Last Republican Debate held true again, the Redneck Racists of the Republican Party!
But of course little of these knuckleheads knows the facts that White folks make up 39% of welfare, Black Folks 37%, and Hispanics 17%. But of course Gingrich keeps calling President Obama the Food Stamp President, gee I wonder why? The great recession was handed off by the Republicans, and people need to eat! Is the Republican Party that out of touch with reality?
I'll give Newt Gingrich this much: He knows how to play the race card for everything it's worth, and does it without even batting an eyelash. I think the apex of Monday's debate was this moment when Juan Williams asked Gingrich a direct question about how his thinly-veiled racist attitudes play with African American voters, and whether he regretted his positions. Here's the question and answer:
WILLIAMS: Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?
GINGRICH: No. I don’t see that.
The audience roared. Absolutely roared. Salon writer Steve Kornacki's analysis was right on the money:
In a general election debate, this might have been a challenging question for Gingrich to field. But this was a GOP primary debate in a state where the modern Republican Party was essentially created out of a white backlash against the Democratic Party’s embrace of civil rights. Some in the live audience in Myrtle Beach hissed at Williams, one of the few Democratic-friendly voices on Fox, and Gingrich milked their outrage for all it was worth.
Yes, yes he did. Not content to re-emphasize his barely-concealed disdain for those sponging poor folk who obviously have no decent role models so they can learn how to work, he went on to declare this:
You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor, and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out. They would actually have money in their pocket. They’d learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front office. They could work in the library. They’d be getting money, which is a good thing if you’re poor. Only the elites despise earning money.
Ooh. A two-fer. He gets to nail those piggy union janitors in New York and play right into the heart of the crowd with the "elites" comment. Except it's not accurate. The union employees Gingrich is referring to here are known as "custodial engineers." And as FactCheck.org notes, the starting pay for one of those employees is about $56,000 in New York. However, a custodial engineer isn't really a janitor in the sense that Gingrich describes. A custodial engineer is a management position. A "cleaner" makes about $32,000 per year.
In Newt's scenario, that $30,000 per year position would be split among "30-some" kids, who would do "light janitorial duty", presumably. How many hours would students work to earn that $1,000 per year? And what happens to the adult who no longer has a job because the students are now "learning to work"? These are unanswered questions.
But never fear, Newtie didn't stop there. He knew he had the audience with him and the momentum on his side, particularly after the audience booed loudly and tried to shout Juan Williams' next question down.
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