Tuesday, December 07, 2010

O'Donnell calls extending jobless benefits a 'tragedy'

THE HILL

Christine O'Donnell on Tuesday compared the "tragedy" of extending unemployment benefits to Pearl Harbor and the death of Elizabeth Edwards.

"Today marks a lot of tragedy," O'Donnell, the Tea Party-backed GOP Senate candidate from Delaware, said Tuesday night during an appearance in Virginia.

"Tragedy comes in threes," O'Donnell said. "Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards's passing and Barack Obama's announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits."

O'Donnell continued: "The reason I say this is a tragedy is because his announcement of economic recovery was more of a potpourri of sound bytes. It's like he took a little bit of what each party wanted and put it together. It's not a solid plan constructed on sound economic principles."

Obama reached a deal with Republicans on Monday that would extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years, and would also extend federal unemployment benefits for 13 months. Democrats have ripped Obama for extending tax cuts for wealthier taxpayers. Most Republicans appear to support the deal, though there have been grumbles about the unemployment benefits extension.

Edwards died earlier on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. O'Donnell called Edwards "a fine woman" during her comments before a gathering of Tea Party activists in Northern Virginia on Tuesday evening.

The Delaware Republican, whose failed race against Democrat Chris Coons vaulted her to national Tea Party stardom, said the across the board extension of Bush-era tax cuts is a positive, but that it's not worth the 13-month extension of unemployment benefits.

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