Poor Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal can not catch a break. Everyone from freebase-Twitter addict Rick Sanchez to semi-Conservative Columnist David Brooks is criticizing his speech on Tuesday night, in which he tried to channel Ronald Reagan, but ended up coming off more like Kenneth the Page.
Now Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is joining in on the Jindal criticism extravaganza along with his US Conference of Mayors buddies. The group sent a letter to Jindal today criticizing his opposition to the Stimulus package in general, as well as his beef with parts of the bills that support the arts which he expressed on Meet the Press this weekend:
America's Mayors are extremely disappointed by your recent statements questioning the economic impact of the arts to our national, state and local economies. We are also highly concerned by your repeated attacks of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the "Act') by highlighting the $50 million dedicated to the National Endowment for the Arts.
While we certainly respect your right to oppose the Act, this funding, which represents .00635% of the total funding provided in the Act, has, we believe, become a convenient political scapegoat.
The letter then goes on to highlight how much Louisiana is benefited by the arts. The letter was signed by Diaz and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.
We're not sure if it helps or hurts to point out that $50 million amounts to only .00635% of the total bill, but we're glad to see Diaz standing up for the arts.
