NYC Letter: Left Hand/Right Hand Messaging -- Food Stamp President

Day 1,155 of CHOPE

The Democrats never make bad policy. They just do bad messaging.

First a little table-setting.

FOOD STAMP USE RISES
TO RECORD 45.8 MILLION
NEW YORK August 4, 2011 (CNN)

GINGRICH: OBAMA "MOST EFFECTIVE
FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT IN HISTORY"
August 5, 2011 (RCP/FNC)

Good to go and three guesses where this goes. The first two don't count.

Left Hand.

JIM CLYBURN: NEWT GINGRICH
'DENIGRATES' THE POOR

January 17, 2012 (Politico) - Pressed on why the label was denigrating if Gingrich was simply trying to point out how much the program for low-income families has grown under Obama’s watch, Clyburn (D-SC, 6th) pushed back, saying the state of the country that the president inherited from George W. Bush cannot be ignored.

Ah, OK. Mr. Clyburn indicts Mr. Gingrich for denigration of the poor, then skirts the injury done to plead historical necessity. Oh, look! A squirrel!

JIMMY CARTER: GINGRICH
'HAS THAT SUBTLETY OF RACISM'
January 18, 2012 (Blaze)

DEM ACCUSES GINGRICH OF RACISM
WITH 'FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT' COMMENT

January 23, 2012 (The Hill) - Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN, 9th) on Monday afternoon accused Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for making racist comments toward President Obama by calling him a "food stamp" president.

"Unfortunately, there's still people in this country who think that the President can't be their president because of his race," Cohen said. "Some even refer to him as a food stamp president."

Cohen did not name Gingrich, but Gingrich said earlier this month that Obama is the "food stamp president" because he has put more people on food stamps than any other president. Cohen said this is a sort of racial code against Obama because Obama is black. "We know that code is wrong," Cohen said.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, RESPONDING TO
FOODSTAMP LABEL, SUGGESTS NEWT
'TAPPING INTO SOME OF OUR WORST INSTINCTS'
LAS VEGAS January 26, 2012 (Politico)

BLACK CAUCUS CHAIRMAN CLEAVER:
GOP CANDIDATES ARE CAMPAIGNING ON
'SUBLIMINAL RACIAL MESSAGES'

February 2, 2012 (The Hill) - Rep. Emmanuel [sic] Cleaver (D-MO, 5th) said Thursday that the GOP presidential candidates need to "quit trying to send subliminal racial messages during the campaigns." ... Cleaver cited as examples Newt Gingrich’s recent comments on food stamps, including calling President Obama a "food stamp president," and Mitt Romney’s comments on "the very poor."

BIDEN HITS GINGRICH'S FOOD-STAMP
COMMENT AS 'INAPPROPRIATE'
TALLAHASSEE February 6, 2012 (The Hill)

REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ: BUSH IS REAL
"FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT," SLAMMING NEWT
WASHINGTON February 8, 2012 (Chicago Sun-Times)

And the Demo media minions do their bit to get the message out.

MARTIN BASHIR: STOP NEWT GINGRICH'S
FOOD STAMP TALK BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED

January 6, 2012 (NewsBusters) - MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Friday offered an offensive, bewildering comparison, linking the murder of a black British teenager in 1993 to supposedly offensive comments by Republican presidential candidates in 2012. ... Bashir excoriated, "Let's cut out the food stamps rhetoric right now before things get any worse."

MATTHEWS: GINGRICH IS RACE-BAITING
CALLING OBAMA FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT -
'HE OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF'
January 17, 2012 (NewsBusters)

But Mr. Obama is the "Food Stamp President". No, really, he is.

OBAMA CREATES A NATION
OF FOOD STAMP DEPENDENTS

March 23, 2012 (IBD) - When New Gingrich called President Obama "the best food stamp president in American history," the media pooh-poohed it. But, in fact, Obama has aggressively pushed dependence on government for food.

... Not true, reporters shrieked. Obama's only added 14.5 million to food stamps. Under Bush, the number climbed "nearly 14.7 million." Case closed. Never mind that Obama managed this feat in less than three years, compared with Bush's eight.

... But the facts are on Gingrich's side.

• Food stamp enrollment climbed an average 153,000 a month under Bush. Under Obama, it's climbed an average 403,000 a month.
  
• As of last December, there were 46.5 million on food stamps. That's 65% higher than at any time in the past four decades.
  
• Today, 14.8% of Americans get food stamps. That's also a record-shattering number. In Bush's last year, the figure was 9.3%.
  
• Obama's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack even claimed that all this food stamp spending was accelerating economic growth. "It's the most direct stimulus you can get in the economy during these tough times," he said last August.

Obama's defenders claim that this isn't his fault, but the result of the lingering effects of the recession combined with looser eligibility rules established under President Bush. But if that were true, why is enrollment in the food stamp program — officially called SNAP — continuing to climb? It was up by more than 2.3 million in 2011, even as the unemployment rate was falling.

Turns out, Obama hasn't passively stood by while people "became eligible." His administration has trolled for enrollees ever since he got into office.

When the narrative fails, change the narrative. Oh, look! A squirrel!

Right Hand.

JESSE JACKSON: 'IT'S AN HONOR TO BE
A FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT'
CHICAGO February 26, 2012 (NewsBusters)

PELOSI: FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT
'BADGE OF HONOR'
CHICAGO March 24, 2012 (Breitbart TV)

Dog whistle on. Dog whistle off.

Wait a minute. [Sixty seconds later.] That means the glory goes to Mr. Bush. Bummer, Mr. O. No winning for losing.

CHOPE.

Oh, look! A squirrel!

Posted by Damian at March 24, 2012 11:45 PM