A not-so-gentle reminder that Sen. Tom Cotton was a generally awful human being long before the #47Traitors flap, back when he was running for Senate last year:
“I don’t think that we should be using farmers as a way to pack more welfare spending into Barack Obama’s government,” Cotton said. according to the Huffington report “Nor should we have a food stamp program that isn’t reformed, that doesn’t have job training and work requirements, that doesn’t have drug testing requirements, so we can get people who are addicted the help they need. Or make sure that long-term addicts or recidivists are not abusing taxpayer dollars.”
Suggesting that food stamp recipients are “people who are addicted” while running for the Senate in a state like Alabama Arkansas is not an accident. Cotton easily beat Mark Pryor in November by 17 points and my guess is he’ll have no problem getting re-elected for the next 30 years, where he’ll be a dog-whistling pain in the ass for as long as the GOP is a going concern in the South.
There’s a reason why Cotton is considered a “rising star” where using the Southern Strategy of fifty years ago makes you the future of the party.
Ben Cisco
Arkansas.
PaulW
Arkansas, not Alabama.
wasabi gasp
Don’t be hungry for drugs, just be hungry.
BC
Actually, Cotton is not from Alabama, but from Arkansas. Maybe he will be there for 30 more years, but Dems have better chance in Arkansas – particularly since this state has Medicaid expansion so there are more people who are insulted by this type of rhetoric now.
El Caganer
He’s definitely a wingnut’s wingnut. ISIS working with Mexican drug cartels? Wonder what they’re doing these days up at Harvard Law to pump out creatures like Cotton and Ted Cruz.
lonesomerobot
It’s easy to understand how you could mistake one shithole for another
Face
I think we’ve passed the point of ever seeing another Senate Dem elected in the Deep South. Perhaps there’ll be some super-charasmatic guy/gal who’ll get the vote someday, but for the foreseeable future political polarization is so strong and so rancid–coupled with aggressive voter suppression tactics–that I just dont see anyone but the most vile Repubs getting the nod down in the Valley of Guns And God.
SiubhanDuinne
Excellent thread title!
wasabi gasp
Let them eat bananas.
BubbaDave
@Face:
I think our best hope at this point is a third-party run that splits the GOP. I mean, we should seriously have a Democrat whispering in Roy Moore’s ear 24/7 that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III isn’t nearly Godly enough to be a Senator and that what the people of Alabama are crying out for is a chance to vote for Roy Moore on the “God and Heritage-if-you-know-what-I-mean-and-I-think-you-do” ticket….
jonas
@BC: A salient feature of cultural whiteness is the ability to loudly proclaim your pious and rugged individuality while your mouth is securely suckered to the teat of government largess, whether its foodstamps, ag welfare, or ACA insurance. He could tell a room full of SSI-receiving, Medicaid-receiving, foodstamp-receiving white folks that he’s going to crack down on all those mooches who take government handouts and get a huge ovation because, well, they know he’s not referring to *them*.
Xantar
McCain: “I saw the letter, I saw that it looked reasonable to me and I signed it, that’s all. I sign lots of letters.”
Now the Palin selection makes sense.
rea
@PaulW: Well, Arkansas is a state like Alabama . . .
danielx
Yes, and so? Why mess with a winning formula? The Southern Strategy of fifty years ago is still winning elections handily. The only things that have changed are the amount of money required for a winning candidacy and the fact that the most successful present-day users of that strategy would be considered floridly insane by the standards of fifty years ago.
rlrr
@Xantar:
Just the kind of attention to detail a President should have…
kindness
Was gonna chime in on a correction but I see it’s been handled well.
Don’t let them tell you liberals aren’t edumacated.
Sloegin
I’m addicted to food, I admit it. I don’t manage very well when I go without for even just a few days.
boatboy_srq
Much more accurate.
Kay
My House member (Latta) did the same thing. He held meetings where he assured ag interests they would keep their subsidies and blamed budget woes on food stamp recipients.
Which is amusing, because food stamps are a voucher to purchase agricultural products.
A lot of entities benefit from food stamps- producers. retailers, low wage employers. The people who get the voucher are almost an after-thought at this point.
Maybe we could have a real debate about food stamps where we include ALL the beneficiaries of the program- sectors, industries, everybody.
boatboy_srq
@El Caganer: Projection, yet again. Remember that Reagan sold Iran weapons so he could pay Contras. The global web of deceit is a most Rethuglican thing.
rlrr
@Sloegin:
I find that I can’t go without oxygen for very long. Do I have a problem?
Zandar
poo.
raven
@Xantar: ding
scav
‘Disease is no longer a problem’ claims deadly bacteria
Belafon
@BubbaDave: We had that party. It was called the Tea Party. What happened was that the GOP establishment knew they couldn’t win without the Tea Party, so they went right to absorb them. Worked, too, but it made the party even crazier.
Until the business part of the Republican party decides they can no longer work with these people, the Republican party will no split. And until the Tea Party wing of the Republican party prevents votes that transfer wealth to the top .01%, the business wing will no longer support them. And that’s not going to happen because Jesus never said that we should pay taxes.
greennotGreen
Drug-testing of welfare recipients in other states (my own state of Tennessee, for example) has shown that drug use is lower than among the general population.
The modern Republican party: immune to reality.
Violet
@SiubhanDuinne: I did reply to you last night. Missed you by a minute. Good luck at the hospital.
Belafon
@Belafon: I don’t have edit for some reason, but the penultimate sentence should read: “And
untilunless the Tea Party wing of the Republican party prevents votes that transfer wealth to the top .01%, the business wing will no longer support them.”Belafon
@Belafon: “will keep supporting them.”
OK, I give up.
Sloegin
@rlrr: It’s all about self-control, really. Though you might find it difficult for a few days at the end of the month if you become an oxygen-stamp recipient.
beltane
Until the last plutocrat is strangled with the entrails of the last redneck, Congress will be infested with creatures like Sen. Cotton. Remember, morally diseased people are just as entitled to representation as decent people.
beltane
When oxygen addicts are deprived of oxygen, their brains cells start to die and they become Republicans.
dedc79
I thought the guy would do damage – I just didn’t realize it would be this quickly and on such a global scale.
beltane
I give Tom Cotton a lot of credit. His antics have caused my 75 year old Jewish mother to go from being reflexively pro-Israel to forwarding Mondoweiss articles to everyone. Maybe it’s the Bill Kristol magic at work here.
boatboy_srq
@beltane: That certainly explains the GOTea’s knee-jerk opposition to the Clean Air Act.
Cacti
Within 24 hours of publishing his letter, Tom Cotton was a featured speaker at an “off the record” event for the National Defense Industrial Association…
AKA the professional lobbying group for the arms industry.
Who wants war with Iran the most?
Follow the money.
boatboy_srq
@beltane: McCain/Palin did that for my Maine Republican mum. Speaking of which, the moment she was announced as running-mate this was the only thing that ran through my mind.
boatboy_srq
@Cacti: Peace is horrible for the arms business. Think of all the
lives savedjobs lost.Alex S.
@Xantar:
LOL….. “there were letters… on paper!”
Tom Cotton is really a disgrace. Mark Pryor should have beaten him, but the partisan bent of Arkansas has intensified extremely in the past years. Detailed polls by the University of Arkansas showed how within a couple of months the favorability ratings of both Pryor and Blanche Lincoln collapsed before their election. The conservative hive mind has swallowed Arkansas. There’s no hope for Democrats.
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
Thanks so much, Violet. Saw your very helpful comments a short time ago. I’ll pass everything along to her daughter, who is the decision-maker. (I’m there more for moral support and as a somewhat objective observer and sounding board and extra pair if hands.)
I haven’t heard yet from the daughter, so don’t know when they’re (we’re) expected at the hospital. Her doctor’s office was going to set it up. It’s not a true “emergency” so much as it is a need to get Martha in an environment where she can be thoroughly checked out (as opposed to the stress of going all over the place to different clinics and labs and offices) as well as get hydrated and whatever else may be required as immediate care.
I’ll check the Juice later and if I see you around, I’ll post updates. Thank you again for your good, practical suggestions!
Judge Crater
Love that name, “Tom Cotton”. It’s got a Tennessee Williams ring to it.
Aside from that he’s just one more free-market Republican from the neoconservative heart of darkness. His education was for naught – he’s a 19th century American through and through. He longs for the days of Jane Austen and the Charge of the Light Brigade. The days when freedom was legal.
burnspbesq
In which Jack Goldsmith points out that, in addition to being disloyal, the 47 Non-Ronin are really, really stupid.
What was that about “non-binding,” again?
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2015/03/how-a-u-n-security-council-resolution-transforms-a-non-binding-agreement-with-iran-into-a-binding-obligation-under-international-law-without-any-new-senatorial-or-congressional-vote/
Cervantes
@Belafon, paraphrasing:
Whereas, actually, he did.
Patrick
@Xantar:
Whatever, Mr McCain. The Dems can now do the same if they want to under a GOP Prez. They can also claim that, just like you, they thought it looked “reasonable”.
MomSense
Cotton isn’t even an outlier on this issue. I think it was Ryan who suggested it was more honorable for a child to have an empty belly than food stamps. I think it was a story he appropriated from someone else, totally missing the original intent of point.
wasabi gasp
Keep your soup bowl dry for into it economics will soon trickle.
Cervantes
@MomSense:
Yes, it was Paul Ryan, of course: The left is for full stomachs and empty souls while the American people want more.
Details here.
scav
Heads up, sad day arrived: Terry Pratchett has died.
Belafon
@Cervantes: Yep, but you’d have to read the Bible to find that out.
Kryptik
@Patrick:
Except our operative double standards would probably ensure that the theoretical Dems who tried such would be impeached by the end of the month, while the actual GOPers who’ve tried this will likely never suffer one iota of consequence for their shit and will likely be immensely rewarded in the background.
rlrr
@Kryptik:
IOKIYAR, always.
dmsilev
@scav: Damnit.
boatboy_srq
@Belafon: Why is it that the Teahad’s Book consists of nothing more than the Pentateuch and a handful of letters from Paul? I know it’s because selecting only those portions gives them the ammo to be Righteous A##holes, but there has to be some other justification for excising 90+% of The Book besides “I Can Be A Wanker And Still Get To Heaven”.
boatboy_srq
@scav: BLEEP. BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEPing BLEEP.
MomSense
@Cervantes:
Oh that is horrible–even worse than I thought.
kindness
The paradox (hypocrisy) of Republicans is astounding. So much so that they fail to see it at all. So giving (rich) farmers free money is great for their character and noble but giving (poor) people vouchers to buy food is bad for their character.
This new world the TeaHaddists are convinced is good…..why are they bogarting all the drugs they must be using to seem as if it all makes sense?
Cervantes
@MomSense:
Yes, it’s rather Gingrich.
gene108
This whole kick the crap out of the poor seems to be of pure spite and wickedness these days.
After the Great Society programs kicked in, crime rates skyrocketed. There was a cause-and-effect gut reaction that these programs were causing crime, drug use and exacerbating poverty, especially in inner cities. There’s a whole right-wing school of thought that welfare has done more to destroy traditional families, in the African-American community, than slavery and Jim Crow ever could, because mothers were incentivized to have more kids, even if it was with multiple fathers to get the sweet, sweet welfare cash.
People were wrong to with their gut cause-and-effect reaction, but I can at least understand how people could reach that conclusion.
Today, in 2015, crime rates are at record lows, teen pregnancy rates are at record lows, there’s no rational reason to correlate welfare programs as having anything to do with promoting societal ills, but the right-wing still wants to take a giant crap on the poor.
It’s just naked evil wickedness at this point in time.
Chris
@jonas:
Two of the more fascinating little incidents that’ve happened to me in regards to this –
One, walking out of a CVS in DC, past a white guy. Him: “Spare some change, sir?” Me: “Sorry.” Him: “Yeah, all the money goes to the Mexicans these days, but nobody’ll help Americans…”
Two: that time I was staying at my grandmother’s and went to help her out during her evening at the soup kitchen her church runs. Somewhere in the line was another white guy, very loudly complaining about how the black people in the same line as he was were lazy, shiftless, jobless… you get the idea. While he was in the very same line, waiting for the very same handout.
The plural of “anecdotes” is not “data,” but I nevertheless find it fascinating that for all the whining I hear white people do about black people “playing the race card,” I’ve never actually seen it happen in that way. And Lord knows far more of the homeless people I’ve walked past and told “sorry, no change” in DC were black than white, just like at least half the people in that soup kitchen were black, so there’s no shortage of opportunity. But no. The only people I’ve ever met who actually feel racially entitled to handouts and will then turn around and furiously deny them to other people are, invariably, white.
Chris
@kindness:
I love their argument that CEOs should be overpaid or they’ll have no incentive to work, but minimum wage people should be underpaid because otherwise they’ll have no incentive to work.
@gene108:
It is. Pretty much all the entire conservative movement is these days, too.
raven
@Chris: I had an African American HVAC contractor get on my ass for letting all them Mexicans take “our” jobs.
raven
The two cops were treated and released. I hesitated to make a judgement but when I saw the vid of the officer that was hit in the face run to the ambulance I was encouraged that he was ok.
Sherparick
Here are the most recent statistics on the food stamp program. For those not working, most are on Social Security and Social Security Disability. http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ops/Characteristics2013-Summary.pdf 44% of participants were children under 18. 43% of SNAP participants live in households with income from work.
The Conservative Theory of the Great Recession is that realizing a Democrat was about to win election or just had been elected, 15 million workers just decided to stop working and collect their unemployment benefits, because as this fact sheet points out, they are so “generous.”
Calouste
@Xantar: I mean, who wouldn’t put his name to a letter like this:
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/575772492448534529/photo/1
boatboy_srq
@Chris: Cause and effect never were the Reichwing’s friends. Similar tale: right after CVS stopped selling cigs, I observed some clod walk into a CVS looking for a pack – and when told they didn’t have any, stormed out snarling “Welcome to Virginia!” as if the state and not the chain had made the decision. I would have loved to see the look on his face walking into a Maryland or North Carolina CVS…
blueskies
Sure would be nice if the MSM would point out that Tom Cotton also proposed legislation calling for down to great-grandchildren and up to great-granparents of transgressors to be punished for the sins of the actual transgressor (transgressor here being anyone who had dealings with Iran that were not personally approved by Tehren Tommy).
You cannot make this shit up:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/tom-cotton-corruption-of-blood_n_3322251.html
Of course, this would lead to both Georges, Jeb, and heck, all the other Bushes, being imprisoned because of Iran/Contra. It also would lead to Liz Cheney never, ever, ever being on my TV again. So hey, maybe Tehren Tommy had a good idea there.
The Germans sure thought it was a swell way to deal ‘justice’ to the Poles and Jews back in the day…
Bill Arnold
@blueskies:
He has good company. North Korea is said to have “three generations of punishment”. (How the current leader escaped punishment for the crimes of his uncle is unclear to me, maybe because I don’t understand the rule.)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korean-prisoner-escaped-after-23-brutal-years-15-05-2013/
An early example is in the old testament, the Amalek. The modern reinterpretations are pretty nasty too.
Theodore Wirth
You surely meant a southern strategy from 150 years ago.
Ian
I cannot even remember the massive number of times I heard Mark Pyror described as a corpratist whore on this website.
Happy now?