Thursday, August 30, 2012

Since we're still talking about this for some reason...

Does anyone else think Jon Stewart and Herman Cain need their own TV show?



That's the third part of Cain's interview last night on "The Daily Show," when he and Stewart got into it over the debunked-yet-still-repeated claim that the Obama Administration is in any way lessening the work requirements of people receiving funds under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Give Cain credit for (sort of) admitting that he was wrong, which is something the Romney campaign still hasn't managed.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, the administration's act of tweaking the TANF regulations - in response to requests from their state administrators - is a good thing, not to mention a textbook conservative thing. Before last month, states that wanted federal TANF funds had to abide by a one-size-fits-all approach. Now they have the flexibility to act almost as entrepreneurs testing different approaches to see what's effective for them. The policy change leverages the ability that a state has to act as a laboratory for something new and different. Nevada can try something that might work later in Alabama... or might not, in which case both Nevada and Alabama can keep doing the different things that work for them. It's the exact opposite of a single federal entity saying "Nope. One way only."

Still waiting on Cain to put on that Code Pink shirt, though.

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