must of whom will be governors during an 8-year period -- this represents around 5, 6 percent of the total dollars that come from the federal government."

Tagged as: republicans, gop, obama, money, stimulus, arnold schwarzenegger, arnold, economic recovery, econopacalypse

Jane Hamsher is the founder of FireDogLake. Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, Alternet and The American Prospect.