You Could Have Knocked Me Over with a Feather!

Yeah... well.. we can't all get a job on "Dancing with the Stars".

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I know! I am so uncoordinated that I am totally unable to dance! Woe is me!

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@plainoldme,

Geeeeeeeez.

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Well this is the same dude who clearly stated that the victims of the Indonesian Tsunami deserved their fate because they didn't worship Jesus Christ.

Never forget that this scumbag was the heart and soul of the GOP for years, until he was finally forced out by his connection to Jack Abramoff.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@plainoldme,

From the article, what he said was this:

Quote:

"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.

Well, there is an argument to be made about that. Unemployment compensation is not an incentive to work. From a purely economic theory, his point is valid.

He didn't say people are unemployed by choice, but he did say some people are disincentivized from seeking work when they know they are going to receive unemployment for months to come.

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@Ticomaya,

That's not all he said, though:

Quote:

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.

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@Ticomaya,

Why not report his other quotes in the article?

Quote:

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.

Probably because it reveals him to actually be a scumbag, and that wasn't helpful to your case.

So when you stated,

Quote:

He didn't say people are unemployed by choice

You are 100% incorrect. He said exactly that.

Don't defend this guy, dude, there's no profit in it for you

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@sozobe,

And

Quote:

we also have budget considerations that are incredibly important, especially now that Obama is spending monies that we don't have.

Now that Obama is spending money we don't have? My blood pressure just spiked!!!!

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@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Well this is the same dude who clearly stated that the victims of the Indonesian Tsunami deserved their fate because they didn't worship Jesus Christ.

What did DeLay say?

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@Ticomaya,

http://amcop.blogspot.com/2005/01/choice-words.html

Quote:

Choice words…

…from a class-act guy.

This (Tuesday) morning at 9am, C-SPAN had a live telecast of the 109th Congressional Prayer Service from a church on Capitol Hill. There were some sentiments shared about the recently-passed Bob Matsui and Shirley Chisholm, and, amidst the scripture readings, reminders from a few Congressmen about the Christian foundation of our government. Others spoke of the Asian tsunami tragedy.

Then Tom DeLay gets up to the pulpit, and -- striking a beautiful note in light of the 150,000 dead from the floods referenced by his colleagues -- lets loose with some Matthew 7, beginning at verse 21.

(Many thanks to ben for the heads up on the exact wording, and to DemWatch for directing us to this transcription of the reading and MP3.)

Saith DeLay:

Quote:
"A reading of the Gospel, in Matthew 7:21 through 27.

Not every one who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven; but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?

"Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you: depart from me, you evil doers.'"

Everyone who listens to these words of mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man, who built his house on a rock:

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew, and buffeted the house, but it did not collapse; it has been set solidly on rock.

And everyone who listens to these words of mine, but does not act on them, will be like a fool who built his house on sand:

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew, and buffeted the house, and it collapsed and was completely ruined."

He finishes reading, says nothing more, and sits back down.

Pretty clear meaning there. What an asshole.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@sozobe,

sozobe wrote:

That's not all he said, though:

Quote:
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.

If he wanted Crowley to speak for him, I suppose he would have answered "yes," or maybe repeated her words as his own. I can't read his mind, and I'm no DeLay apologist (and frankly I don't much care), but my guess is he was still talking about the point he had just raised as being "the truth," not Crowley's spin on it. And his point had NOTHING to do with the reason people became unemployed in the first instance, but only as to their motivation to become unemployed. In that sense, yes, those that are unemployed and are not motivated to become employed -- whatever the reason for their lack of motivation -- are unemployed by choice, if they could become employed through effort. And I recognize the significance of that "if."

Certainly not the first time a reporter has failed to promote clarity through the use of their follow up questions.

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@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Why not report his other quotes in the article?

Because that's evidently your job.

Quote:

Don't defend this guy, dude, there's no profit in it for you

If not me, who would do it? I've always been a defender of the poor and down-trodden.

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@Ticomaya,

Weak sauce. When someone answers a direct question with 'well, it is the truth,' they are answering 'yes' to the question.

DeLay is hardly some neophyte who is being picked on by a reporter, here.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

http://amcop.blogspot.com/2005/01/choice-words.html

Quote:
Choice words…

…from a class-act guy.

This (Tuesday) morning at 9am, C-SPAN had a live telecast of the 109th Congressional Prayer Service from a church on Capitol Hill. There were some sentiments shared about the recently-passed Bob Matsui and Shirley Chisholm, and, amidst the scripture readings, reminders from a few Congressmen about the Christian foundation of our government. Others spoke of the Asian tsunami tragedy.

Then Tom DeLay gets up to the pulpit, and -- striking a beautiful note in light of the 150,000 dead from the floods referenced by his colleagues -- lets loose with some Matthew 7, beginning at verse 21.
...

Pretty clear meaning there. What an asshole.

Cycloptichorn

Ah ... so when you said ...

Quote:

... this is the same dude who clearly stated that the victims of the Indonesian Tsunami deserved their fate because they didn't worship Jesus Christ

... you meant he hadn't actually said those words, he had just quoted verbatim from the book of Matthew. I suppose your use of the phrase "clearly stated" is what threw me.

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Well pardon me, but I assumed that a learned fellow such as yourself wouldn't have to have things spelled out for him in single-syllable words.

What's with the mendacity today on your part? It's not like you to play so dumb.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Ticomaya,

Ticomaya wrote:

If he wanted Crowley to speak for him, I suppose he would have answered "yes," or maybe repeated her words as his own.

And if he didn't want Crowley to speak for him, he could've said "Now, that's not what I'm saying," or "no, I don't think people are unemployed because they want to be," or any number of possible demurrals. But he didn't. He just said "well, it's the truth."

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..meanwhile, completely aside from that specific exchange, I disagree with what he was saying more generally. Our community has been hit hard by the recession and I know several families that are dealing with layoffs, where the person laid off had been the sole breadwinner.

These people are to a man (they're all men) hardworking and industrious, and are working hard to find new jobs. The first one lost his job more than a year ago, made finding a new job his full-time job, and yet failed to find anything. He had lots of interviews, and lots of callbacks, but kept barely losing out. He finally had to start looking out of state, and is now working in North Carolina, on his own. His wife (my best friend) and his kids are still here, to finish out the school year, then they're moving. He just got this job and while they had a good amount of savings and while my friend found a job of her own (menial, way below her skill set), they would've been in TERRIBLE shape without unemployment benefits.

If Tom Delay dared to imply to this guys face during month eight or nine or ten of unemployment that he hadn't found a new job yet because unemployment benefits were a disincentive.... whoa nelly.

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Well pardon me, but I assumed that a learned fellow such as yourself wouldn't have to have things spelled out for him in single-syllable words.

What's with the mendacity today on your part? It's not like you to play so dumb.

Years ago, we (you and I) had discussions about whether Bush lied. I'm sure you thought then that I was being mendacious. I was not then, and I'm not now.

DeLay haters -- much like Bush haters (the same folks, actually) -- are prepared to believe the worst that can be said about the guy, because in their minds he eats kittens for breakfast, and is evil incarnate. Their opinions about the man cannot be swayed, and I certainly don't intend to try. So believe what you will.

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@sozobe,

And soz that's a good example of where DeLay's argument is false. Clearly not everyone follows the pattern he stated, and I'm sure the "studies" he referred to must bear that out. But what the studies likely show is what the majority do.

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You Could Have Knocked Me Over with a Feather!

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