Unemployment Compensation Extension

[Rick Rowlands]

When PAYGO was enacted I was completely surprised and confused as to why the Democrats would wish to champion that idea.  It just seemed to go against everything that Democrats stand for, and I wondered just how long it would take for them to forget about PAYGO.  Well it took five months and if the mainstream media would only focus upon PAYGO as the reason for the opposition then perhaps the truth would get out.  But of course they will never mention it and try to steer public sentiment against those "Evil Republicans", whose only crime in this instance is the demand that Obama play by the rules that HE CREATED!   How dare us conservatives actually want to play by the rules!  Shame on us!!!

[Dan Moadus]

I think Rick is right. I also think they wanted to make political hay out of the Republicans voting against extending benefits. Ron Verb spent an afternoon show asking why the Republicans would not vote to help the poor un-employed. It never occurred to him that the Dems made a big show out of "pay-go" not too many months ago and were now acting as though the law didn't exist. How biased could he be? He's either stupid or dishonest. Perhaps both.

[Rick Rowlands]

Yes it does seem quite odd, that on one hand Speaker Pelosi has stated that the best stimulus is an unemployment check, but on the other hand they won't use the stimulus money not already spent to pay for the unemployment benefits extension.    The only possible conclusion is that the half of the stimulus is being saved for a Roosevelt style spending blitz just prior to November in a last ditch effort to buy off enough votes to keep them in power.

[Dan Moadus]

And what is worse is that the Dems didn't even have to look hard to find the money without adding to the deficit. The stimulus money is only half spent. Why on Earth would they object to using some of that unspent money? Especially after Pelosi claimed that un-employment expenditures act as a stimulus. Can anybody come up with a reason they would want to add to the deficit instead of using the stimulus money?

[Rick Rowlands]

I would expect that from you, but I was looking for an intelligent answer.

Thanks anyways.

[irishbobcat]

no

[Rick Rowlands]

Someone please educate me as to why Obama and the Democrats are so against finding a way to pay for the unemployment extension, when five months ago all that Obama was talking about way PAYGO, the new rule(that he championed) that requires all new spending to be paid for with either cuts or new taxes.  Is this not the most blatant of double standards?