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November 27, 2011

Bill To Extend Unemployment Benefits, Republican "Scorched-Earth" Politics, And Its Unintended Consequences On The 2012 Elections

No one on this forum has been more openly and unapologetically anti-socialist, and anti-Obama than I have. Obama, his Marxist ideology, his "Big Brother" socialist policies, and his insidious race mongering and class warfare tactics, are but too personally reminiscent of the oppressive "Socialist Regime" that forced my family and I to flee the land of my birth when I was a child.

In principle I Oppose the Welfare State, government handouts, and all these Obama profligate bailouts, such as the so called "Jobs Bill" he has been unable to pass. Hidden within that "Jobs Bill" is an extension to the E.U.C. Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 which will expire on Dec. 31st of this year, which many Republicans in Congress oppose, citing as a reason for their opposition the argument of how many more times are we going to extend unemployment benefits, and or how many weeks of benefits is enough.

Now, having said so, and at the expense of being Machiavellian, though agreeing in principle that we cannot keep extending unemployment benefits forever - though my whole point is that maybe the pragmatic answer to that is: "until after the elections of 2012," and that yes, there are many Americans, like the Occupy Wall Street losers, who rather keep collecting an unemployment check and sit on a couch (or at a protest) rather than finding themselves a job; however, for other millions of American families, currently receiving and surviving this disastrous Obama economy thanks to those extended unemployment benefits, unless Congress does something about it soon, and In some way or form extends those unemployment benefits before the Christmas recess, all unemployment payments to those current recipients (not just those seeking new extensions) will automatically stop on the 3rd of January, 2012.

This will then in turn affect all those now dependent on those benefits, who through no fault of their own lost their jobs, who are actively seeking gainful employment and can't find jobs anywhere in this dismal economy (such as happens in Nevada, where for every job opening to be filled, there are more than 10 unemployed qualified workers vying for those jobs - not to mention the hordes of illegal aliens willing to work for next to nothing!); many of whom lost their homes, were evicted from them, and now rent - depending on those extended unemployment benefits to pay the rent; and for whom said extended unemployment benefits are literally the only thing between them and being evicted out in the cold at the end of January or in February of the coming year, homeless, in the middle of winter (for instance, in Nevada, you can get a renter who is late on his rent evicted within 21 days, out in the street); they are critically dependent on those unemployment benefits being extended for their very survival! And, we ought to remember, regardless of ideology, of all political arguments, of party lines, and or far weightier altruistic and humane considerations, that these people VOTE! In fact, many of them are Republicans and Independents.

Imagine how bleak a Christmas, and how much further it will impact Christmas sales and deteriorate the economy, if Congress, because of partisan bickering, and or misguided Republican opposition due to rigid ideology, fails to extend those unemployment benefits once again - given the extenuating circumstances we are all facing as a nation, goes on recess without that unemployment extension being passed, and all those millions of Americans now depending on it can foresee with foreboding certainty during Christmas, that come January there won't be any more unemployment checks in the mail to pay the rent, they are out on their own, and, naturally, the "obstinate" Republicans are to blame!

Of course, the first thing Obama and his re-election campaign will do is to cry foul and bemoan, as they wont to do, that "It's the do-nothing, obstructionist, Republican's fault - who don't give a damn about the millions that were left homeless by Congress failing to pass the President's 'Job Bill' and extend unemployment benefits, while they obstinately refuse to tax the filthy rich!" Imagine! I don't think that will go over too well with people who lost their extended unemployment benefits due to Republican intransigence - especially living out of a cardboard box or at a homeless shelter - many of who will be homeless and or forced to move in with relatives as a result! I am sure they will remember it in November!

As a matter of fact, being the cynic that I am, I would venture to say that the reason Obama nestled the unemployment benefits extension legislation in his bloated, "Stimulus II - Jobs Bill," was a calculated political move, knowing full well not even the Democrats in Congress have the stomach for another "Stimulus Package" and that therefore the "Jobs Bill" would fail, precisely to capitalize on the social catastrophe of millions of unemployed Americans out in the streets, homeless and or displaced throughout the nation right smack in the middle of winter, and be able to run his re-election campaign on the message of "Blame the Republicans for it" - since he obviously can't run on his own miserable record...all because in their rigid partisan stupidity, some misguided Republicans did not see beyond their noses, played into Obama's political trap, and failed to foresee the unintended political consequences of their obstructing and opposing the legislation to extend said unemployment benefits to millions of Americans, who will be direly affected if such extension is not passed and their current benefits are allowed to expire; and what the resulting disatrous political impact will be on the 2012 elections!

Fortunately for Republicans and us all, presently there is a bill to renew the Federal Unemployment Insurance for 2012, which was introduced in Congress by Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Sander Levin (D-MI), and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) to reauthorize federal unemployment insurance programs for 2012.

Forget the Tea Party ideology and all the rhetoric on either side of the aisle! If Republicans impede or block the passage of the above legislation in any way and oppose the renewal of the unemployment benefits, the millions affected will most assuredly remember it on November 2nd, the Republican fools would have played right into the Democrats' and Obama's stratagem, and we can rest assured we will then have four more years of Obama - that for the nation would be the most onerous of the "unintended consequences"! Talk about "voting with your feet"? How about voting with "justified resentment," when you were left, literally, out in the cold!

The last thing Republicans ought to do is to alienate even more voters, amidst the Republican cacophony of "phonies" we have seen in the Republican debates, of flip-floppers, foreign policy ignoramuses, illegal immigration mongers (with more baggage than a Greyhound bus), and impotent Tea-drinking ideologue wimps ("I will gladly pay you Tuesday for an Iowa victory today")! Republicans better wise up!

People should start calling their Republican "blowhards" and telling them to make sure those unemployment benefits upon which so many millions of Americans presently depend be renewed before Christmas, lest the "Obamagrinch Who Stole Christmas - assisted by his moronic rival Republican stooges" gains a whole new multitude of supporters come January, we are stuck with him for good for another four years as a result, and even lose Congress once again in the process, come next November!

Republicans should indeed wise up!

Posted by Althor at November 27, 2011 1:18 PM

• Bill To Extend Unemployment Benefits, Republican "Scorched-Earth" Politics, And Its Unintended Consequences On The 2012 Elections - Nov 27, 2011