Speaking like a man readying himself to seek higher office, we now have Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker out there saying the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps, which spent a whopping $80.4 Billion in fiscal 2012, is "not a government handout." On Friday while describing his fourth day of living on a SNAP budget, Booker said, "I hope and understand that people are getting a better recognition that this is a program that really helps America, helps families in need." He then said, "It’s not a government handout," when that’s exactly what it is. He claimed, "If anything, it’s a safety net that helps people through difficult times and bridges them towards stability."
Since December 4, Booker has been embarked upon what’s nothing more than a publicity stunt, living on a food budget of $30 a week, or $4.32 a day, which while it is equivalent to what he would receive as a SNAP recipient in New Jersey, does not include other programs that he would be able to apply to is he were actually in the position that he's pretending to be in. And while Booker said he’s doing it to raise awareness about the importance of SNAP and "reduce the stigma of SNAP participation," it's really all nothing more than a idiotic stunt with a twist of political motivation. This guy is ridiculously transparent. And like any other Democrat pulling this sort of stunt, the goal is to create a perception that has no connection to reality.
According to this simpleton, "A simple conversation on Twitter drew me into the #SNAPChallenge I am beginning today," Booker wrote in a Dec. 4 blog post on LinkedIn. He went on, "My goals for the #SNAPChallenge are to raise awareness and understanding of food insecurity; reduce the stigma of SNAP participation; elevate innovative local and national food justice initiatives and food policy; and, amplify compassion for individuals and communities in need of assistance." Personally, I would argue that his true goal here was to find some creative way of getting his name and face our there by conducting some charade that people would then associate with him as he works to climb the political ladder.
Booker makes no secret of his aspiration for higher office. "Yeah, I absolutely am considering running for governor as well as giving other options some consideration. I’m going to be focusing on that for the next week to 10 days or so," Booker said Sunday on CBS’s "Face the Nation." USDA's SNAP website says, "We put healthy food on the table for more than 46 million people each month." The number of food stamp beneficiaries grew from 33,489,975 in fiscal 2009 to 46,609,075 in fiscal 2012. Over the same time period, according to the U.S. Treasury, spending on the program increased from $55.6 billion to $80.4 billion. And apparently Booker is of the opinion that that just isn't enough.
Booker makes no bones about the fact that he’s seriously considering a challenge to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie next year or even a possible run for U.S. Senate in 2014. He has said that he plans to decide on his future in the next two weeks. He says the decision "has got to be within the next two weeks or so because, especially in New Jersey, there’s a lot of good candidates for governor on the Democratic side," said Booker, 43. He made the comments Sunday while appearing on "Face the Nation" which airs on CBS. Booker, trailed Christie by 18 percentage points in a potential match- up, according to a Quinnipiac University poll last month that showed the mayor was the strongest Democratic challenger.
Before a gain in Christie’s popularity following superstorm Sandy, a similar survey had the Republican with only a 4 point lead. Booker said he’s weighing a run against Christie, or a potential Senate run for the seat now held by Democrat fossil Frank Lautenberg, 88. He said he wants to remain part of the Democrats’ "push forward," either as a candidate or a supporter. "I’m really thinking about both offices right now and which one can I better serve on the issues I’m passionate about," Booker said. Christie, who unseated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in 2009, climbed to a record approval rating of 77 percent as Democrats and independents gave him high marks for his storm response, that according to a Nov. 26 PublicMind poll.
Christie announced his pursuit of a second term that same day, saying he wanted to finish the job of leading the storm recovery. Booker, promised to reduce crime and lure businesses to Newark when he defeated Sharpe James, the city’s mayor for 20 years. And in what I guess was an attempt to blow his own horn, according to Booker, Newark’s rates for shootings and murders are down with numbers, off the charts. "My first four years we led the nation in reducing shootings and murders," Booker, who became mayor on July 1, 2006, said during a interview back in April. That’s quite a claim for any big city to make and, funny thing, it's also a claim that PolitiFact New Jersey found was something that wasn't exactly provable.
Booker spokeswoman Anne Torres explained that the mayor’s reduction claim was in terms of a percentage, not actually in whole numbers, and was based on calendar years Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. She added that the city reviewed numbers from its police department data and from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which is the standard database to review crime nationwide in numerous categories. But there are a couple of problems with attempting to verify the mayor’s statistic. First, shootings are not a separate category covered by the Uniform Crime Report. Shootings fall under the category of Aggravated Assault, but so do attacks with knives, baseball bats and a host of other weapons. Secondly, the FBI cautions Uniform Crime Report users against any type of ranking, because of numerous differences in community characteristics.
Now of course, Newark's Police Director, Samuel DeMaio, went out of his way to attribute his city’s crime drop to the city’s new crime-fighting efforts and more staff. Although it’s unclear exactly where and how Newark ranked in these categories compared with the rest of the country, a criminal statistics expert told us that nationwide, crime trended downward during Booker’s first term as mayor. "Look at the whole country taken together, not just cities," said Andrew Karmen, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who specializes in crime statistics. "The whole country did experience a very impressive drop in crime in 2008, 2009 and 2010." I'm surprised Booker wasn't taking credit for that too
The number of murders nationwide based on Uniform Crime Report data for each year from 2006 through 2010 supports Karmen’s statement: 2006: 17,309, 2007: 17,128, 2008: 16,465, 2009: 15,399, and 2010: 14,748. Former Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy, who served during Booker’s first term, did not return a request for comment. McCarthy left Newark about a year ago to become Chicago’s police superintendent. Overall, it’s quite clear that shootings and murders did decrease in Newark during Booker’s first term in office, and the Brick City mirrored the national downward trend in murders for that period. But compared with every locale in the rest of the country?
To me, Booker comes across as being just another phony who's not anywhere near being as smart as he thinks he is. There was a very brief time during this last presidential campaign when I actually thought he might be different from some of the others on his side. But that didn't last very long as Booker very quickly demonstrated that he's just another shady politician who is quite happy to place his own political ambition above all else. So now he's out there playing some cutesy little game with food stamps that I guess he's thinking will earn him some points from the mentally deficient voters in his state. I guess he must think playing stupid games will make more people take him seriously. Actually he's pretty much the symbol of all that’s wrong with so many in government. He’s all show and no go!
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