On Tom Coburn and GOP Senators Blocking Veterans Jobs Bill

Sen. Ron Johnson: Out-of-work veterans can go to hell

58 Yeas to 40 Nays means the Nays win in the U.S. Senate as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson again votes with 39 other GOP senators to stop legislation easing the high unemployment veterans face. Johnson and GOP make a habit of obstruction of bills helping veterans.

Heather at Crooks and Liars has excellent commentary, reserving Sen. Tom Coburn (OK) for special opprobrium as the GOP again tells veterans to get lost.

"The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan-era Veterans (or Gulf War II-era Veterans) in August ticked up to 10.9 percent," notes a VA blog.

Jon Stewart nails it: "So once again, 800 billion dollars, unfunded, for war. A billion dollars, but paid for in a way you aren't crazy about to help the guys who fought the war get jobs afterwards, 'We're not made out of money people.'"

Salon Rips Herb Kohl

Zap and Pow. Salon lists the U.S. Senate "knuckleheads," and Herb Kohl makes the list. From the Salon staff:

In honor of the most recent Master of the Senate, Salon presents its list of those senators who are not masters, those who have helped turn what was once the nation's foremost debating society into the corporate board of Dunder Mifflin. Meet the senators who for reasons of questionable IQ or eccentricity, because they are vapid, stubborn or ornery, can fairly be called knuckleheads. ...

Herb Kohl, D-Wisc.
Evidence of knuckleheadedness: There is little proof in the legislative record that a 'Herb Kohl' has ever been on Capitol Hill. A small, bald robot has been spotted near the Senate office (and at Milwaukee Bucks games) bearing this name and reading questions to witnesses at hearings, but it is not believed to be a fully functioning senator.

Being thrown in the same category as Jim DeMint, Joe Lieberman, James Inhofe, Tom Coburn and Jeff Sessions seems unfair.

Much as Herb Kohl has blown votes - Patriot Act, Iraq Invasion, Defence of Marriage Act and so on - Kohl has not earned the ignominy of the other U.S. senators with which he is listed.