Written by: Beck

Neither East Germany nor Ronald Reagan was available for comment.

Written by: Beck

But only to certain specific states.

The bill extends benefits for those living in states with jobless rates higher than 8.5%. Some 27 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, fall into this category. The national unemployment rate hit 9.7% in August, the highest in 26 years.

Now, guess how those states tend to vote...

Go on, take your time...

OK, here's the list, in highly unformatted form:
Ranking | State | Unemployment Rate | 2008 Presidential Election Result
23 MAINE 8.6 Obama
24 PENNSYLVANIA 8.6 Obama
26 WISCONSIN 8.8 Obama
27 IDAHO 8.9 McCain
28 NEW YORK 9.0 Obama
28 WEST VIRGINIA 9.0 McCain
30 ARIZONA 9.1 McCain
30 MASSACHUSETTS 9.1 Obama
32 WASHINGTON 9.2 Obama
33 MISSISSIPPI 9.5 McCain
33 MISSOURI 9.5 McCain
35 NEW JERSEY 9.7 Obama
36 INDIANA 9.9 Obama
37 ILLINOIS 10.0 Obama
38 GEORGIA 10.2 McCain
39 ALABAMA 10.4 McCain
40 FLORIDA 10.7 Obama
41 NORTH CAROLINA 10.8 Obama
41 OHIO 10.8 Obama
41 TENNESSEE 10.8 McCain
44 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 11.1 Obama
44 KENTUCKY 11.1 McCain
46 SOUTH CAROLINA 11.5 McCain
47 CALIFORNIA 12.2 Obama
47 OREGON 12.2 Obama
49 RHODE ISLAND 12.8 Obama
50 NEVADA 13.2 Obama
51 MICHIGAN 15.2 Obama

Ten out of twenty-nine voted for McCain. The rest all went to Obama. Yeah, there's no quid pro quo there.

What's perhaps most galling, however, is the implication that some unemployed are less deserving of others--just because their state isn't suffering as dismally... which is generally a sign of a state under better fiscal management, which is, again, generally a sign of republican administration.

So sorry all you unemployed in Texas, you're just going to have to make do as best you can. Try not to think about the fact that some fraction of the taxes you paid last year are going to be redistributed to unemployed in other states because, well, they had the good sense to vote Democratic.