Who would ever want federal government programs helping "minorities" or people who are "defective" in some unacceptable way? Government assistance, as everyone knows, should go instead to "average, good American people."

Like the ones Pennsylvania's Rep. Paul Kanjorski has in mind. The 73-year-old Democratic House member was arguing this week in a joint House-Senate conference committee session for national expansion of a government assistance program to help financially beleaguered families avoid foreclosure on their homes.

He made his case that the money was not being wasted on defective people or minorities or those who had been imprudent. "They are not minorities," the congressman said, "and they're not defective, and they're not all the things you like to insinuate that these programs are about. These are average, good American people."

Watch his entire statement in context below and see if you think, as some critics suggest, that the 13-term Kanjorski's comments were defective, which his spokesman denies.

Also, listen for one other revealing Kanjorski statement on this video.

It could probably only be uttered with a straight face in a city with the money mindset of Washington, D.C., certainly not by many average, good American taxpayers, whoever they are. In his pitch, Kanjorski tells Capitol Hill legislative colleagues that expanding his state's mortgage aid program nationally would only cost "3 lousy billion dollars."

Now, who could ever object to such a measly sum?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Video courtesy of C-SPAN Archives