Washington Post Columnist: Rand Paul Deserves 'Scrooge Award of the Year'

On her Monday 1 p.m. ET hour show on MSNBC, host Andrea Mitchell was shocked by Senator Rand Paul's supposedly "breathtaking" observation [1] that continually extending government unemployment benefits can cause people "to become part of this perpetual unemployed group." She incredulously asked: "It's the unemployment insurance that creates the, quote, 'dependency'?" [Listen to the audio [2]]

Teeing up liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus to denounce Paul's comments, Mitchell urged her to "have at it." Marcus ranted: "Can you say Scrooge? Yes, thank you for letting me have at it. My mouth dropped open when I heard that....he just wins my Scrooge award of the year."

Mitchell quipped in reply: "We may have to keep that award open until Congress gets out of town."

In denouncing Paul, Marcus proclaimed: "I would like to find one person out there who has been collecting unemployment for this long time who would not welcome the chance – in this holiday season I might point out – to have their benefits extended."

That would seem to confirm the Senator's warning about government dependency.

On Thursday's Daily Rundown [3], fill-in host Luke Russert wondered if Republicans "risk looking like Grinches over the holiday season" by opposing a minimum wage hike.  

Here is a transcript of the December 9 exchange:

1:35PM ET

(...)

ANDREA MITCHELL: And at the same time, they've [members of Congress] gotta decide what to do about extending unemployment insurance. And Ruth Marcus, Rand Paul – lets hear what Rand Paul had to say about extending unemployment benefits.

RAND PAUL: I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they're paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers. There was a study that came out a few months ago, and it said if you have a worker that's been unemployed for four weeks and on unemployment insurance and one that's on 99 weeks, which would you hire? Every employer, nearly 100%, said they will always hire the person who's been out of work four weeks. When you allow a people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy.

MITCHELL: That's sort of breathtaking, Ruth. It's the unemployment insurance that creates the, quote, "dependency"? Have at it.

RUTH MARCUS [WASHINGTON POST]: Can you say Scrooge? Yes, thank you for letting me have at it. My mouth dropped open when I heard that. It is absolutely true that being unemployed for a long time is a very bad thing in terms of your prospects for getting a job.

MITCHELL: It becomes harder to get a job.

MARCUS: But I would like to find one person out there who has been collecting unemployment for this long time who would not welcome the chance – in this holiday season I might point out – to have their benefits extended. Because they are in a terrible situation, as the Senator pointed out. And he just wins my Scrooge award of the year.

MITCHELL: I mean, we may have to keep that award open until Congress gets out of town.

(...)