“Republicans, me included, have supported numerous extensions of unemployment benefits and we’re anxious to do so again,” the Indiana Republican told interviewer Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” “The deficit this year is a trillion dollars for the second year in a row … The American people have had it with runaway federal spending, deficits and debt, and they want to see men and women in Washington, D.C. make the hard choices.”…. Polls released last week showed that despite anxiety about spending, registered voters actually favor helping the unemployed even if it adds to the deficit.
I can appreciate the stated collective desire of Republicans to reduce the deficit. The sentiments they voice are certainly impressive and who can argue with deficit reduction, right? Unfortunately, their actions and their hypocrisy put the lie to their alleged devotion to reducing the deficit. Yesterday, they trotted Mike Pence out to make the argument that Republicans really, truly do desire deficit reduction above all else. Perhaps the GOP leadership figures that if enough different voices on the Right trumpet the same propaganda, eventually the American Sheeple will fall into line and accept their words at face value.
Frankly, I’d be much more inclined to take Republicans at their word if they weren’t so adept at talking out of both sides of their mouths. Though they claim that the $33 billion for extended unemployment benefits is unacceptable because it must be paid for, Republicans seem to have no such problems with the vast sums of money they throw at our two never-ending wars. Combine that with their desire to make the Bush tax cuts (and their $1.6 billion in lost tax revenue from 2001 & 2003) permanent, and it’s not hard to see Republicans for the hypocrites they are.
Though any economist worthy of their Ph.D. will attest to the stimulative nature of unemployment benefits, Republicans see things differently. To them, tax cuts for the wealthy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appear to be the cures for our ailing economy. The unemployed? Well, while Republicans need and want their votes, their implied message to the unemployed is that can go fornicate themselves…after Election Day, of course.
Pence’s turn at the propaganda trough is just another lame attempt at making certain that the GOP stays on message, regardless of truth and reality. Though Pence and his ilk are the reason our economy is in the toilet, Republicans know that, in the end, they can blame Democrats. They also know that a good chunk of the American Sheeple will buy their argument and blame Democrats. What a load of crap.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
