The "Black People" platform

[Guns Guns Guns]

GOP presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum resorted to hurling racist stereotypes just before the Iowa campaign.


Santorum, campaigning in Iowa, said what sounded like “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.”

At first, he offered a nondenial that suggested that the comment might have been out of context.

Now he’s saying that he didn’t say “black people” at all but that he “started to say a word” and then “sort of mumbled it and changed my thought.”



Gingrich has been calling President Obama “the best food stamp president” for months, but after plummeting in the polls and finishing fourth in Iowa, he must have decided that this approach was too subtle.

So, on Thursday in New Hampshire, he sharpened the shiv and dug it in deeper, saying, “I’m prepared, if the N.A.A.C.P. 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.”

On Friday, Gingrich defended himself, as usual, by insisting that exactly what he said wasn’t exactly what he said. He was advocating for African-Americans, not disparaging them …

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http://www.theroot.com/buzz/gops-black-people-platform

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

The comments from Santorum and Gingrich came after a renewed exploration of Ron Paul’s controversial newsletters, one of which said in June 1992 about the Los Angeles riots:

“Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began.”

Paul has, of course, insisted that he didn’t write or review the newsletters, although they were written under his name, he made money from them and he used to brag about them.



http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/o...ck-people-platform.html?_r=1&ref=charlesmblow

 

[Guns Guns Guns]

First, some facts.


Take the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps.


PolitiFact has rated Gingrich’s “food stamp president” charge as only half-true.


Yes, participation in the program is at a record high, but Bush-era efforts to increase participation and broaden the program “produced consistent increases in the number of average monthly beneficiaries.


The number rose in seven out of the eight years of Bush’s presidency — most of which were years not considered recessionary.


All told, the number of recipients rose by a cumulative 63 percent during Bush’s eight-year presidency.”


Now to the singling out of blacks.


The largest group of SNAP beneficiaries is by far non-Hispanic whites...


Finally, as to the false dichotomy of “food stamps” versus “paychecks.”


First, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, most SNAP participants are either too old or too young to work.


Forty-seven percent were under age 18, and 8 percent were 60 or older.


Second, “nearly 30 percent of SNAP households had earnings in 2010, and 41 percent of all SNAP participants lived in a household with earnings.”





http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/o...ck-people-platform.html?_r=1&ref=charlesmblow