Carl Gibson writes: "Tea Party Republicans have made it clear their agenda isn't to help America, but obstruct all progress during the Obama presidency and blame the tough economy on their political opponents. One victim of Teapublican policies is Jack Cochrane of Barrington, New Hampshire."
Rep. Frank Guinta, poses with a fellow teapublican. (photo: Eric Dondero)
A Victim of Teapublican Policies
02 August 12
Reader Supported News | Perspective
ven a "yes" from someone in the Party of "No" means no. Tea Party Republicans have made it clear their agenda isn't to help America, but obstruct all progress during the Obama presidency and blame the tough economy on their political opponents. One victim of Teapublican policies is Jack Cochrane of Barrington, New Hampshire.
Jack Cochrane lost his job in 2008. Since then, he's applied unsuccessfully for hundreds of others, and says he's heard 36,000 NOs from employers. Jack is 60, so while he's a few years shy of retirement age, he's also unemployed in a job market where he's competing with people half his age for jobs that don't even pay enough to cover the mortgage, the lights, the plumbing, groceries, phone or the car loan, let alone healthcare. Jack heard 36,000 NOs, but all he needed to hear was just one yes from one company.
Jack is a chemical operator with a 28-year-old daughter. She lived in a crowded apartment but wanted a chance to get out an make it on her own, so Jack let her move in with him in Barrington, New Hampshire. After Jack lost his job and started sending out resumes en masse, he began worrying about whether or not he would still be able to afford his home and provide for his daughter, who was also looking for work with unsuccessful results.
Jack's daughter could see Jack's worry on his face when he came home day after day empty-handed, with nothing but more NOs to show for his efforts. Finally, Jack decided to approach his Congressman, Rep. Frank Guinta, at an August 2011 town hall. He went in with a purpose - to explain his dire situation, and see if the Congressman could help him find a job before he lost his home.
During a town hall in the left-leaning town of Greenland, New Hampshire, in the left-leaning Seacoast region, Congressman Guinta took plenty of hits from an audience angry with his inaction on creating jobs, along with his votes on repealing health insurance for 30 million Americans, and his support of a budget that gutted all retirement security and earned pensions for seniors, in order to give the richest 1% of Americans a $265,000 tax cut. Jack waited patiently with his hand up for over 20 minutes. Finally, Congressman Guinta called on him.
After Jack shared his story, Rep. Guinta, with the Associated Press cameras focused on him, assured Jack that he would "personally help" him find a job. He offered his cell number, home address, and even offered to pick up Jack at his home and go job-hunting with him. Jack was pleased. He gave his resume and contact information to Guinta's staff, who assured him the Congressman would be in touch shortly. He went home to his daughter, telling her how excited he was that Congressman Guinta would personally make sure that he would get a job. Jack told his daughter everything would be okay.
As the weeks went by, Jack noticed that his regular letters and calls to Congressman Guinta's office went unanswered. The only response he got from Guinta was a staffer telling him about upcoming job fairs. Jack went to one such job fair, only to find that the employers there had closed up shop two hours early, and the only employer left was a part-time temp hiring agency that took his resume and told him to wait for a call, which never came.
Eventually, Jack broke down and told his daughter they were going to lose their home, and that their family unit would have to separate, and that she was going to have to go her own way. Jack calls the memory of that conversation "one of the worst of my days." And he admits that he cried when he told his daughter they couldn't live in the same home anymore.
Jack wasn't asking for a handout, or free money, or something for nothing, as many of Jack's political opponents often accuse people in his situation of doing. Jack wanted work. And he wanted work that would allow him to live in dignity, keep his bills paid, and keep enough food on the table to where he and his daughter didn't have to make one box of macaroni and cheese stretch for three days. Like Jack says, "I'm not saying everyone should get to be Bill Gates. But people need to be able to pay their bills."
America is full of stories like Jack's. And sadly, America is also full of Congressmen like Rep. Frank Guinta, who promise their constituents help but only give a cold shoulder. Congressmen who promise American jobs and economic security, but only vote for repealing their healthcare and cutting millions of public sector jobs so their wealthy campaign contributors can live even cushier lives.
Jack is right. America needs to not be in misery anymore, and if people like Frank Guinta can't do it while in office, we need new members of Congress who will.
Watch Jack's story in this video, share it with everyone you know, and vote out every Tea Party Congressman like Frank Guinta on November 6.
Carl Gibson, 25, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You can contact Carl at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and listen to his online radio talk show, Swag The Dog, at blogtalkradio.com/swag-the-dog.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
I am stunned and amazed that a mere observation expressed by an Independent Mind could result in 33 negative clicks!
Especially in this case, where the immediately preceding paragraphs read as follows: General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
I was under the impression that this site provided a space for thoughtful consideration and not knee-jerk reaction.
That's why the negative clicks. We are sick and tired of their childish behavior.
I completely agree with your evaluation of the big picture, especially and specifically the Republican arrogance.
I see the Repubs as being the carnival barkers for the corporations, they are the true enemies to our way of life.
I do still however contend that the majority of negative clicks were in response to things that were not actually said.
And filibustering every job creation bill is proof that the Republicans only care about the immensely rich. In fact nearly all the money they've taken in over the last 2 years has come from 47 people.
Republicans hate the America of legend. We now have the biggest gap in income in the developed world and the highest rate of poverty in the developed world. The Waltons have more money than the bottom 40% of all Americans. How do you think that makes a country work?
That's thoughtful consideration, and independentmind posted the knee jerk reaction.
Just exactly what was in independentmind 's head when he/she made the statement, I cannot know. You may well be right, but I do not know one way or the other.
With respect to the rest of your post, I find that your analysis mirrors my own thoughts and that your comments were borne of truly thoughtful consideration.
I would only add that these so called politicians are merely shills for the corporations that continue to devastate all humane activity.
It's hard to understand how voting against a comment is advocating violence, etc.
"The Teaparty Politicians are not the only ones that do this sort of thing!"
Indmind uses the same tired tact as his Republican Tea Baggin' heroes: not offer any platform or rational thought about how to address & solve a given problem but reach out & slap the other guy. Oh yea,you too, nyahhh, nyaaah. Look at Romney at his stump speeches: beat the hell out of Obama, but offer no policy alternative to whatever subject he is battering the president over. This ploy works with the low-information voter, they enjoy watching videos of people being kicked in the crotch with a cute sound track in the background.
Want substance? Obama/Biden 2012 along with nothing but Blue D's. And the Blue Dogs? Not so much.
Stories like my Son-in-Law who was laid off at the beginning of the Obama term and found a better paying job in a larger company doing something he loves won't make it in RSN because it doesn't serve thier purpuse.
Then go somewhere else for your needs, its easy. I do not like FOX news, therefore I do not read it or watch it, I dont go to their website and complaint to its fans.
Why not? When you only get one slant on something, you tend to be biased yourself. I try to look at both sides of the situation then make up my own mind. People here complain about Fox news being biased....wow talk about the Pot calling the kettle black...
I would only add that a "new industry" is always welcome; however, we have a plethora of activities that have been misdirected or ignored for far too long because of corporate interference. No public activity should be entrusted to private concerns under any circumstances. Be that; the public defense, the public infrastructure, the public incarceration facilities, the public utilities .... etc.
In addition to alternative energy solutions, there are probably lots of areas of technology that our current government has no interest in encouraging - say methods of improving health care and actually curing diseases instead of finding ways to "manage" them, methods of desalinating water and using it to irrigate arid regions to help conquer world hunger - although I grow more fearful every day that we are going to need that technology just to feed those of us in the U.S. with the current drought conditions that appear to continue unabated.
I know there are hundreds of other things that I simply am not smart enough or educated enough or innovative enough to imagine. My only hope is that somewhere, someone smarter and better educated and more imaginative that I is already working on the problems or is getting the education they will need to be able to think critically and address these issues.
I see all of the political ads. That doesn't mean I am so stupid as to believe them. If others are that stupid and vote, again and again for these jerks, then that's what we will have. Jerks!
I have protested with Occupy in a small upper mid-west city, most weeks, since Oct. All older people. Most with decent money. Fewer and fewer all the time. Where's the youth? Where are the Guinta's?
Where are the indignant? Who cares and where are they?
It was generous of him to take her in but in doing so, he obviously worsened his own situation, one by the way is disgraceful for a 60 year old to have to endure. Where were the "safety nets". Oh wait, I forgot. The rethuglicans already shredded them.
So that's supposed to make it OK ?
or make anyone feel better ?
"Picking a side to jump up and down on does little for anyone, no matter who has been doing this sort of thing. Fixing blame is not fixing the problem"
Are you saying we shouldn't take sides? Are you saying passion is really the enemy and not the actual behaviors or philosophies of either side?
The way the long time unemployed are portrayed is that they are too lazy to work when the fact if that there are no jobs because the Republicans don't want to help the economy get better that way President Obama looks bad. That is not what these Congresspeople get paid for. They've forgotten they are supposed to work for the people but instead they've shown to have great disdain for their suffering and loss of dignity. Sometimes the Teaparty's solution is just to go pray. I'll pray that they all lose their elected positions.
I hope that the Republicans plan backfires on them and the nation sees who is really to blame for their cares and woes.
I'll pray.
Then President Obama appeared with his message of hope, but the foreclosures continued and now amount to more than occurred under the Dubya's administration.
Which I ask you is the more calloused: a president who ignores your plight or one who holds out a helping hand only to jerk it back before you can grasp it?
Sadly, Romney has made it abundantly clear that he has even less compassion for the dispossessed.
If (as we are constantly being told by Zionist-owned media) ours is a Christian nation, why have we no political candidates who show even an elementary understanding of Christ's central message?
It's the foreclosure brokers who play games with homeowners until they have used up all their savings and are in a bad enough financial state that they are forced into foreclose -- which is when the foreclosure brokers make their money.
It's Republican holdovers like Mr. DeMarco who won't let Fannie and Freddie institute the President's policy of letting homeowners write down their debt so they can re-finance at a lower interest rate so they can have a hope of meeting their monthly payments and building equity in their homes.
The President has proposed several pieces of legislation to address these problems, but the Republican House of Representatives or the Republican filibusterers in the Senate won't let the legislation through.
Don't blame the President for problems created and exacerbated by the Republicans.
Get the Republigoons out of there! Blue Dog Democraps, too.
The Tea Party and the entire GOP have obstructed Congress deliberately in an attempt to destroy chances of the current administration being reelected.
If anything can be called "treason," it has to be this. A party that has clearly indicated it would see the country sink rather than support the President is "treasonous" at best!
Don't vote Republican at any level so we can get back on track in America.
DO VOTE !!
However you seem to forget that the "Tea Party" wasn't even around until Obama came into office. So blaming them for this economic mess isn't valid.
You're WRONG, genesis911. They've ALWAYS "been around" They just came out into the open during Bush's reign!
All of the code language aside, what they're primarily concerned with involves language like, "taking 'our' country back".
They DO rise up EVERY SINGLE time a Democrat sits in the White House. It's part of their m.o. going all the way back, at least as far as the Kennedy Administration.
They suddenly and abruptly shut up as soon as a repug is back in office. IT NEVER FAILS.
This time, a new twist was added. A black man who they keep telling themselves isn't a "real" American, or a "real" Christian and doesn't "really" love "their" country is in office and they are going APE SHIT over it. The death threats started as soon as he announced his candidacy. They increased ever since. He's received more death threats than ALL OTHER American Presidents COMBINED.
CONT.
NO AMOUNT of proof will be good enough for them. HE SIMPLY "CAN NOT" BE A "TRUE" President of the United States of America to them. They are absolutely BLINDED by their arrogance, feeling of racial and religious entitlement, and complete bigotry.
BUT,
as soon as another rich, white, waspy, far right, over priviledged, over fed and under educated repuglican is back in the White House you'll see this whole teabagger movement dissipate like clouds after a storm.
IT ALWAYS DOES.
And we'll see this "movement" for what it really was all along:
A SPOILED TEMPER TANTRUM.
If this gentleman lost his job in 2008, it had nothing to do with Obama, who wasn't in office until 2009.
"The T-Party didn't cause the Crash."
No, the Tea Party didn't cause the Crash. They just made it worse by advocating policies that kept the President from offering proper unemployment insurance -- insurance these workers had paid for -- to the laid off workers.
"Dems constantly try to use T-Party as a distraction from Obama's Obstruction of Justice in blocking prosecution of his financial bagmen."
I've never heard any Democrat use the Tea Party as a distraction. They've only pointed out how the Tea Party legislators at all levels are sending this country into a financial tailspin.
"Why are Dems pounding on cranks rather than criminals with POWER? Do they think we are too stupid to remember who caused the CRASH, got bailout BONUSES?"
It wasn't the Democrats who caused the Wall Street crash. They were wrong to believe Bush and Paulson when they advocated that everything would be OK if we just re-capitalized the big banks. That's what TARP bailouts were all about. And guess what, TARP got re-paid, with interest in most cases, because what the banks really wanted was enough cash flow to pay their bonuses. And look who they're supporting this election: Romney and the Republicans.
CONT
Funny. It was the Democrats who pushed through financial reform. The Republicans worked to make the reform as weak as possible. Do they think their friends won't crash the economy again? We were told they had learned their lesson, but look what happened at CitiGroup and the weaselly way Mr. Dimon was treated by the Republicans in the Senate. They're nothing but Wall Street's lap dogs.
So what? He did.
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