But if the flap is affecting Corbett's standing with voters, the polls don't show it yet. Onorato trailed Corbett by 10 points (48 percent to 38 percent) in a Rasmussen Reports survey taken five days after the jobless comments. That poll measured a similar 10-point gap last month.
Rendell, who leaves office in January, joined the chorus Monday, calling Corbett "totally out of touch with what ordinary people are dealing with."
On Monday, as the Obama administration announced its intention to seek another extension for unemployment benefits, Rendell said the average weekly check is not enough to tempt someone to stay home.
"It's ludicrous to suggest that $370 a week is motivation for someone to not get a job, and it shows, I think, that General Corbett is out of touch. I think it also shows a lack of sensitivity," Rendell said at a Capitol news conference.
Rendell called losing a job "a gut-wrenching experience - and it's not just a financial experience, it's an emotional and psychological experience."
Corbett's words about the jobless were said July 9 at a campaign stop in Elizabethtown. "The jobs are there, but if we keep extending unemployment, people are just going to sit there," Corbett said in part. "I've literally had construction companies tell me, 'I can't get people to come back to work until - they say, "We'll come back when unemployment runs out." ' "
Corbett, through a spokesman, has twice apologized for his remarks, most recently Friday.
"What Tom did is, he said he didn't speak as clearly as he should have and he regretted if people thought his comments were insensitive," said Kevin Harley, the spokesman. "He was passing on anecdotal information he was hearing from business leaders."
