GOVERNMENT SPENDING FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR THEE…. At this point, the hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance on the right really isn’t new, but I nevertheless continue to enjoy revelations like these.
The president of a third party group that’s targeting vulnerable Democrats for their support of government spending has herself received thousands of dollars in federal farm subsidies.
Sandra Greiner is the president of the American Future Fund, an organization that has spent more than $5 million on advertisements that target Democrats on a variety of issues, including their support for federal spending.
But Greiner and her family have not shied away from taking federal subsidies for their farm near Keota, in eastern Iowa.
We’re not just talking about a few hundred dollars here and there — the Greiner family received nearly $1 million in federal farm subsidies from 1995 to 2009.
When the AP’s Henry C. Jackson, who broke the story, sought comment from the Greiner and/or the American Future Fund, they didn’t want to talk about it. Imagine that.
Also note, Sandra Greiner is herself seeking elected office this year in Iowa, running on a platform of “curbing government spending in Iowa.”
If I had to guess, Greiner probably never even considered the disconnect. Sure, she receives massive payments from the federal government, but the real problem is the money that goes to those other people.
It’s why Matt Taibbi can find a nice couple at a Tea Party rally that has spent their life living entirely off money from the government, but who are nevertheless getting involved to protest because “too many people are living off the government.” It’s why we find all kinds of conservatives who hate government spending in general, but love it when it’s directed to them.
Paul Waldman’s recent item continues to ring true, noting that the key is understanding who benefits from government generosity: “Medicare? Well, that’s for people like David and Janice, and their friends, so that’s good. ‘Welfare’? Well that’s for shiftless, undeserving people — not people like them. Chances are that most Tea Partiers have no idea exactly what the stimulus is paying for, but given their preconceptions about Barack Obama, they’re pretty sure it’s benefiting people who don’t deserve it — people who are not like them…. Being the beneficiary of government benefits doesn’t seem to change some people’s view about what sort of person gets government benefits.”
That certainly seems to apply to American Future Fund president Sandra Greiner, and the more than $935,000 she and her family have received.
