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The Spectacle Blog
Hello?
My friend Quin is indignant over a Newt ad.
The problem? As Quin and the gang present their facts — they seem to prove Newt right. And themselves…well…no idea. But the word correct isn’t the word that comes to mind.
Here’s Quin’s post.
So let’s dig into what we find at National Review, which is where we are sent.
According to NR’s Patrick Brennan, Newt’s campaign says:
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.
Then, Brennan says:
Unfortunately, as a blog post at Commentary points out, this is a blatant distortion of the facts. In 2003, amid a budget crisis and rapidly rising Medicare costs, several nursing homes in Massachusetts considered cutting costs by closing their kosher kitchens and instead providing catered or prepackaged kosher food.
Then, Brennan says this:
The state legislature proposed an additional $600,000 in spending to prevent this from happening, but Romney vetoed it, due to state budget constraints.
Stop. Budget constraints? What kind of budget constraints? Brennan doesn’t say. In the federal budget, as we all know, spending can be divided into discretionary spending and entitlements. Were these so-called “budget constraints” in the state budget discretionary? Or was Romney obligated legally or constitutionally to exclude the kosher food budget? I do not know the answer. But certainly neither, it appears, do the Gingrich critics. If, in fact, Romney was dealing not with some sort of mandated cut then the kosher cuts were — yes — up to Romney. Discretionary. And therefore, quite obviously — he chose…say again…chose…to make the kosher cuts. The legislature obviously disagreed and overrode him, restoring the funds. Suggesting that in fact Romney had the discretion to choose his budget cuts and deliberately picked the kosher food cut.
If in fact this is what happened then… yes indeed… the Gingrich ad that says:
As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes.
….is, gasp! correct.
Is this correct?
Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher.
No idea. But if Holocaust survivors were included among those in this group, then…sorry, but yes, the Gingrich ad is correct.
Brennan goes on to say:
The legislature, as was their wont, overrode him anyway, and the kitchens, let alone the kosher food supply, were never cut. In no sense could Romney be said to have tried to “eliminate” kosher meals or their funding.
This claim by Brennan, my friend Quin Hillyer, is quite possibly 100% false. If in fact Mitt Romney had a choice of how to cut his budget using discretionary authority — then the Gingrich ad is correct. Mitt Romney in fact may well have tried to eliminate kosher meals because, using his budgetary discretion, he chose not to eliminate something else in favor of eliminating the kosher food.
Hmmm. Another interesting untruth from the Romney camp?
The real question, I suppose, is what Romney chose over kosher foods? And…um…why people are swallowing this Romney whine whole without actually explaining the facts. Because if the facts are as Quin and others are presenting them…then Mitt Romney did exactly what the Gingrich ad charges.
Exactly.
View all comments (33) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/01/31/gingrich-right-in-kosher-ad
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Vern Crisler | 1.31.12 @ 9:44PM
Yes, Jeffrey the facts may be correct, but the interpretation can be misleading. Newt's campaign is wrong to use this line of attack. It is too much like leftwing smear tactics used against Republicans. Come on Newt, leave all these smear tactics to Romney and his campaign team. You're better than that.
RJ| 1.31.12 @ 11:08PM
Yes, this was a very silly attack. We have much bigger issues than a kosher food funding issue 9 year ago. Come on, Newt, give us grandiose issues.
Except that ...| 1.31.12 @ 11:08PM
Lord quotes this: "... instead providing catered or prepackaged kosher food."
Then blithely continues on as if he'd never seen those words. "Is this correct?" he asks. "No idea." he says. But "Mitt Romney in fact may well have tried to eliminate kosher meals."
When in fact the cut would have replaced the kosher meals from a kosher kitchen funded by the state, "... instead providing catered or prepackaged kosher food."
Lord: "The real question, I suppose, is what Romney chose over kosher foods?"
What, indeed? Perhaps: "... instead providing catered or prepackaged kosher food."
A new low.
beebop2| 2.1.12 @ 6:58AM
Anything that takes this length of missive to explain is not an answer, it is a defense.
Just tell us that you support Newt and you have no problem with anything he says about Mitt? Just fess up.
What I am waiting for is the party to get in front of the ridiculous "fair" component of the 0bama campaign and start to explain righteous, just and equitable. That is an argument long over due.
rightasrain| 1.31.12 @ 9:50PM
The way I read it is that the 600k was to keep kosher kitchens open and the veto would have only resulted in catered kosher meals, not nonkosher meals. Maybe Lord can get a crack team of investigative journalists on this. Can you say Trayfgate?
Mike 3/505| 1.31.12 @ 9:50PM
Too Late Mr Lord...Just like the IRS 2 years late, exoneration of Speaker Gingrich. The "common knowledge" is that Gingrich told a lie about the kosher issue, and Sarah Palin said she could "see Russia from my house!" The damage is done.
Funny, just how strident those are who attack Gingrich & Palin are. I wonder why?
Regards,
Mike
Vern Crisler | 1.31.12 @ 10:58PM
Yeah, that one about Sarah is awful:
http://answers.yahoo.com/quest.....616AAhvaWD
It sounds a lot like Romney's twisting of Newt's history. Hmm, was the Romney team behind the anti-Palin ads?
Mark| 2.1.12 @ 3:25AM
How can you compare Sarah Palin to Gingrich. Palin is a conservative. Gingrich is a treasonous commie.
Oldefarte| 1.31.12 @ 9:52PM
This is from all sides the dumbest piece of garbage imaginable and an insult to the American taxpayers. Who cares? What's it gonna be next, Newt outlawed toilet paper for the Capitol while Speaker? Did Romney secretly invite Ted Kennedy to the governors mansion for dinner? OMG, this country is dying financially from governmental overspending and excessive over-regulation and all we're concerned about stupidly is whether kocher food was served to Holocost victims in nursing homes? No wonder 11/4/08 happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dixie Pixie| 1.31.12 @ 10:28PM
Bravo, Bravo--“Great Elder of Rightists Wind”--Bravo, Bravo
Vern Crisler | 1.31.12 @ 10:59PM
I'm still waiting for the inevitable charges of sexual harrassment.
RJ| 2.1.12 @ 12:09AM
Its crazy - We have the biggest issue going regarding the decline of America and the top two candidates are off-point on issues of tax returns, kosher meals and other distractions from today's crisis.
PCC| 2.1.12 @ 3:29AM
You may be old and you may be a fart, but on this one you are spot on.
Claypoole| 2.1.12 @ 9:43AM
Once again, Antiquus Breakus Windus is correct. When are Republicans going to begin aiming at the utterly corrupt BO, instead of at one another? Here's a start: how about some outrage at the BO administration's trying to force the Catholic church to abandon their religious principles? If the Catholic church doesn't stand up to this dictatorship immediately, mandated abortions at Catholic hospitals are not far away. (And, no, I'm not Catholic, but I know that if we who are not say nothing when they come for the Catholics, we others will be next.)
fckewe| 2.1.12 @ 11:15AM
What Catholic principles?
fckewe| 2.1.12 @ 11:14AM
Actually Gingrich failed to provide toilet paper for the entire Government when he FAILED to make a workable budget. An ad that says Gingrich legislated a 'shi**y diaper mandate' for Civil Service workers would be a functionally accurate as his kosher claims, and so much MORE relevant because none of those voters in Mass. can give a kosher poop now, can they?
Marco2| 1.31.12 @ 10:05PM
Hey Jeff (and your buddy Levin), crackpot Newtie (Moonman) is done, you can stick a fork in him. I wonder if he promises to be nice, Romney will allow him to attend the convention?
Paul McGrath| 1.31.12 @ 10:23PM
Jeff, you may be technically correct, but this is exactly the type of slice-and-dice nitpick bullshit the left has been engaging in since at least Eleanor Roosevelt. For a moment there, Newt seemed to be above this. Now, these tactics remind us of what kind of an insider he is and became whole-heartedly in the late nineties.
I believed him when he said he'd changed. I did. But now I see that he's just another hack politician, using any means necessary to attain his goal.
Maybe he always was.
fckewe| 2.1.12 @ 11:16AM
The lizzard has ALWAYS been about this nit picking childishness.
George S| 1.31.12 @ 10:49PM
Right or wrong, Romney needs this type of batting practice for the onslaught that awaits. Obama and Axlerod wouldn't waste their time with an ad like this.
Gadfly| 1.31.12 @ 10:52PM
No kosher kitchen does not equal no kosher food. As the cited article points out, there are other ways of providing kosher meals (e.g. catering). So, no, Newt's claim that Romney denied kosher meals to holocaust survivors is not correct. Mr. Lord is playing bait and switch, which means he's either (a) as big a list as Newt or (b) incapable of basic logical reasoning.
fckewe| 2.1.12 @ 11:17AM
Or a flat out liar, like the lizzard.
Kingofthenet| 1.31.12 @ 11:10PM
http://pictures.mastermarf.com.....-bacon.jpg
Dan Phillips| 1.31.12 @ 11:12PM
Which candidate is THE ONLY one who believes Medicaid is unconstitutional. That should rest the case.
Clint| 1.31.12 @ 11:48PM
We Are Being Set Up By The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges For The Ruling Elites' Frontman Mittens Romney.
These Are The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges Who Gave Us The Serial Traitor To Conservatism, John McCain Of McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy,McCain-Lieberman,Gang Of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts Of 2001 & 2003,TARP.
Now They Are Trying To Give Us RomneyCare,TARP, Cynical Flip-Flops On Abortion, Gays, Refuses to Sign Pro-Life Pledge, Illegal Immigrants, "Little Chain Saw Al" At Bain, Crony Capitalism Campaign Money Trail.....
Rise Up GOP Insurgency.
ggoblue| 2.1.12 @ 12:16AM
quin hilyer is up to his eyeballs in hate.
i will not be contributing any more money, any time soon, to anyone who pays quin hilyer.
Clint| 2.1.12 @ 12:36AM
Top RINO-CINO Romney Campaign Donors List:
Goldman Sachs $367,200
Credit Suisse Group $203,750
Morgan Stanley $199,800
HIG Capital $186,500
Barclays $157,750
Kirkland & Ellis $132,100
Bank of America $126,500
PriceWaterhouseCoopers $118,250
EMC Corp $117,300
JPMorgan Chase & Co $112,250
The Villages $97,500
Vivint Inc $80,750
Marriott International $79,837
Sullivan & Cromwell $79,250
Bain Capital $74,500
UBS AG $73,750
Wells Fargo $61,500
Blackstone Group $59,800
Citigroup Inc $57,050
Bain & Co $52,500
Follow The RINO-CINO Cronies Money Trail.
beebop2| 2.1.12 @ 7:45AM
These organizations don't have money to waste on Newt Gingrich.
fckewe| 2.1.12 @ 11:17AM
Or they are smart enough NOT to. But they ARE double dipping by handing more to Obama.
JimH| 2.1.12 @ 8:09AM
Tref, oy!
Ross Kaminsky | 2.1.12 @ 8:49AM
Sorry, Jeff, you're utterly wrong on this one.
First, assuming the National Review article is correct, the option to one version of kosher food was a different version of kosher food. Thus, even if Romney had gotten his way, he would not have been eliminating kosher food from the program.
Second, what sort of conservative even tries to argue that budget cutting is only defensible if it's mandatory, as you imply regarding Romney?
Third, what about getting government out of the nursing home business entirely, or at least "block granting" the spending so we don't have government making these decisions?
If it weren't your guy Gingrich making the reprehensible claims about Romney, you would never stand for the arguments you yourself are making.
Resist We Much! | 2.1.12 @ 9:13AM
I am not a Mittens fan, but Newt Gingrich is NOT a Conservative.
Pinning the CINO Tail on the Newt
http://predicthistunpredictpas.....-newt.html
Newt: If You Don't Know Me By Now... (Mo Will Tell You Everything That I Don't Want You To Know)
http://predicthistunpredictpas.....-will.html
His theme song should be "I Am Woman...(in need of Midol)".
I AM a woman so hold off with the "You're such a sexist, misogynist bastard!" crap.
He is a nasty person, who is like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in many ways. Both were abandoned by their fathers as children (in all fairness, Bill's died before he was born) and their mothers had their own "issues" (Obama's: her own narcissism; Bill's: alcoholism; Newt's: hereditary manic depression). All three were products of unstable, chaotic, disruptive homes where fantasy became a coping mechanism for them.
Romney's win might be "cheap and empty," but Gingrich is no Georgia Peach when it comes to character.
As the Rasmussen polls showed over the last couple of weeks, Gingrich scores very low on the character questions even among the Republican base. Even in a poll where Gingrich led nationally, he came in dead last in the current roster of four contenders for the Republican nomination on character — EVEN BELOW "NOT SURE.”
kf451| 2.1.12 @ 1:03PM
I agree, Jeffrey Lord, that there is way too much outrageous outrage about this ad. And this after Romney spent 17$ million destroying Gingrich in Florida. I just heard on Rush that Romney had 65 (!) TV ads for each 1 of Gingrich's.