Tone Deaf (or just disinterested?)

Guvver Mark Sanford chooses to make a stand on the back of a 10 year old black girl (via Political Animal)

PUTTING A HUMAN FACE ON GOP NEO-HOOVERISM....

During President Obama's address to Congress last month, he pointed to Ty'Sheoma Bethea, a young girl in South Carolina whose school is falling apart. Bethea, who sat next to the First Lady, had written a letter to Congress.

"Bethea has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, 'We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.'"

The good news is, the economic recovery package included money for schools. The bad news is, Mark Sanford is Ty'Sheoma Bethea's governor, and he wants to turn down $700 million in federal stimulus funds -- money that would go towards education in South Carolina.