The People In Charge Of Sacking The People Reponsible Have Been Sacked

"Why no, Mr. The American Public," said the Washington opinion wonk. "I don't understand why you guys in flyover country would have a problem with millions of people losing unemployment benefits right before Christmas.  Isn't that what you voted for?"

To fight the worst recession since the Great Depression, Congress started giving the unemployed additional weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits in July 2008 on top of the 26 weeks always provided by states. The benefits became more generous in 2009 to the point where in hardest-hit areas, the jobless are eligible for 73 weeks of extra benefits, for a total of 99 weeks in some states.

All 73 weeks of federally-funded benefits expire on Nov. 30 without a congressional reauthorization, which will face stiff opposition from Republicans and conservative Democrats opposed to deficit spending, which is the traditional way of financing extended unemployment benefits during recessions.

Apparently, some members of Congress and their staffers fundamentally misunderstand the question before them. They think they're being asked to hand out additional weeks of benefits to help the "99ers" -- people who collected unemployment for nearly two years without finding work. (There are bills to give additional weeks to the 99ers, but those bills are pretty much dead in the water.)

"The same confusion exists in the media and it exists in the general public," said a lobbyist who works on the issue. "This isn't about adding more weeks. This is about the 27ers."

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And of course, the Republicans are fine with making Americans think that refusing to extend unemployment benefits means "You get 99 weeks and now the socialists want more?  Help me stop them!"   What's really going to happen is that the cliff is going to move from 99 weeks to 27 weeks, and everyone after that is going to fall off into the void.

Republicans are fine with this.  Some Democrats are fine with this.  If there's enough of both groups and Congress cuts off Americans without jobs at the knees like this right before Christmas...a whole two million of them, mind you...how long will it take for the Republicans to say it's all Obama's fault?

Lame duck session is going to be awesome.  And the country's about to go careening off the cliff because the GOP has figured out that it's better to win than to govern.