Completely Out of Touch

If there is a prime example of politicians, namely Republicans, that have absolutely no idea of how the real world works and whose mindset is completely out of touch with reality, it has to be Senator Jon Kyl's (R-Az) asinine comment on unemployment benefits.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican whip, argued that unemployment benefits dissuade people from job-hunting "because people are being paid even though they're not working."

Unemployment insurance "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work," Kyl said during debate over whether unemployment insurance and other benefits that expired amid GOP objections Sunday should be extended.

"I'm sure most of them would like work and probably have tried to seek it, but you can't argue that it's a job enhancer. If anything, as I said, it's a disincentive. And the same thing with the COBRA extension and the other extensions here," said Kyl.

I'm going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess in assuming Senator Jon Kyl has never been on unemployment. I'm sure he's pulled himself up by his own bootstraps considering his family didn't have enough money to afford the 'H' in his name. But it's examples like these that show how members mostly if not definitively in the Republican Party have no clue what is goes on in the real world.

It's not about job creation, you fucking moron.  It's about bridging the gap between employment opportunities for citizens who have most likely paid into unemployment insurance their entire working lives until the next job so they don't lose their house, their health care and can feed their families in the meantime. And in nearly all cases, the payments you receive are a fraction of what your actual salary actually was when you got the boot.

To Kyl, anyone who has lost their job, and therefore are in danger of or have already lost their health care benefits are nothing but welfare queens who are sucking on the government teat. How dare they collect on the unemployment insurance that they are legally entitled to and that they've paid into over the years? You goddamn lazy fuckers should be out pounding the pavement looking for a job if you've lost yours despite the fact that there are no jobs to be had. I suppose the current 9.8% unemployment rate is just voluntary. These people could find work if they really wanted to work, right, Jo-n?

Compound this idiocy with Senator Jim Bunning's filibuster of a $10 billion bill extending unemployment benefits and standing in the way of transportation projects that will put 2,000 more out of work because... well, who the hell knows why Bunning does what he does, and this is a microcosm of the GOP perspective.

Adding... Chris Matthews doesn't help his cause in his tacit support of Bunning not for any other reason than he's a Hall of Fame pitcher who played for his beloved Phillies in the 60's. Way to go, Tweety.