Roby Brock was on hand for a talk by Gov. Mike Beebe to state employees today and it was worth being there.

He ripped Republican Jim Keet — though never uttering his name — for trashing Arkansas. You’ll recall Keet’s campaign theme has tended to focus on how bad things are here, no thanks to Beebe.

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“I can tell you what he’s [Keet’s] been saying and I haven’t really been addressing a lot of this because I figured we need to talk about what we’ve done and what we’re going to do, but you know, you get just so much of this,” said Beebe with a hint of exasperation.

“He’s been talking about how bad things are in Arkansas and saying I’ve ignored how bad things are,” he added.

“I don’t run from acknowledging that we’re in the worst recession of my life. I don’t run from the fact that we’ve got our share of problems… but I’m not trashing Arkansas because we’re doing so much better than the rest of the country and it’s a direct insult to the people in this room and the teachers and the people who have worked their tails off in the last 3 years to survive what we have survived to suggest something to the contrary. You deserve credit for working through some of the toughest times,” said Beebe.

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