Politics

Crist defends decision to accept stimulus funds

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Under fire from the right at home, Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida went to the White House on Monday and expressed no regrets for embracing both President Obama and his anti-recession spending program. He dismissed the criticism as mattering “not one iota.”

Joining the rest of the nation’s governors for their annual meeting with the president, Mr. Crist offered an unequivocal defense of accepting some of the money from Mr. Obama’s stimulus package — and of literally hugging the president during a visit to Florida last year. While other Republicans have attacked the stimulus as a largely ineffective waste, Mr. Crist said it had worked in Florida.

“I don’t apologize for it at all,” he told reporters asking about his decision to take stimulus money. “It was the right thing to do. We needed the money. And it saved 87,000 jobs.”

Full story: Crist Defends Decision to Accept Stimulus Funds – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com