Page 167 - Gingrich News Today

Else, i mean, yes, i was drawing unemployment of $450 a week, which i actually paid into since i was a young man, you know, probably at least 35 years. and i felt like that, well, its unemployment insurance, its not welfare, as mr. gingrich has spoken about. and i felt like, well, until such time as i can actually get a gainful job thats going to help me keep my house, keep my family fed, not necessarily anything other -- expensive, other than just doing those basic things. i was not going to ta...

Segment in the sense that people like that dont get a lot of airtime either. so i thought it was fascinating to listen to. and very important. i checked with the office of john boehner, whos the republican leader in the house to get a read on what they thought of newt gingrichs statement about -- and other republican politicians talking about lazy unemployment benefit recipients, and maybe its because john boehners from ohio, and we make a lot of fun of him here, about him here, but he said, his...

Afraid. thats nothing new. its been that way since i was a young child. i wish it was different, but its not. >> mike and sarah hatchell. i think well take the common sense wisdom of mike the mechanic over joe the plumber any day. we thank you for your time and for your willingness to come forward and obviously our best wishes to you and the family. thank you much. >> thank you, keith. >> thank you,ç keith, very muc. thank you for having us on. >> our pleasure. lets turn now to msnbc politic...

$450 a week, which i actually paid into since i was a young man. you know, probably at least 35 years. and i felt like that, well, its unemployment insurance, its not welfare, mr. gingrich has spoken about. and i felt like, well, until such time as i can actually get a gainful job thats going to help me keep my house, keep my family fed, not necessarily anything other -- expensive, nothing, just doing those basic things, i was not going to take any other job. >> theyç seemed to leave out t ide...

Suggests you got used to being unproductive. if thats not true, why did you turn down so many job offers? >> keith, its really hard for someone like mr. gingrich to understand the fact that when you have a mortgage, you have a family to support, you have car payments, insurance, everything else, when youre going out and looking for a job, you know, and obviously, it was a job, different jobs that i was looking at that were going to pay probably half of what im used to making. that was the situat...

Former house speaker newt gingrich writing yesterday, "the extension of unemployment benefits has given people a perverse incentive to stay on unemployment rather than accept a job." he continued, "the wall street journal" quotes an engineer who admits he turned down more than a dozen offers because the salary would have been less than he made on welfare. this story encapsulates the problem of the long-term unemployed, the depth and length of this recession is at risk of creating a permanent poo...

>> so i thought it was fascinating to listen to. and very important. i checked with the office of john boehner, whos the republican leader in the house, to get a read on what they thought of newt gingrichs statement about -- and other republican politicians talking about lazy unemployment benefit recipients, and maybe its because john boehners from ohio, and we make a lot of fun of him here, about him here, but he said, his people said thats an argument that he would not make. hes got fiscal con...

You know. and when i found a situation where i did have a better offer, of course, i took it. you know, something i knew that would work for me. >> sarah, let me ask you something. can you weigh in on how you react whend we brought mr. gingrichs remarks to your attention today? >> i was appalled, frankly, that he would even consider welfare being a part of unemployment insurance. i saw my husband beat the streets of robison county, a very poor county, to try and find work, to save our home. its ...

>> last question, mike. is there anything else you would like to say to mr. gingrich or the other republicans who say that the unemployed stay that way for the benefits, that theyre spoiled or lazy and should take those lower-paying jobs and get off the public dime? >> keith, i think its no surprise to us that, as it has been for quite some time, that our politicians are going to use that word, are not in touch with the american people. especially the middle class or the lower class people, beca...

Americans, 47% think president obama signed the troubled asset relief program, t.a.r.p., into law, only 34% know it was actually, shh, president bush who did it. and now as promised, "countdown" exclusive, the man singled out by former speaker gingrich, because he in gingrichs words, admits he turned down more than a dozen offers because the salary would have been less than he made on welfare, mike hatchel joining us from his home, along with his wife, sarah. 11-year-old wyatt unfortunately visi...