Rick Santorum explains unemployment remark

[brooklynite]

Source: USA Today

In a presidential election where the economy is the No. 1 issue, Rick Santorum's comment on the eve of the Illinois primary that the nation's unemployment rate "doesn't matter to me" stood out.

Mitt Romney pounced on it, and Santorum admitted he wished he had a "do-over." The GOP presidential hopeful clarified his remarks Monday night during a rally in East Peoria, Ill., and again in radio and TV interviews.

Santorum explained that his point when he said "the campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates" is that the government needs to focus on what causes joblessness.

"The fundamental issue that's causing the unemployment, that's causing the economic distress in our country, is the fact that the government is imposing its will and mandating things on people and creating a yoke on top of businesses that makes it hard to employ," Santorum said last night on Fox News.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/03/santorum-unemployment-rate-romney-illinois-primary/1?csp=34news

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"Explaining your remarks" is like explaining a joke; if you have to, you might as well not bother.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. You know, I'm sick to death of all this blame going to the 'government'.

I've lived in America for the past 64 years and up untill 2010, employment was the realm of businesses and not the government. It all worked just fine until the mid-80s when the GOP started this mantra that regulations were 'forcing' business to go overseas. As the mantra expanded to include the need for corporations to pay less and less in taxes, the employment situation got worse for the employees.

The government didn't cause Wall Street to run amok. The lack of regulation caused it. The scraping of laws that protected the little guy caused it. I'm sick to death of the GOP's line!

[Frustratedlady]

6. Is that also about the time the Chamber of Commerce got active...

or was that more recent?

I still can't absorb how much influence they've had on moving overseas.

[auburngrad82]

12. It especially pisses me off that career politicians are the ones blaming government

Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, and Romney have half a century of government paychecks between them.

[harun]

15. I can't see how GOP followers still buy this crap

[denverbill]

2. So apparently, it was the Bush administration that imposed this horrible burden on business.

Since 90% of the jobs lost during this recession occurred before Obama came into office. And apparently, Obama has been lifting that burden since unemployment has dropped markedly.

[Enrique]

3. does his explanation involve blah people? n/t

[Jamaal510]

17. BLAH!

[Atman]

4. WTF? Really? What did he say?

"The fundamental issue that's causing the unemployment, that's causing the economic distress in our country, is the fact that the government is imposing its will and mandating things on people and creating a yoke on top of businesses that makes it hard to employ,"

Really, seriously? Companies that need employees in order to make profits aren't hiring employees because there is a yoke in their omelet," or WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Business 101, Ricky...if there is money to be made, the money-makers will make the money! They'll pay the bennies, they'll insure people...BECAUSE THERE IS A DEMAND FOR THEIR PRODUCT, and they'll make money off of it! You fucking imbecile, the demand doesn't go away just because Lurleen Bigbottam in Iowa is worried about the health insurance of some guy on the assembly line in New Jersey! Do you really believe the bullshit your speech writers are feeding you? Probably not...you're a home schooler. You pick and choose what you want to be "facts."

[Arkana]

5. Well, Rick is right in that the rate matters less than what's causing it

but since he thinks gays, liberals, and women who have abortions are causing it, he's still wrong and still stupid.

[Madmiddle]

7. Santorum

is a creepy bastard that looks like a peeping-tom that was caught in my neighborhood once a long time ago. He is about as cluelsess and talentless as the rest of the GOP field. He's the kind of asshole that got us into this situation the country is in right now.

[bluecoat_fan]

8. Too late Ricky. Mittens will now be the nominee(nt).

[Rambis]

9. I nuked Iran but what I meant was....

No second chances assclown!

[Ian David]

10. You mean the yoke of record high profits and record low taxes? n/t

[William769]

11. Your comment on the article +1.

[marble falls]

13. The election doesn't turn on unemployment, eh? No wonder the GOP hasn't come with a job bill.

[gratuitous]

14. Isn't it nice? Ricky Sweater Vest gets a do-over!

Compare and contrast, class, with how the popular media treated James O'Keefe's submissions and their creative editing to kill ACORN and force Shirley Sherrod out of a job. Nobody forced Santorum to say what he said, and his remarks weren't taken out of context. But he gets the grace and the space to "explain" what he really meant to say.

Then again, what he really meant to say was pretty stupid, too. Put it this way: Why does a car have brakes? If you say "To stop it," you're not correct. A car has brakes so you can drive fast. How fast would you drive your car if you knew it didn't have brakes? Would you even get in a car that had no brakes? In the same fashion, business needs regulation and oversight, otherwise it's a mad dash to grab as much money with both hands as you can before the whole system collapses. Like what happened four years ago, when the crooks had looted about as much as they could, and legitimate business ventures were being sucked into the lawless hole created by these latter day robber barons.

Business does just fine in a regulated environment with predictable enforcement and punishment of wrong-doers. Santorum is, you should pardon the expression, talking out his ass.

[eyewall]

16. Hey Ricky

The yoke's on you.