The sad tale of the Democrats who hated the unemployed

[ProSense]

The sad tale of the Democrats who hated the unemployed

Most of them are now, ironically, jobless

Last summer, we met the Democrats who hated the unemployed -- the 16 House votes from the majority party against an emergency extension of unemployment benefits. They were:

John Adler, D-N.J.
Brian Baird, D-Wash.
Melissa Bean, D-Ill.
Marion Berry, Blue Dog-Ark.
Bobby Bright, Blue Dog-Ala.
Travis Childers, Blue Dog-Miss.
Jim Cooper, Blue Dog-Tenn.
Joe Donnelly, Blue Dog-Ind.
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Blue Dog-S.D.
Baron Hill, Blue Dog-Ind.
Frank Kratovil, Blue Dog-Md.
Betsy Markey, Blue Dog-Colo.
Jim Marshall, Blue Dog-Ga.
Walt Minnick, Blue Dog-Idaho
Glenn Nye, Blue Dog-Va.
Heath Shuler, Blue Dog-N.C.

These brave politicians bucked their free-spending, ultra-liberal party, and cast votes in favor of fiscal responsibility. And for their willingness to oppose Barack Obama's liberal agenda, nearly all of them were rewarded with early (and ironic) retirement from public service.

Brian Baird and Marion Berry retired. Melissa Bean will probably lose. Of everyone else listed, only Heath Shuler, Jim Cooper, and Joe Donnelly won reelection.

At least they can move on from Congress knowing that they did everything in their power to make paying the rent as difficult as possible for a bunch of unemployed Americans. That's something to be proud of.

And Heath Shuler thinks he should be Minority Leader?

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"I've been saying for two years that politicians ignore the pressing needs of the unemployed at their own peril," said Judy Conti, a lobbyist for the National Employment Law Project. "This is an angry and increasingly organized group of people, and no matter how concerned the average person is about deficit spending, the vast majority understand that we cannot abandon the unemployed over misguided notions of how to reduce the deficit."

Reps Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), and Heath Shuler (N.C.) voted against reauthorizing the benefits in July and won reelection on Tuesday.

Everybody will get another chance to vote on reauthorizing extended unemployment benefits when Congress reconvenes on Nov. 15 for its lame duck session. If the benefits are not reauthorized by the end of the month, NELP estimates that two million people will prematurely stop receiving aid by the end of the year.

"I hope that all members will step up and support an extension of unemployment benefits so that no one will suffer during the holiday season," said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), sponsor of the bill to reauthorize benefits this summer, in a statement to HuffPost.

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