Contempt for the poor [barf alert]

Seattle Times ^ | January 31, 2010 | Leonard Pitts, Jr.

[UAConservative]

If he'd said it of Jews, he would still be apologizing.

If he'd said it of blacks, he'd be on BET, begging absolution.

If he'd said it of women, the National Organization for Women would have his carcass turning slowly on a spit over an open flame.

But he said it of the poor, so he got away with it.

"He" is South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, running for governor on the GOP ticket. Speaking of those who receive public assistance, he recently told an audience, "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

You read that right. The would-be governor of one of the poorest states there is likens the poor to stray animals.

And though it drew some newspaper notice, a riposte from "The Daily Show" and rebukes from Bauer's opponents, it never quite rose to the level of national controversy, as it would've had Bauer compared, say, women or Jews to the dogs one feeds at one's back door. The relative silence stands as eloquent testimony to the powerlessness and invisibility of the American poor.

One is reminded how earnestly shocked news media were at the poverty they saw five years ago when New Orleans drowned. "Why didn't they get out?" observers kept asking — as if everyone has a car in the driveway and a wallet full of plastic.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Leonard Pitts is a chronic barf alert. That man couldn’t write a decent, sane, non-race baiting article by accident.

[Niuhuru]

“Once I watched a woman in line in front of me buy lobster with food stamps. I was infuriated since we couldn’t afford to with cash”

This one time, a co-worker told me (she worked in seafood and I worked in produce) that a black woman, dressed in leather, gold jewelry, kids looked healthy and dressed to the hilt, cam over and asked “can I buy your lobster with my food stamps?” She was refused because lobster is considered a live animal and that wasn’t allowed. Apparantly threw a fit.

And she was able bodied enough and could afford gold jewelry.