The news just keeps getting worse for the GOP aka "Party of No" as they continue to try to find ways to sabotage President Obama's policies. Well, the people they are supposedly opposing the Stimulus for are mad as hell, and I'm thinking they aren't going to take it anymore. The NYT has an article about how the constituents in the states rejecting the unemployment money (for what appears to be symbolism more than anything) are not happy. They are hurting, and they can't understand why their governor, who's supposed to be looking out for their best interests, are refusing to give them the money they need to survive.
Follow me over the fold.
Oh, and what about the big bad law the governors don't want to change?
For people like Henry Kight, 59, of Austin, Tex., the possibility that the money might be turned down is a deeply personal issue.
Mr. Kight, who worked for more than three decades as an engineering technician, discovered in September that because of complex state rules, he was not eligible for unemployment insurance after losing a job at a major electronics manufacturer he had landed at the beginning of the year.
Unable to draw jobless benefits, he and his wife have taken on thousands of dollars in credit-card debt to help make ends meet.
It is precisely these kind of regulations, involving such matters as the length of a person’s work history or reason for leaving a job, that the federal government is trying to get the states to change. Such a move could extend benefits to an estimated half-million more people, according to the National Employment Law Project, a liberal group in New York that supports the changes.
So these governors don't want to change their laws because it could HELP up to 500,000 people? People who I'm sure they would want to vote for them in the next election be it statewide or national? That takes some real bowling ball sized balls to do that.
What really touched me in the article is the statements from the people in these states:
"It just seems unreasonable," Mr. Kight said, "that when people probably need the help the most, that because of partisan activity, or partisan feelings, against the current new administration, that Perry is willing to sacrifice the lives of so many Texans that have been out of work in the last year."
People aren't stupid. They know exactly why they are being refused these benefits.
"I don’t understand the whole thing," said Kelley Joyce, 43, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., about indications from Gov. Mark Sanford that he may reject some of the stimulus financing in that state. "Apparently because he has money and he doesn’t have to worry about everybody else who doesn’t have money."
To me that seems to sum up a large part of the Republican thinking. "I got mine, you get yours." Nevermind the fact that most of these people are in the situations they are in because of backwards Republican policies.
"I don’t think he truly understands the plight of his citizens," Ms. Foss said. "He’s surrounded by people with good jobs, who make good salaries. He’s not surrounded by people like me."
Out. Of. Touch. That's what they are. While the Republicans and their sympathizers are trying to make President Obaam and the Members of Congress who supported the stimulus look like villains, they are showing their constitutents their true colors. They don't understand what the average person is going through in this economy, and they don't really seem to care. All that matters is scoring political points and trying to drag themselves from the cold claws of irrelevancy. While they play games, people are struggling for their livelihoods. The article states that by simply changing the laws for elgibility, 40% of people who are currently unqualified for unemployment would be able to receive unemployment.
I was already unsympathetic to the GOP argument about the changes that would need to be made in State law to receive the funds, I am even LESS sympathetic after reading this article. The GOP is out of power, out of touch, and running out of time to save itself. I wouldn't mind if the GOP were to disappear forever if it weren't for the fact that so many people who deserve and need help will not get it.