Texas Governor (and 2012 Republic Presidential Candidate) Rick Perry would probably be among the first to tell you that the 2009 Recovery Act (aka "the economic stimulus package") was a failure. He would, however, probably be the last to tell you how much his state benefited from that supposed failure.
According to a recent article in the Atlantic, the national Conference of State Legislatures reported that Texas was able to fill 97% of their budget deficit for the fiscal years 2010 and 2011 by using money from the Recovery Act. In dollar terms, Texas used $6.4 Billion (yes, with a "B") to help plug a $6.6 Billion hole in their finances.
There's a reasonable debate to be had that the Recovery Act wasn't as successful as it should have been, but that reasonable debate is never going to happen when its loudest critics are also among its largest beneficiaries. I'll stop short of calling Perry a liar, but things like this leave little room for doubt that he's a Grade A hypocrite.
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