The Newtster - No More Food Stamps, For *YOU!*

[Kanastrous]

Say what you will about Newt Gingrich, but the man’s record includes the Herculean comeback of Republicans in 1994, thanks partly to the "Contract With America." That's why leading Republicans and GOP candidates are looking to Gingrich as the quarterback for the 2010 campaign. So what’s he advising they do?

Vilify food stamps. Gingrich more than most people knows that Washington tends to lock itself in intensely wonkish policy squabbles--need one say more than "budget reconciliation"?--that simply don’t resonate with the rest of the country. So to make it simple, Gingrich and his political action committee are sending a "close the deal" memo to Republican candidates, spelling it out in über-simple terms. What do you want more of: paychecks or food stamps?

It’s a bit out of left field. Most of the election cycle has centered on rich people and their tax cuts rather than poor people and their food-assistance programs. But there’s a very obvious reason why Gingrich wants to frame the issue this way: food stamp usage has historically gone up with Democrats in office, and down when Republicans were in charge. Frame it like that, and it looks as though Dems are the welfare-state-loving socialists and Republicans are the patriotic capitalists.

Never mind that targeting food stamps is a tad insensitive. It's no real surprise that with the recession, food stamp usage has spiked since 2008. The program now feeds one in eight Americans, and one in four children. In about 800 counties, even more children receive government assistance. Trying to reduce the number of people who need to take advantage of the program is a valiant goal, one worthy of, say, a congressional investigation. But turning the issue into a political point at the height of election season seems to demean the seriousness and complexity of the problem. And, since lower-income Americans are the ones who rely upon the program, pitting paychecks against food stamps is not all that different from pitting rich against poor.

Republicans have long struggled to shake the image of the party of wealthy white folks, but belittling food stamps seems a curious strategy to regain the GOP’s identity. That kind of rhetoric might play well with those Tea Partiers who can afford to jet to Washington for a political rally to restore conservativism. But those of them who can’t–the ones who receive food stamps–probably won’t be flattered by the argument.

http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggl ... tamps.html

I wonder how many Republican voters will talk a good Republican game all the way to the voting booth, then secretively punch 'Democrat' spots once they get there because, you know, much as they love keepin' the fags and the brown people down, they like eating a little bit more...

I hope that a way is found to make the Republicans suffer for this politically, big-time.

[gizmojumpjet]

Why did you title your thread in such a way as to suggest that Gingrich wants to abolish food-stamp programs, while the memo in question clearly advocates no such thing? If you bothered to read it, you'd see that the argument is that Republicans are better at creating jobs, and that having a job mitigates the need for receiving food stamps.

[Darth Fanboy]

Yeah, and the title of the thread also says "FOR YOU" specifically, which implied that I was getting foodstamps and that I would no longer be getting them. This is completely inaccurate!

Gizmo if you used any kind of reasoning to connect the two you will notice that the article is discussing how Gingrich is targeting food stamp programs and aiming to reduce their use. Shockingly enough, if you cut back an the amount spent on food stamps, it is very likely that someone is not going to be getting them anymore!

[gizmojumpjet]

Gizmo if you used any kind of reasoning to connect the two you will notice that the article is discussing how Gingrich is targeting food stamp programs and aiming to reduce their use. Shockingly enough, if you cut back an the amount spent on food stamps, it is very likely that someone is not going to be getting them anymore!

Where in the memo in question is there any talk of reducing food stamp funding? It talks about reducing food stamp use through job creation, not by simply defunding them.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Why did you title your thread in such a way as to suggest that Gingrich wants to abolish food-stamp programs, while the memo in question clearly advocates no such thing? If you bothered to read it, you'd see that the argument is that Republicans are better at creating jobs, and that having a job mitigates the need for receiving food stamps.

Except that his goal is to villify the use of foodstamps. The paychecks are for the congressmen, not poor people.

[Darth Fanboy]

Where in the memo in question is there any talk of reducing food stamp funding? It talks about reducing food stamp use through job creation, not by simply defunding them.

DUHHHHHH I DUNNO? Maybe...JUST MAYBE...if you reduce the number of people getting food stamps you end up spending less on the program. MAYBE.

Are you going to be one of those dense fucking idiots? Damn I wish we still had the ignore function open on here.

[Molyneux]

That's odd, I could have sworn that I posted here earlier.
I'm still not quite sure why people give Gingrich's opinion any weight. The man hasn't done a single thing worthwhile since leaving Congress, and he's one of the more massive (and easily-provable) hypocrites in the public eye to boot.

[Darth Fanboy]

Gingrich is only seeing a revival as the stupid ultraconservative wing of the GOP gets louder and more prominent. Selective memory will do that. Gingrich was one of those jackasses who turned capitol hill into the partisan mess it is today and will be beloved for it by those who now profit from it.

Surprising how some elements of his personal history get overlooked by his admirers.