Paul LePage, Maine Governor, Tells Unemployed Americans To 'Get Off The Couch' And Get A Job

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- At the Maine GOP convention on Sunday, Gov. Paul LePage (R) received an enthusiastic standing ovation from his fellow Republicans for saying that all able-bodied out-of-work Americans need to "get off the couch" and go find employment.

LePage called on the state legislature to pass structural changes to welfare, saying, "Maine's welfare program is cannibalizing the rest of state government. To all you able-bodied people out there: Get off the couch and get yourself a job."

"I understand welfare because I lived it," he added. "I understand the difference between a want and a need. The Republican Party promised to bring welfare change. We must deliver on this promise."

LePage has been pushing so-called welfare reform for months, although Democrats have argued that his definition of the term is too broad, encompassing "everything from disability to MaineCare (Medicaid), which isn't welfare."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/paul-lepage-maine-unemployed-couch-job_n_1496514.html

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I'll be so glad to see this dickless little toad get booted.

[MrSlayer]

1. If only it were that easy.

Because the gods know I'm certainly living it up on unemployment. What a fucking asshole.

[rfranklin]

4. And there are so many jobs going begging out there...

I have my choice of plum assignments with multi-million dollar compensation packages.

[liberalmike27]

12. Don't You Love It

The way they put it, like you're just going outside to pick a tomato or something, and that there are plenty of tomatoes for everyone, but you just don't wan to go pick it.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that, I'll just go 'get one,' easy peasy."

[meeksgeek]

14. Oh yeah, it's so easy...

I wish it was that easy. Comments like "get of the couch" really irritate me, as I don't actually own a sofa or a TV in the first place. I spend most of my time trying to find ways to make a living.

It has now been almost exactly three years since I finished grad school (with a degree in graphic arts AKA printing), and out of the thousand or so job applications I've submitted - I've lost count but the average would be about one per day - I have gotten exactly six interviews for serious positions, none of which I got. Perhaps most painful is that nothing I've even gotten an interview for has been in my field.

Now, to be fair, I have had several jobs in the past three years, but guess what, all of them have been temporary, short-term, seasonal, and part time, and in retail or food service. No benefits whatsoever and the highest wage has been exactly $10 an hour. Try paying off student loans on that.

Add to this the fact that I am not eligible for any sort of unemployment or government aid. I've checked.

I have an interview tomorrow, for another part-time temporary job ... but this one will pay $10.50 an hour! Woo-hoo.

[high density]

2. LePage is losing his GOP House and Senate come november

So I think that means he's only going to get even more crazy.

[RBInMaine]

15. Yup. Come November the GOP crazy clown party is DONE in the Maine legislature.

[jpak]

33. +2 Let him run his stupid mouth. Come November, he will get his just desserts.

yup

[Dont call me Shirley]

3. Mainites will be telling LePage that when they kick him out of the Guv's seat.

[AlbertCat]

5. When is he gonna insist Big Oil, Big Agra, and Wall Street...

... get off of welfare?

[canuckledragger]

13. whenever it becomes politicly convenient

to do so.

[LynneSin]

6. In 2 years Maine voters will be telling him the same thing

what an asshole

[spartan61]

7. Hey LePuke,

Who is hiring in Maine? Mardens????

[freshwest]

8. 'Disability rolls may be holding economy back'

Check out this article. This is going to be a nationwide push. Get out there and drop dead quick. You are not wanted alive in the GOP America:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47314827/ns/business-us_business/

Contrast that to this news on DU:

U.S. To Run First Budget Surplus Since 2008: CBO

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=655879

Will the GOP get away with their new media press to demonize those who are without work or health, but primarily without wealth?

[Faygo Kid]

9. How did this hater get elected in Maine?

The folks I know from the Pine Tree State are decent and conservative in the old-fashioned meaning of the word. Where did they dig up this piece of garbage?

[provis99]

20. 4 liberal gubernatorial candidates split up the liberal vote.

LeFathead squeaked in by winning all the conservative vote, which is actually a small minority of the Maine electorate.

[drynberg]

29. SAD STORY OF LaPage's Win

Short version: 3 canidates, the independent darn near won, taking the dem's votes, allowing LaPage (GlueBoy) to win with 39%. He didn't "preview" his full craziness until after the election. What a friggin' nightmare!! We shoulda at least had a run off cause noone got 50%, but that ain't the way it's done in the Pine Tree State...

[ScottLand]

10. Just walk into a McDonald's or Walmart and say, "Here I am. I'm off the couch."

[Daniel537]

17. Forget that, go all out.

Walk into NASA and demand they make you a rocket scientist, TODAY!

[ScottLand]

35. I like that! Newt said people should demand jobs not food stamps.

[jpak]

34. Oooh - great idea. We should get hundreds to show up at Mardens.

And see what happens.

yup

[mwooldri]

11. Mr. LePage, where *are* the jobs?

Those who are truly seeking work are going to find it - but when? There are active job seekers and the replacement jobs aren't there. Sure the part time jobs at the bottom do exist, but that can be worse than being on unemployment benefit.

[muntrv]

16. Find employment where?

[kestrel91316]

18. I know a 40-yr-old man who got laid off in corporate downsizing/merger 2 years ago.

He has spent every weekday since scouring the classifieds/help wanted ads online and sending resumes. I think he has had 1 or 2 interviews in the 2 years.

What's he supposed to do? Go force someone to hire him at gunpoint???

[Populist_Prole]

19. Huh? Will they take a position and just stick with it?

One minute they're castigating the poor and unemployed for being stupid and lazy. The next they're railing about how the current administration is causing a lack of jobs and saying only doubling down on trickle down will arrest this.

So thugs, are they lazy or victims of Obama's economy?

[magic59]

21. That is very good advise

for all the out of work republicans come November. Though, unlike the working class, they will have corporate bribe money and pensions to draw on.

[Odin2005]

22. FUCK YOU, LePage!

[riderinthestorm]

23. Let me get this straight - he's been on welfare ("lived it") and now wants to cut it off for others?

Is this some kind of disgusting Rethug meme? They got theirs but nobody else can??

[allan01]

24. re: Paul LePage, Maine Governor, Tells Unemployed Americans To 'Get Off The Couch' And Get A Job

meh. ive looked for ten years where i live and no joy. not what you know it s who you know . and if you want to work in construction, you have to go to a certain church here . my disabillity caught up with me and now am retired
. and who would hire someone who has a fused back. ive had places isurance cos tell them to fire me , but the places said bleep u. so there out of touch gov of maine . the victory of the people in france are still in my mind. viva la france

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

25. Someone should send him to the couch, right fucking now.

Impeach or recall his ass. Now.

[jtuck004]

26. That's not a bad idea.

So we have about 86 million who are not in the labor force, who history tells us will return _after the latest depression ends, when there are jobs - just to be conservative remove all those that are 65 and everyone under 24 it leaves about 35 million or so - add in another 18 million or so unemployed from the monthly BLS report -

That's about 50 million + people who could leave their homes or cars or bridges tomorrow and walk up and down in the streets trying to get one of the only 3.5 million jobs the JOLTS survey will be available that day. Tea Party folks, Democrats, right-wing republicans, Nazis, Black Panthers - it would be a hell of a party if everyone could stay focused.

They could all carry signs asking "Hey Paul - We're Here - WHERE ARE THE JOBS"?.

And the next day, 50 million people in the streets asking "Paul, WHERE ARE THE JOBS?".

They could even start chartering buses to Maine, maybe walk around the capital, a few hundred thousand at a time.

Not a bad idea at all...

[rayofreason]

27. Hmmm.....When he is unemployed, what then? n/t

[raccoon]

28. May Stephen King write a novel about him! About an unfeeling governor who is haunted by some

unmentionable scary creature.....

[drynberg]

30. WE MAINERS GOTTA

Vote in strong majorities of Dems in both houses and show the Governator (LaPage the GlueBoy) how powerless he and his worthless foam from the mouth actually is. We can't legally recall the loon, but at least hogtie him until 2014. This is sad, but has to be better than our current nightmare.

[Javaman]

31. as gov, isn't this tool responcible for job creation in the state?

just another moron that needs to go.

[janet118]

32. Oh, LePage is a job creator all right . . .

As long as you are a member of his family or are one of his tea bagger cronies. Why, oh why, Maine? I blame LePage's election on the significant number of zombie Christianoids in western Maine who think that Jesus was a misogynist homophobe who denigrated the poor, kissed up to the rich, and liked nothing better than starting wars.