I'm not american and neither do I know much about these parties at all, but my guess would have been, that while they may not be perfect, they're still the best options for communist parties? I may be mistaken, since I know so little. Like, would the PSL be a better alternative? If they are, maybe they're not active in his part of the US? Maybe CPUSA is the most accessible?
These are all speculations tho. I'm looking forward to other more educated insights xD.
This may not completely address the argument that the unemployed are lazy, but I think one has to keep in mind what unemployment benefits are for us workers. It's an extremely good weapon against our employers. A high unemployment benefit means that we have less to fear when it comes to class struggle. So if anyone argues against unemployed people getting paid, they're talking about stripping the workers of an important weapon they can use to improve working conditions for themselves in the future.