Right-Wing Media's Mockery Of Unemployment Proves Necessity Of GOP Memo On Compassion

[highplainsdem]

Nice research piece from Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/01/08/right-wing-medias-mockery-of-unemployment-prove/197493

House GOP leaders reportedly distributed a memo instructing members on how to demonstrate compassion when discussing unemployment. And even as news of the memo leaked, conservative media were demeaning unemployed Americans as "lazy" and calling "hunger" a superior policy to jobless benefits.

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Fox's Payne: "I Don't Know Why You Think Helping Someone, People Who Were Born And Dying On Food Stamps" Is Admirable. On the January 7 edition of Hannity, Fox contributor Charles Payne attacked the proposal to extend unemployment benefits, saying "I don't know why you think helping someone, people who were born and dying on food stamps, why you think that's admirable." He concluded, "A lot of people are lazy and a lot of people are becoming lazier. And we're not doing people a favor, by the way, by letting their job skills erode." [Fox News, Hannity, 1/7/14]

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Fox's Kilmeade: Obama Standing With Unemployed Americans During Speech Is "Class Warfare." During an interview with guest Ann Coulter, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade attacked the president's "little speech" on unemployment insurance, saying, "Let's talk about what's happening with the president's little speech yesterday. About twelve o'clock, he was 20 minutes late. Comes out with all -- a bunch of unemployed people behind him who need long-term benefits. It's class warfare all over again." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/8/14]

Rush Limbaugh: "What Is Unemployment Insurance? It Is Paying People Not To Work." On the January 7 edition of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh characterized unemployment insurance as "paying people not to work," suggesting that unemployed Americans do nothing to find jobs while receiving benefits. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 1/7/14]

Laura Ingraham: Hunger Is The Best Unemployment Policy. On the January 6 edition of The Laura Ingraham Show, radio host and Fox regular Ingraham argued that the nation's unemployment policy should mirror one of her mother's sayings, "when you're hungry, you'll figure out a way to eat," because "hunger brings drive. Hunger for opportunity, hunger for a paycheck, hunger for actual food, hunger for a lifestyle." Ingraham added that the unemployed would be more likely to find a job without "an unending safety net." [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 1/6/14]

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[riversedge]

1. whow those comments are really cruel.