Buchanan, Bunning have other motives?

Pat Buchanan was on a conservative radio talk show this morning defending Sen. Jim Bunning's now-abandoned campaign to stop payments to unemployed folks. No surprise there. Buchanan isn't known for his compassion. But he, like other extremists, are creating a false argument in the defense of Bunning.

No one, including myself, denies that the government is over spending and that the deficit needs to be addressed. But why did Mr. Bunning, a Republican, decide to make his stand on the backs of average American citizens who happen to be down on their luck because of layoffs and the recession? The money required to extend benefits in this time of continuing high unemployment rates is a drop in the bucket compared to the money that went to the banks and various corporate bailouts. The money appropriated for extending unemployment is nothing compared to what we spend on two senseless wars every month. And as emergency funding, it's exempt from the pay-as-you-go guidelines.

Buchanan, Bunning and other ultra conservatives with the inability to empathize with the less fortunate in society are simply choosing the wrong issue to use to make their point. Once again it's making all Republicans look like heartless monsters.

I support fiscal conservatism but I suspect this Bunning-Buchanan stance against the unemployed is motivated by something else. Something far uglier than is being openly portrayed by these men and those who support them. They are stereotyping unemployed people. They don't seem aware of the underemployment problem that exists for everyone from PhD's to experienced professionals. And I wouldn't even doubt if there is some racism involved in their positions.