A little 'light', and less heat generation, on the 'free stuff' debate,
The real problem with this meme, for Republicans? It focuses their attention on rhetoric and excuses, rather than on proposing real efforts to help ALL Americans. Hint, supply side economics is not the answer, so stop including it as the lynchpin of all of your tax proposals.
Also stop insulting the economic groups whose votes you NEED to increase your share of to have even a compete remote chance of competing for the Presidency. And yeah, that includes poor Whites who, if they didn't have Medicaid and SNAP benefits, would be either visiting the ER's more frequently or dying in even greater numbers.
The real problem with this meme, for Republicans? It focuses their attention on rhetoric and excuses, rather than on proposing real efforts to help ALL Americans. Hint, supply side economics is not the answer, so stop including it as the lynchpin of all of your tax proposals.
Also stop insulting the economic groups whose votes you NEED to increase your share of to have even a compete remote chance of competing for the Presidency. And yeah, that includes poor Whites who, if they didn't have Medicaid and SNAP benefits, would be either visiting the ER's more frequently or dying in even greater numbers.
Quote:Yet these so-called "Obamaphones" are non-existent -- the federal program that offered subsidized phone service (Lifeline) has existed since 1985 and was expanded to include cell phones through the SafeLink program under President George W. Bush.
Quote:Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush recently claimed that Democrats use the promise of "free stuff" to court black voters, echoing years of dubious claims by conservative media that government assistance programs exist to "buy votes."
Jeb Bush: Democrats Use "Free Stuff" To Try To Woo Black Voters. Speaking in South Carolina on September 24, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush claimed that Democrats use "free stuff" to win over black voters.
As The New York Times reported:
Jeb Bush told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday that Republicans could attract more African-Americans with a message of "hope and aspiration," and not with promises of "free stuff" -- a phrase that echoed comments made by Mitt Romney during and after his 2012 bid for president.
The remarks, first reported by The Washington Post, came in response to a question from a white man in a largely white crowd in Mount Pleasant, who asked how Mr. Bush planned to appeal to African-Americans.
"Our message is one of hope and aspiration," Mr. Bush said. "It isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting -- that says you can achieve earned success." [The New York Times, 9/25/15]
Washington Post Calls Out Bush's Comments As Evidence-Free
Washington Post's Bump: Bush's "Free Stuff" Comments Is Based On Popular Conservative Myths.
In a September 28 post for The Washington Post's political blog, The Fix, Phillip Bump explained that Jeb Bush's claim suffers from a "lack of evidence," including the fact that there is "no correlation between the use of government programs and electoral results."
Bump argued that the "free stuff" myth has become conservative orthodoxy because of the Republican Party's obsession with the Affordable Care Act, Medicare expansion, food stamps, welfare, and "a long-standing program to offer reduced price phones to low-income households," which have been derisively labeled "Obamaphones":
On Friday, we looked at the lack of evidence for this position, including that there's no correlation between the use of government programs and electoral results. (And that other forms of government largess, such as tax breaks for corporations or Social Security, don't prompt a similar party-loyalty response from people.)
Part of this sentiment is likely a result of the fact (and the emphasis of the fact) that use of federal assistance increased under President Obama. Food stamp and temporary assistance program enrollment spiked after he came into office -- in large part because the economy had collapsed.
(This led Newt Gingrich to call Obama the "food-stamp president" when Gingrich was running for president in 2012.) Layer on top of that conservative critique of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicare for low-income Americans, and a focus on a long-standing program to offer reduced-price phones to low-income households. [The Washington Post, The Fix, 9/28/15]
Fox News Has Spent Years Claiming That Democrats Support Assistance Programs To "Buy Votes" Of Recipients
Fox Repeatedly Hyped "Obamaphones" As An Incentive To Vote For Obama. Prior to President Obama's 2012 re-election, Fox repeatedly hyped a video of what it described as "an Obama supporter touting her 'Obamaphone'" to disparage recipients of federal assistance programs.
Frequent Fox guest and then-National Review writer Mark Yet these so-called "Obamaphones" are non-existent -- the federal program that offered subsidized phone service (Lifeline) has existed since 1985 and was expanded to include cell phones through the SafeLink program under President George W. Bush.
Steyn claimed on Fox & Friends that "the 'takers' were able to out-vote the 'makers'" and that the American Dream was being thwarted by Democrats, who "bribe people with the Obamaphones." Steyn was repeating claims made by Fox's Sean Hannity on his radio program, where Hannity suggested voters only supported Obama so they could receive an "Obamaphone."
[FoxNews.com,9/29/12; Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 10/2/12; Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/8/12]
Most low-income Americans are white, because most Americans are white. But the idea that black Americans support Democrats and Obama because of those programs seems to run deep on the right, as the survey above shows.
In other words, Bush is saying something that a lot of Republican and independent voters believe — something that they had on the tips of their tongues when pollsters called in 2012.
