Paul LePage, Maine Governor, Tells Unemployed Americans To 'Get Off The Couch' And Get A Job
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
I'll be so glad to see this dickless little toad get booted.
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)Because the gods know I'm certainly living it up on unemployment. What a fucking asshole.
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)I have my choice of plum assignments with multi-million dollar compensation packages.
liberalmike27
(2,479 posts)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
(1,214 posts)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
(13,397 posts)So I think that means he's only going to get even more crazy.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)jpak
(41,760 posts)yup
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)... get off of welfare?
canuckledragger
(1,671 posts)to do so.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)what an asshole
spartan61
(2,091 posts)Who is hiring in Maine? Mardens????
freshwest
(53,661 posts)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
(21,478 posts)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
(13,062 posts)LeFathead squeaked in by winning all the conservative vote, which is actually a small minority of the Maine electorate.
drynberg
(1,648 posts)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
(2,485 posts)Daniel537
(1,560 posts)Walk into NASA and demand they make you a rocket scientist, TODAY!
ScottLand
(2,485 posts)jpak
(41,760 posts)And see what happens.
yup
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)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
(14,505 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)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
(5,364 posts)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
(429 posts)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
(53,521 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Is this some kind of disgusting Rethug meme? They got theirs but nobody else can??
allan01
(1,950 posts)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
(16,399 posts)Impeach or recall his ass. Now.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)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
(2,259 posts)raccoon
(31,131 posts)unmentionable scary creature.....
drynberg
(1,648 posts)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
(62,534 posts)just another moron that needs to go.
janet118
(1,663 posts)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.