Sen. Al Simpson mentions WyoFile reporting on Hardball

Former Sen. Al Simpson appeared Monday on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews for a free-wheeling discussion about the federal budget deficit. Simpson cited WyoFile’s special report on Wyoming legislators who took thousands of dollars in farm subsidy payments while voting against extending unemployment benefits for Wyoming workers as the “hypocrisy” of “people babbling they hate the government” while at the same time relying on government support.

“Have we created a schizoid mess where we think like cowboys, like people from Cody, Wyo., but we’ve created this welfare system where we have to pay it?” Matthews asked Simpson.

“We have a welfare state run by cowboys that don’t believe they have a welfare state,” Matthews said.

“Every cowboy out in Wyoming loves Medicaire,” he said.

View the embedded video below (wait through any ads then, if necessary, press the PLAY button in the video viewer) or click here to view the clip on the MSNBC site and wait until about 4 1/2 minutes for the farm subsidy mention.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

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