"repugican
public relations consultant" Joe Brettell takes to the op-ed pages of
ABC News to investigate "The repugican cabal's soul-searching on poverty," and if
you're thinking "hmm, a repugican public relations consultant talking
about a repugican public relations efforts ... sounds suspicious,"
you're not being unduly cynical.
Equally worth noting is the political cost of taking on such a
delicate issue. House repugicans faced the full wrath of both interest
groups and the media when trying to make even modest reforms to the food
stamp program earlier this year, despite overwhelming evidence that it
was fundamentally broken.
Ah, yes, "modest reforms" like slashing the program by $40 billion
over 10 years and kicking millions of people out of the program. Despite
overwhelming evidence that in crappy economies, more people need food
stamps, and incredibly low fraud rates.
Regardless of the difficulty, it's becoming increasingly clear that
helping the less fortunate may provide repugicans with an issue they
can use to talk with voters traditionally outside their comfort zone.
For a cabal facing increasing demographic challenges, a concerted effort
to take on poverty seems like a natural fit for reaching out to a new
audience.
Hmm ... "helping the less fortunate may provide repugicans with an
issue they can use to talk with voters traditionally outside their
comfort zone." Can we count that as an admission that repugicans are
the cabal of the wealthy? Or does the subsequent reference to
"increasing demographic challenges" put it into dog whistle territory?
Either way, Brettell thinks it sure would be both brave and effective if repugicans like Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio focused their attention on
fighting poverty by reforming cutting food stamps and otherwise
increasing the miseries of poverty.
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