dagblog - Comments for "Newt to 'Really Poor Children': Buy Your Own Damn Ice Cream"

Ramona, He's now saying

artappraiser — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:41:33 +0000

In reply to Newt is shrewd that way and

Ramona,

He's now saying exactly what I predicted he would on the matter, but sooner than I thought. (Speaking of being scared, that's kinda weirding me out ):

From When Gingrich’s Big Thoughts Backfire by Trip Gabriel, New York Times, Dec. 5/6, 2011:

[.....]

Now something similar is occurring over Mr. Gingrich’s children-as-janitors idea. With less than a month before the first votes are cast in Iowa, he seems to recognize that he is in danger from the reaction to his proposal, which he first offered two weeks ago at Harvard in response to a student’s question.

Criticism has been blistering, with some pointing to research showing that the more high school students work, the poorer their grades.

At the news conference in New York on Monday, Mr. Gingrich introduced the topic before taking questions. He explained that he was thinking of children in housing projects who had few working adults as role models. He hoped to introduce them to the habit of earning a paycheck in exchange for being responsible.

“How many of you earned some money doing something by the time you were 10 years old?” he asked a crowded room of journalists at the Union League Club, where he had just met privately with affluent donors.

“Baby-sitting. Cutting grass. Raise your hand.”

A few tentative hands went up.

Mr. Gingrich said his proposal, which he had presented as a taste of his “extraordinarily radical” antipoverty ideas, had been distorted by critics.

“I do not suggest children up to 14, 15 years of age do heavy janitorial work,” he said. They could work in clerical roles or do light maintenance, for instance.

Mr. Gingrich, who met earlier in the day with Donald J. Trump, announced that Mr. Trump had agreed to create a program of 10 part-time paid “apprenticeships” for children in one of New York’s poorest schools. “He understood exactly what I was getting at,” Mr. Gingrich said. “It fit his own past, his own childhood, his own experience.”

Note that in summation, the "evil liberal media" has thrown a jab, otherwise know as pointing out nonsense :

Mr. Trump, of course, did not grow up poor; his father was a wealthy landlord. He once told Forbes magazine that his first income came from collecting soda bottles for the deposit money. He later went around with his father’s rent collectors.

I just read the link to the

trkingmomoe — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:09:56 +0000

In reply to This is classic Newt. Back in

I just read the link to the Nation article after making my comment. Many people remember Newt's rants when he was in Congress. He used to be a regular on C-span at night with all his nasty ideas. What I remember him most for was his stupid idea about orphanages. He is not going to be president.

This is classic Newt. Back in

trkingmomoe — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:43:34 +0000

In reply to Newt to 'Really Poor Children': Buy Your Own Damn Ice Cream

This is classic Newt. Back in the contract with America days, he used to stand in front of cameras and tell us that he wanted to bring back orphanages. He wanted to take away support from poor families and put the children in orphanages, so they could learn morals and how to work. Sometimes he would paint verbal pictures of little orphan Annie cleaning rooms at the orphanage and building moral strength from her effort. That way she would not grow up to be a welfare mother and sit around expecting a free ride.

Kat, he's like the Phoenix

Ramona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:07:27 +0000

In reply to Sad that I've lived 56 years

Kat, he's like the Phoenix rising over and over. If he becomes president (shudder) you'll be looking at Teflon II. It's shocking that the Republicans are okay with the idea of someone like Gingrich becoming the leader of the nation. Any disaster we've endured would seem like feathers in the wind compared to that.

Dream on, my friend. Newt

Ramona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:02:27 +0000

In reply to This guy is really something,

Dream on, my friend. Newt will always survive. Hell, he may even be our next president. Welcome to my nightmare.

His name has always led me

Verified Atheist — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:01:46 +0000

In reply to Funny that you should mention

His name has always led me more towards a Dr. Seuss character than a Charles Dickens one.

Richard you scamp! Zapped us

Ramona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:00:41 +0000

In reply to Newt is a perfect example of

Richard you scamp! Zapped us again. If there wasn't already "Devil's Advocate" we'd have to invent the term just for you.

Funny that you should mention

Ramona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:57:40 +0000

In reply to P.S. I wonder if you've

Funny that you should mention "Scrooge". I started this out with the Scrooge theme and somehow came across a great piece in The Nation by John Nichols called -- damn! --

The Gingrich of Politics Past Mounts a Modern Scrooge-Marley Campaign

I went with the ice cream title because in one of his speeches he actually did talk about how those 'really poor children' could work for pay and be able to buy their own ice cream cones. It seemed like another example of normalizing and sweetening his notion of putting only poor kids to work with the added benefit of taking jobs away from working class adults. He's tricky that way. Maybe even brilliant at it.

Newt is shrewd that way and

Ramona — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:49:59 +0000

In reply to I think he's just pandering

Newt is shrewd that way and always has been. He can make what sounds like a perfectly reasonable argument for gutting anything that smacks of real assistance to the hurting throngs. That way he appeases both sides. The true Right Wingers are able to read between the lines and understand what he really means, and the rest will see him as this nice man who is simply making the case for the American way.

I am terrified that Newt might win. No hyperbole there. I'm terrified.

Really, Richard? That's what

Kat Nove — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:43:58 +0000

In reply to Newt is a perfect example of

Really, Richard? That's what you were thinking? Hang on while I go get my lit cigarette which I just spit halfway across the room.