Food Stamps

Fox News isn’t exactly known for their ability to report on news with accuracy and honesty, but the following incidents really take things to whole new levels.

1. Coloradoans Buy Pot with Food Stamps

On the January 21 edition of Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade alleged that the new law legalizing marijuana meant food stamps recipients were using their SNAP benefits to buy pot. We’re not sure how Kilmeade and Fox managed to think this was true, but the USDA clearly says recipients cannot use food stamps to buy alcohol, tobacco and non-food items.

2. Foodstamps Recipients All Use Their Money for Lobsters and Other Luxuries

Jason Greenslate, you may know him better as the surfer/musician who proudly lives off friends’ couches and uses food stamps to buy lobster, but Fox thinks he represents the whole of recipients. Looking at the actual demographics paints quite a different picture, as 76 percent of recipients are children, the disabled and the elderly; the average SNAP household has a gross monthly income of $744 (plus countable resources of $331); and 91 percent of recipients don’t make more than $19,530 a year (for a family of three).

3. Herman Cain says SNAP recipients are using their food stamps for fitness programs

This comic talk show host will make repeat appearances on this list, but that’s because he frequently takes Fox to task for their mistruths. In this case, it’s Stewart versus Herman Cain, with the latter thinking SNAP recipients are using their food stamps for fitness programs. They’re not, because they can’t.

4. Government Teaching Kids to be Takers Not Makers

On this occasion, it’s Stewart going mano-a-mano with Eric Bolling, co-host of Fox’s The Five. Bolling seems to think that Stewart had to validity for poking holes in Fox’s show on food stamps, saying things like, “Our liberal government is teaching our kids to be takers, instead of makers”, “[Jason Greenslate] is…the representative of literally millions of Americans”, and “As the rich get richer, it floats all boats”.

5. People Going to Las Vegas and Drawing Money With Foodstamps

Stewart doesn’t take down any one person in particular, but rather Fox News as a whole. He shows clip after clip after clip of Fox talking heads speaking mistruths, calling Fox the news show with the tagline “We read the chain mails your grandma gets in her inbox and reads them out loud like they were true”.

6. They’re all gonna have a phone, a TV set, a car, and 120 free minutes, and food stamps

Oh, where do we start with Rush Limbaugh? Given how little he seems to care for fact-checking, he’s proven himself to be far less credible a source than Wikipedia. Here are some of his best (re: least true) quotes:

• ”They’re all gonna have a phone, a TV set, a car, and 120 free minutes, and food stamps.”
• ”16 million children face a summer of hunger. Now, Michelle Obama told us they’re all so fat and out of shape and overweight that a summer off from government eating might just be the ticket.”
• ”There’s always the neighborhood dumpster…[to] survive until school starts back up in August.”

7. Democrats Use Foodstamps to Buy Votes

Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney doesn’t agree with food stamps one iota. That’s not the issue, as not everyone will agree with the program. But what separates Varney from the rest of the pack is comments like these: “They’re keeping churning out the food stamps in return for votes” and “How will we ever get a handle on our debt if you can’t cut $8 billion out of food stamps over a 10-year period?” Apparently, someone forgot to tell Varney the debt isn’t entirely comprised of food stamps.

These are but a few examples of the mistruths Fox News delights in perpetuating, which seem to happen so often we can set our watches to it. If we’ve missed any, let us know in the comments box.

The following sites also point to other Fox News mistruths, with factual data to back them up.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/317-65/9709-dishonest-fox-chart-food-stamps-edition

http://aattp.org/watch-fox-news-get-caught-lying-on-food-stamp-recipients-again/