Sharron Angle is very sorry for calling the unemployed “spoiled” by virtue of the fact they receive unemployment insurance compensation checks. So says the Review-Journal today, after Angle actually showed up for an editorial board meeting at the newspaper. The relevant line:
As for Angle calling the unemployed spoiled, she said, “It was a mistake. I apologized for it.”
Really? If it was a mistake, why then did Angle deny she ever said any such thing when she found herself in a much tougher forum, Face to Face with Jon Ralston? You’ll recall that in late June, Angle said on that program she’d never called the unemployed themselves spoiled, but rather blamed the system for “spoiling” them with lavish checks.
So why cop to the original charge now? Perhaps it was the well-known, laser-like interrogation of the editorial board that finally broke her?
At the very least, Angle stuck to her previous position that unemployment doesn’t help the jobless.
“I think we need to be very, very careful that we’re not incentivizing instead of providing safety nets for folks,” Angle said of the unemployment benefits.
We’re not “incentivizing” … what, exactly? All the exotic cruises, lengthy European vacations or African safaris that Nevada’s unemployed are taking on their staggering $300-per-week-average unemployment checks? Lucky for us, this is a problem only in the dark corners of Angle’s mind, not in the real world.
Angle also refused to back down from her mistaken characterization of opponent Harry Reid‘s assistance to CityCenter as a “bailout,” although the project got no federal funds. (Reid did call banks on the company’s behalf, urging them to meet with MGM Resorts International officials to discuss loans so the project could complete construction.)
“I still believe that’s simply what it is,” Angle said, defending her bailout description. “CityCenter is one of those businesses considered by the senator as too big to fail.”
Well, Angle might believe that unemployment benefits spoil jobless workers, offshore oil regulations lead to spills, Social Security is welfare, or the sun revolves around the Earth, but it doesn’t make it so. And yes, Reid has said repeatedly that had CityCenter failed, the impact on Las Vegas would have been devastating.
But here’s something interesting: According to Angle, CityCenter did not create any jobs!
Angle said no private business should get special treatment from the government. She noted that neither CityCenter’s opening nor the original $787 billion stimulus program has improved Nevada’s or the nation’s jobless situation, and unemployment has skyrocketed during the past two years.
So, nobody’s working at CityCenter? And nobody was hired to fill the jobs at other casinos when workers left to take jobs at CityCenter? MGM Resorts International is the state’s largest private employer, but isn’t it asking too much for the company to single-handedly solve the state’s unemployment problem, especially when Angle claims she’d have done nothing to help the company?
It’s little wonder Angle scurries off like a frightened rabbit when reporters approach her to ask questions.
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