GOP Rep: Physical Fitness Proof of Food Stamp Fraud

They needed to look poor and destitute.

IIRC, groups like Christian Children’s Fund have done research to determine how destitute to make the children in their commercials look. They need to look poor enough to inspire help, but not so bad they’re off-putting.

It looks like Mullin’s narrow mind exemplifies the dimensions of the needle these groups need to thread.

If only they had special stores for those receiving assistance to patronize, so the Representative won’t have to mix with the riff-raff. Perhaps a servant’s entrance at the rear, too.

The food programs are designed to take care of people who can’t work, not won’t work.

Right, there are only two types of people out there. Those who are physically unable to work, and those that could have all the jobs they wanted but simply choose not to. It’s not like there’s a category of people called “unemployed” or anything, which is defined as people looking for work who can’t get it.

Strewth @4 beat me to it.

Of course, it’s not all that surprising that a conservative representative wouldn’t even consider that the person might be on SSI due to a mental disability, because we all know all mental disabilities are cured by pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps. [/snark]

Maybe Rep Mullin should swap his current salary and expenses for those oh so generous handouts. After of course he gets tested to make sure he isn’t going to spend it all on drugs.

You know, I even ask myself, even if some people are getting food stamps or welfare or whatever even if they had jobs or could easily find a job, who cares? I really can’t get worked up over people — any people — getting food for free.

And I’ll bet that this even happens at Wal-Mart — where the cashier, when she buys groceries after punching out for the day, pays for them at least in part with SNAP. Because full-time pay at Wal-Mart is low enough that the employees qualify for SNAP.

Another way of looking at this is that SNAP and EITC are corporate welfare — they allow the employers to pay even lower wages.

of course they never mention the large percentage of people who are Underemployed . or the foster parents who get food stamps to help pay for the kids they are caring for . then they complain about the food those on welfare purchase .. OMG someone on welfare bought a bag of chips or soda.

And their calves were like cantaloupes.

D.C. Sessions:

The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of who will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.” (via balloonjuice)

Rep. Mullin is aware that many servicemen and women are on food stamps because service pay is so low, isn’t he? Does he honestly believe we should only hire unfit soldiers, or does he believe that once service personnel meet fitness requirements their children should be starved?

Am I the only one who thinks it a bit odd — creepy, even — that this guy is so close to the other customers in line that he knows what cards they are using? I go to the grocery store every week, and 99% of the time, could not tell you what kind of card/cards the people in front of me were using. If someone got that close to me, while I was swiping my card (whatever kind of card it might be), I’d feel very uncomfortable. Something smells here, and I don’t think it’s the Limburger in the shopping cart.

He seems to be implying that if you are physically fit. I am currently pretty physically fit, which I accomplish by riding a bicycle everywhere (20 years car-free, woo-hoo!) and lifting weights on a barbell set I bought about 18 years ago for $200. It does not cost that much, just some inexpensive workout and not eating every chili-cheese dog in sight.

He seems to have a shoe fetish as well, and when he mentioned the “really nice Nike shoes,” it really struck a chord. Up till last year, I was a public school teacher in a CBT program that served youth with a felony record in a residential treatment setting. I used to (gently) tease the kids concerning how carefully they tended these shoes. For some of these kids, this was the only “status” item they possessed, and, though in some cases the shoes were a few years old, they looked immaculate. They would return my joke, but it was clear how much they prized the shoes because they had little else. Markwayne (really?) needs to, eh, I was going to say something sage and mature but I will settle for he needs to eat shit and die.

Ellie @23 – exactly. It sounds a lot like how urban myths get started. “This might happen” becomes “I’ll bet this is happening” becomes “I’ve heard this is happening” becomes “I actually saw this happen”. It’s a defence against the cognitive dissonance of being acused, “You can’t possibly believe that, can you?”

Something smells here, and I don’t think it’s the Limburger in the shopping cart.

I think there’s a very high probability that this story isn’t real, it’s just for illustrative purposes based on what he’s been told or thinks he knows about people on food stamps. To the wingnut mind, the narrative drives reality, not the other way around.

See also: Reagan’s Cadillac-driving welfare queen.

In the state of Oklahoma, a teacher with 3 or more children will qualify for food stamps unless his/her spouse works a better paying job.

That’s OK though, we are used to our elected officials saying stupid things….

As far as the shoes go I guess Mullin never bothered to consider that they might be a gift from a relative who actually has money to buy shoes that don’t come from the 10 buck rack at Value Village.

Turns that Markwhiner is no stranger to a handout of sorts. He got his daddy’s bidneth the old fashioned way, dad got too sick to run it.

His bio says he turned it around and now owns several other companies. It would sure be nice to know how many of 100+ employees receive any sort of public assistance.

Textbook confirmation bias. He sees one fit couple using assistance and his conclusion:

Fraud. Absolute 100% all it is is fraud…it’s all over the place.