Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want To Be

Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay called Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) "brave" on Sunday for launching a one-man filibuster of unemployment benefits, arguing that they dissuaded people from going out and finding work.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," the Texas Republican said that Bunning's fiscal responsibility was commendable, even if his shenanigans (refusing to allow unemployment benefits to be considered by unanimous consent) nearly brought the Senate to a halt.

"Nothing would have happened if the Democrats had just paid for [the benefits]," Delay said. "People would have gotten their unemployment compensation. I think Bunning was brave in standing up there and taking it on by himself."

Asked whether it was bad strategy to make a budget stand on a $10 billion extension of unemployment (as opposed to, say, the Bush's $720 billion prescription drug package), Delay insisted that if the PR had been done right, Bunning would have been applauded. Helping the unemployed with federal assistance, he said, was unsound policy.

"You know," Delay said, "there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don't look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.

Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that's a hard sell, isn't it?

Delay: it's the truth.

Crowley: People are unemployed because they want to be?

Delay: well, it is the truth. and people in the real world know it. And they have friends and they know it. Sure, we ought to be helping people that are unemployed find a job, but we also have budget considerations that are incredibly important, especially now that Obama is spending monies that we don't have.

Comments

[life changer]

10:25 AM on 04/18/2010

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[pima54]

10:38 AM on 03/20/2010

Tom Delay lives in a bubble, no reality in his world.

[bolivare]

05:34 PM on 03/14/2010

I think our politicians are way out of touch with the people that put them in office. They have and will never listen to us, those of us who don't put thousands of dollars into their campaign war chests. I would like to see if a politician was asked to resign from his post, and stripped of his salary including benefits and put out on the street with nothing but the clothes on his back. Then and only then would people like Tom Delay, Mr. Beck or Rush Limbaugh, and the like understand what being an average person is all about.

[Simone Hill]

07:12 PM on 03/13/2010

And people go fight your wars for you because you want them to. Disgusting pig.

[Simone Hill]

07:10 PM on 03/13/2010

I don't understand why the conservatives are so eager to help out the fat cats. It is in everybody's interest for the country as a whole to prosper. If everybody is doing well, then more money gets spent and the better the people at the top do. HELLO!

Why they are cutting jobs and forcing people to take a step down and hoarding all the money to themselves doesn't make any sense.

[PaulRaymond]

04:20 PM on 03/13/2010

Yup. Most everyone I run into looks forward to trying to eeck out a living on a fraction of their current salary, so they can stay home with Gilligan.

[Wallysmom]

09:01 PM on 03/12/2010

Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want To Be....Unlike Tom who proved to everyone that he can eke out a living as a major asshat on prime time dance shows....

[Phillip Zeuner]

11:43 AM on 03/10/2010

I imagine Tom must think that millions of people just spontaniously left their jobs last year. You know, because they don't really want to work. Right, Tom?

[Monica Savant]

07:09 PM on 03/09/2010

That's IT! I have come to the conclusion that Republicans like Delay, Bunning, Beck, Limbaugh etc. (and some democrats like stupak) are mentally ill. They need to be in therapy to be reparented so that they can leran the empathy behaviour that normal human beings exhibit. These politicians have shown nothing but complete irrepsonsibility and callousness for people they are supposed to represent. Especially republicans who have the nerve to sit back and criticize ANYONE at this point after the mess that they created. They can't even shut themselves up and keep saying the most heartless, disprespectful things about americans and the irony is that THEY (repubs) are solely repsonsible for the current state of affairs of the economy. They act like Obama can turn this huge ship around in 2 weeks and that we should stop already with blaming them, after all, it's been a whole year. What are they a group of short attention spanned 2 year olds????!!! The thing that really gets me is that they are supposed to be the right wing religious based party. or they claim to be. Well, I'll tell you one thing , I don't see the unconditional love and selflessness that christianity espouses therefore, they must be the church of revelation who are christian in lipservice only. Don't get me started on the offshoring of jobs and how this whole "outsourcing" is going to be the ruin of our country.

[Duskburn]

10:33 AM on 03/14/2010

But, but, everyone KNOWS they and their friends and family are just lazy muslim mexican atheist terrorists who don't want to find a job and pay their bills, right? I mean unemployment compensation paid my grocery bill each week, why should it pay for health insurance or electricity or heat or telephone or internet or transportation or car insurance or mortgage payments or....waaaaait a second.....I thought I was getting rich off the system before!! Darnit. Good thing that with my 4 year degree I have a job now that pays for groceries AND one of those every other month! At least with spring coming my electricity/heat bill should go down....I think....

[slk0054]

05:47 PM on 03/09/2010

all politicians are out of touch of their constituents. I've been unemployed since October of 2009, and not
by choice, however by necessity. I did not claim unemployment upon leaving my last job, but have done whats necessary to take care of my family. What i can't comprehend is the greed of a multi-billion
dollar company that eliminates a persons job at $21.00/hr,gets tax incentives, then hires replacements
at minimum wage, then wants to know why they have problems with customer service and their products.
Everyday in the news i hear about politicians on the take on government employees getting lobbyist
position for special interest groups and foreign countries. MY CLOSING STATEMENT: We the middle
class, blue collar worker, the heart of America have been abandoned by our elected officials and
big business. Were on our own.

[Tsar Bomba]

01:57 PM on 03/09/2010

The biggest lie of all is that people who are conservative or vote conservative are hard working people who earned what they have. This is a complete and utter lie. Conservatives are sniveling little fearful incompetent f*cks, paranoid someone will find out their little scam and end it for them.

[Tsar Bomba]

01:47 PM on 03/09/2010

Conservatives are constantly on the defensive for their failed ideology. What they call hard work is nothing but accidental good luck and the minute that luck turns a whole lotta blame goes around targeting poor people and minorities.

Tom Delay is a good example of this, since his weaseling out of fighting in Vietnam probably guaranteed his "success" in business.

[oet]

01:34 PM on 03/09/2010

"unemployed because they want to be?!?".iv'e been unemployed since oct. not because i want to,....it's more.... where are the jobs?. with the repubs. wanting to hold back any legislation that could help. they would rahter help the "fat cats " get wealthy, than help to get this country back on its way again. the time has come and the majority of repubs. would rather see this president be a failure than help ALL mankind.

[prog]

01:24 PM on 03/09/2010

And wars and tax cuts that are completely unfunded are ok. What a world.

[quorthon]

01:04 PM on 03/09/2010

DeLay is unemployed because we want him to be.

[Heather Ferris Vaughan]

03:37 PM on 03/14/2010

WIN! Best comment on the thread!