RNC Fear-Gate

Editorial comic roundup

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President Obama's weekly address

President Obama raises the point that health reform will not only have long-term advantages for the country but will have immediate protections and benefits this year if passed by Congress.

Senator Bunning’s Universe

Today's column by Paul Krugman highlights the absurdity of the Republican approach to economic recovery:

Take the question of helping the unemployed in the middle of a deep slump. What Democrats believe is what textbook economics says: that when the economy is deeply depressed, extending unemployment benefits not only helps those in need, it also reduces unemployment. That’s because the economy’s problem right now is lack of sufficient demand, and cash-strapped unemployed workers are likely to spend their benefits. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office says that aid to the unemployed is one of the most effective forms of economic stimulus, as measured by jobs created per dollar of outlay.

But that’s not how Republicans see it. Here’s what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Mr. Bunning’s position (although not joining his blockade): unemployment relief “doesn’t create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work.”

In Mr. Kyl’s view, then, what we really need to worry about right now — with more than five unemployed workers for every job opening, and long-term unemployment at its highest level since the Great Depression — is whether we’re reducing the incentive of the unemployed to find jobs. To me, that’s a bizarre point of view — but then, I don’t live in Mr. Kyl’s universe.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Click here for a version of this video with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

An embarrassment

There was a good editorial in today's Courier-Journal:

There has been a lot of talk about how Mr. Bunning's stand was one of principle, how it was all about pay-as-you-go and not driving up the deficit.

That's hooey.

Mr. Bunning, and all Senate Republicans, voted against the pay-as-you-go legislation, which was signed into law last month by President Obama. The legislation contains some exemptions, including emergencies like this one, and it grew out of a need created by the spend now-pay later mindset of the Bush years, during which the Republican-dominated Congress' rubber stamp thumped overtime.

Jim Bunning: The GOP's gift to the Dems

Be sure to check out today's column from Clarence Page:

Bunning, a former baseball star from Kentucky, objected to a request from fellow Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, to pass a 30-day extension of jobless benefits and other expired measures included in a $10 billion spending bill.

By blocking the measure, which also would extend health insurance benefits, highway funding and Medicare payments to doctors, Bunning vividly illustrated a point Democrats have been trying to make: That Republicans are "the party of 'No'" and the real reason for congressional gridlock on other issues like health care.

Bunning, who finally relented Tuesday, said he was fed up with Congress' Wall Street bailouts and other big-spending ways, without finding ways to pay for it. That's a laudable principle. It's just too bad that he decided to take out his anger at Congress by holding up help to jobless Americans.

Kentucky's newspapers take on Jim Bunning

Today, the Courier-Journal had this to say about Jim Bunning's latest obstructionism:

Jim Bunning partisans will say that the Kentucky junior senator's most recent headline-grabbing display of obstinate oafishness was really a principled stand. His lone vote — not once, but twice — to block the extension of unemployment and health benefits to unemployed Americans, a vote that also stalled road projects and furloughed those workers, was purportedly all about forcing the country to pay as it goes, even when it comes to extending safety nets to those feeling the worst pains of the worst recession in modern American history. (Question: Did he demand the same standard for bankrolling the wars?)

...Kentuckians — and the rest of the country he has now held hostage — must wait for the countdown clock to tick until Election Day in November for Mr. Bunning's return to private life, and even then there is no guarantee that the Bluegrass State will be better represented.

Democratic senatorial candidates Jack Conway and Daniel Mongiardo correctly condemned Mr. Bunning's heartless and senseless obstruction, but Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul sounded like little Bunnings in the campaign oven as they praised his vote.

The Herald-Leader added this:

We've become accustomed to bizarre, egocentric behavior from Bunning. So it wasn't all that surprising when he single-handedly blocked an unemployment benefits extension for a million people, including 119,230 in Kentucky, whose benefits run out this year. About 14,000 Kentuckians will exhaust their benefits in two weeks without the extension.

...What is surprising is that Trey Grayson and Rand Paul, the leading Republicans to succeed Bunning, jumped on his one-man band wagon.

...Congress has reinstated the pay-as-you-go rules that produced a balanced budget in the Clinton years and must, as Bunning says, follow those rules to gain control of a runaway deficit. Unemployment benefits are a ridiculous place to start. Do Grayson and Paul really not understand that?

Shame on Trey Grayson and Rand Paul

Today the DSCC issued this press release:

Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning's block late last week on extending unemployment benefits for 1.2 million out of work Americans drew criticism from across the political spectrum, but found two cheerleaders in Bunning's home state, Republican Senate candidates Trey Grayson and Rand Paul. Despite Kentucky's 10.7% unemployment rate and with 221,052 unemployed Kentuckians, Trey Grayson and Rand Paul are firmly supporting Bunning's block, which even Republican Senator Mitch McConnell opposes. Bunning's block of the legislation, which is strongly supported by Trey Grayson and Rand Paul, will force over 1.2 million out of work Americans to lose their unemployment benefits today, including thousands of Kentuckians.

“Trey Grayson and Rand Paul are running to replace Jim Bunning in the Senate, but judging by their unwavering support of his block on extending unemployment benefits, they also share his out of touch approach of doing nothing to help hard-hit Kentuckians,” said DSCC National Press Secretary Deirdre Murphy. “With thousands of Kentuckians and over one million Americans set to lose their unemployment benefits today because of Bunning's block, it's baffling that Trey Grayson and Rand Paul would endorse this policy and still be able to look hard-hit Kentuckians in the eyes.”

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Grayson said he would “proudly” stand up with Bunning by blocking extending unemployment benefits and Paul said he also strongly supports killing unemployment benefits for out of work Americans.

Endless GOP Highway Hypocrisy

Geoff Davis and Mitch McConnell are both featured in this new ad from the DNC: