Newt Gingrich: Full Retard (Food Stamps and NAACP)

[UnderAGreySky]

Link

Gingrich, during an appearance in Plymouth, New Hampshire, spoke about remarks he would theoretically make if invited to speak to the NAACP.

"I'm prepared if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps," Gingrich said.

The former House speaker has made a habit of calling President Obama the "food stamp president" -- a nickname he used on Thursday as well -- and has often painted the contrast between himself and Mr. Obama as a choice between paychecks and food stamps.

"The fact is, if I become your nominee we will make the key test very simple: Food stamps versus paychecks," Gingrich said. "Obama is the best food stamp president in American history. More people are on food stamps today because of Obama's policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history."

The use of food stamps in America has continued to climb in recent years, and hit an all-time high of nearly 45 million in 2011.

According to U.S. Census Bureau, about 28 percent of households that receive food stamps are African American, while 59 percent are white. According to the same report, about 78 percent of American households are white, while about 12 percent are black. (The overall population is 72.4 percent white and 12.6 percent black.)

He really said that. Maybe he saw Sir Frothy get a make a mark and assumed it was because of his comments on black people. Maybe it's just because he's an arsehole par excellence.

What a... specimen this Newt is. Unlike the Monty Python one, this one never will get better.

[madd0ct0r]

Competitive black bashing is part of the repubilican race?
A race apart, there, really.

Mebbe somebody should organise a rerun of BBC doc from the 80's. A Tory MP was asked to spend one week living on the dole and was filmed doing so.
He entered the experiment determined to show how wasteful the money was, how people were having an undeserved quality of life ect. IIRC, by the sunday his electricity had been cut off.

I'd love to see that in America.

[Lord Zentei]

OK, far be it from me to defend Newt Gingrich or claim that he isn't an asshole, but this:

"I'm prepared if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps," Gingrich said.

The former House speaker has made a habit of calling President Obama the "food stamp president" -- a nickname he used on Thursday as well -- and has often painted the contrast between himself and Mr. Obama as a choice between paychecks and food stamps.

"The fact is, if I become your nominee we will make the key test very simple: Food stamps versus paychecks," Gingrich said. "Obama is the best food stamp president in American history. More people are on food stamps today because of Obama's policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history."

I'm not seeing it as "black bashing". He's saying that blacks should demand paychecks and not food stamps, and criticizing Obama for being a president under which the number of people on food stamps has swelled. Commenting on the NAACP that way is to criticize them too for not demanding jobs instead of welfare, I guess; but that's hardly "black bashing" either.

[Temjin]

Leaving the question of racism aside, this kind of talk could be quite effective for him.

A few months ago, I remember reading an article in a newsletter that was distributed to the homeless shelters around Winnipeg. It was about why, in the last federal election, while a left wing party still made strong showing in the poorer areas, the Conservatives made a really strong showing in those same areas as well. Why would so many of people the depend on those social programs seemingly vote against their interests?

The idea in the article was because while those left wing parties were talking about improving and providing more funding to those social programs, the Conservatives were talking about jobs. Turns out not many people actually likes depending on those social programs just to be able to get by, and a lot of those people who don't like it voted for the party they thought would be better able to get them off those programs and provide them with jobs.

If Newt can paint himself as the "paycheque president" successfully, he could make a strong showing in the primaries, especially with how the economy is.

[Silver Jedi]

I'm not seeing it as "black bashing". He's saying that blacks should demand paychecks and not food stamps, and criticizing Obama for being a president under which the number of people on food stamps has swelled. Commenting on the NAACP that way is to criticize them too for not demanding jobs instead of welfare, I guess; but that's hardly "black bashing" either.

The fact that he'd rather focus on job growth than supporting social programs is not what makes this "black bashing". It's the fact that he went out of his way to bring up blacks and the NAACP to talk about it. He's essentially telling his (mostly white) crowd that when he thinks of people of color, welfare is the most important issue. He is, in so many words, saying that the most pertinent issue wrt race relations is "they're getting too much welfare."