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Bush Camp to Jobless: Pop Pills, Stop Whining

Tell your jobless friends or those flipping burgers because they lost a higher-paying job with benefits that the "compassionate" Bush re-election team has figured out how to help: anti-depressants.

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy - or go on Prozac," offered Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.

Her comment, overheard by a Reuters news service reporter, came on the heels of recent advice from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president, who said people affected by outsourcing should "stop whining." He called for even more jobs to be sent overseas, arguing in a speech in San Francisco that outsourcing is good for corporations' bottom lines.

"One job sent overseas, if it happens to be my job, is one too many," Tom Donohue said. "But the benefits of offshoring jobs outweighs the cost."

The comments outraged labor leaders, who said even in these callous times they were stunned by the lack of empathy for struggling workers.

"The Bush campaign worker wants us to believe her gross insensitivity was just a joke. In fact, her 'Let them eat cake' attitude is the hallmark of this administration," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "And from the chamber president's point of view, that's something to be proud of. We're hitting a distressing new low in our national dialogue."