Joe Biden Brings Broadband To Georgia

Vice President Joe Biden is going to be in Dawsonville, GA today and lucky for the residents of this small north Georgia community he is bearing gifts of broadband Internet access for all.

That is nice and fine Joe, but, uh, Dawsonville already has at least five broadband Internet providers.

This strikes me as more of a case of those disconnected Democrats selecting a target based on their stereotyped images of the south and more of the photo-op type visit with big government Santa bringing gifts for all the good boys and girls.

Why do I say that? Well Dawsonville, Georgia is far more famous for something the liberals despise. It is the home of NASCAR legend "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville", Bill Elliott. Along with the Elliott's racing shop, where they build engines and other items for race cars, there is also the Bill Elliott Museum.

I am sure somewhere circulating around the White House is a memo that this poor downtrodden NASCAR community must be seriously lacking in all of the finer things in life. I mean, c'mon, this is NASCAR they are talking about.

The Elliott family, through the operation of their racing shop, have created more jobs for this community then the Obama administration with all of it's fancy taxpayer-funded government programs could ever dream of making. It has also made millionaires out of several members of the Elliott family. In the 90's, Bill Elliott was the first driver to win a million dollars for winning a race.

According to the U.S. Census in 2000, Dawsonville had a population of 619 and a total land area of 1.9 square miles. In July of 2007, Dawsonville’s population was estimated to have increased to 815. The cost of living index in Dawsonville is relatively low at 89.3 and the median household income was estimated to be $42,100 in 2007. Dawsonville is characterized by a relaxed country lifestyle in which the center of attraction is the countryside itself.

So y'all go on with your silly ole self's getting in front of the camera and behind the microphone and tout the great and glorious thing called broadband to a community who knew more about going fast before you were even soiling your diapers.

UPDATE: Uncle Joe handed over a check for $33.5 million grant to the North Georgia Network Cooperative for a fiber-optic ring that will bring high-speed Internet connections to the northern Georgia foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The project will serve an eight-county area with a population of 334,000.

At the same time Georgia is borrowing $70 million to pay unemployment benefits for the rest of the year. Georgia's unemployment rate is 10.2%

The state’s unemployment insurance fund has only $25 million in it right now, not enough to pay next week’s benefits without tapping the federal interest-free loan. A year ago, the state had $909 million in the fund. But since then, the recession deepened and layoffs increased. Currently, 268,995 Georgians are receiving unemployment benefits.

Heckuva of a job you're doing, Barry, and of course Time's Person of the Year, Ben Bernanke.