Posted on 11/07/2022 1:01:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
Americans suffering from "hard times" thanks to inflation should simply consider eating cheaper food, a Democratic congressman suggested last month.
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said in an interview with Halston Media that his family has a history of eating foods like "Chef Boyardee" when high gas prices began to affect their budgets.
Rep. Maloney added "that's what families have to do" when hard times come around, and suggests that's what struggling American families should do right now.
Well, I grew up in a family where if the gas price went up, the food price went down, so by this time of the week we’d be eating Chef Boyardee if that budget wasn’t gonna change," Maloney said in the interview with Halston Media’s owner Brett Freeman. "So that’s what families have to do. Here's what we should do..."
Maloney then began listing Democrats' proposed solutions to high prices, such as "capping seniors' out-of-pocket costs in the Medicare program" and releasing millions of barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve.
Maloney's opponent in the upcoming election, Mike Lawler, lambasted his comments on Twitter.
According to @spmaloney, Hudson Valley residents who are struggling to put gas in their tank and food on their table should eat Chef Boyardee!" Lawler said in his tweet. "I have a better idea — let’s Fire Sean Maloney and reduce inflation so that New Yorkers can afford to live here and eat what they want." Speaking with Fox News, Lawler said Maloney's comments proved he was "out of touch" and why Maloney "will lose on Election Day"
Maloney's communications director, Mia Ehrenberg, responded to Lawler's tweet by claiming the clip was "horribly out of context," and that Lawler's tweet proved his "desperation" was "showing."
Mike, your desperation is showing. Candidates who are winning don't resort to taking things horribly out of context," Ehrenberg wrote. How about explaining to voters why you oppose the Inflation Reduction Act which cut prescription drug costs and is lowering energy costs?" Ehrenberg asked.
A Maloney spokesperson told Fox News it was "shameful" of Lawler to "make light" of American families' struggles with inflation.
Unlike Lawler, who is profiting off his own campaign and made bank lobbying for big oil companies, Rep. Maloney understands what families are dealing with," the spokesperson said to Fox News. "In the interview, Rep. Maloney describes his own childhood, with a limited weekly budget for a family of 8, and explains the steps he’s taken to lower costs, like cutting prescription drug costs, surging energy production, and holding companies accountable for price gouging."
On Monday, just one day before the midterm elections, Lawler tweeted that "on Tuesday, voters will serve [Maloney] a dish of [Chef Boyardee] cold!"
Chef Boyardee is an iconic American canned pasta that now sells for around $1.89 a can in most stores.
My dad used to make the chef’s pizza on Friday nights when I was a kid….
.
In the YMCA Indian Guides in the '70s we would buy jugs of
pre-made pancake batter when we would go on camping trips to do the breakfasts.
Just fire-up the Coleman propane stove, grab the frying pan -
and we were ready to go.
I guess we were pretty 'spoiled', eh?
:-)
Why eat canned when there is perfectly good Ramen Noodles available?
Or maybe they can just EAT SEAN BALONEY for lunch!!
I’M TIRED OF EATING CHEF BOYARDEE RAVIOLIS!!!
Heh. Good for you!
We also used-up the pancake mix on the Saturday morning breakfast; 10-15 flapjacks for everyone, so we had to resort to ad hoc meals for the rest of the weekend.
We had that once in awhile, too. I had forgotten about it. Came with everything in the box.
We still have 2 months left in 2022!
You will eat nothing and be happy!
Do they really think this is the first time poor people have heard of coping with poverty?
Famous author Philip K. Dick line: “I knew the look on the clerk’s face at the counter. I was buying cans of cat food but I didn’t really own a cat.”
“How about Franco-American?”
Things I wondered about as a kid:
Why is it “Franco-American” when it’s Italian food?
Why was Francisco Franco the dictator of Spain?
Shouldn’t he have been Hispano Spaino?
Cong. Baloney can eat that +mess+ and I will have some nice Kosher Hot Dogs tonite and a baked potato
I say this with more embarrassment than anything else, but for my entire adult life, I operated under the belief that “food is indispensable and it simply costs what it costs.”
Even though my Lovely Wife and I are in our peak earning years, I’ve begun to scan coupons and look for sale items when I shop, much less making any discretionary purchases.
12% inflation and a 4% COLA, year after year. How am I expected to keep up if I make 8% less every year (I know that’s not how the math works exactly)? Much less Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Public, he’s the assistant manager, she’s a part time school bus driver and trying to make ends meet on 48k a year?
Not this one but Stouffer’s frozen spaghetti meals said “meat sauce” and meant beef until maybe 3 years ago they said “pork, beef.....”
Now I check various low level gourmet cuisine labels.
Must be bad for Halal eating Muslims and for Jews who do not eat pork.
Watching the interview, it is absolutely true that the quote was taken out of context.
Maloney was trying to show his empathy by saying he understood what families are going through, and trying to relate to them by saying his own family had to use chef boyardee to manage the grocery budget, in a “I feel your pain” kind of way.
Unfortunately for him, he completely bungled the delivery, probably because he was faking it and he doesn’t actually feel anything for the average person. So no empathy was actually felt by anyone watching him, all they saw was he callousness.
It’s a horrible misstep by him in such a close election, and his opponent will hang it around his neck like an albatross, and he probably deserves to lose.
I got nostalgic a month ago and bought spagetti-Os and ravioli.
They both sucked.
They tasted just like the can they are in.
His family was well off compared to mine.
And as for right now, I looked at in the store last summer for a treat for the camping trip.
Too pricy.
While he dines on Wagyu beef, truffles, lobster and the finest wines?
I have a feeling Reckoning Day isn’t going to be pretty for him.
Plebes don’t need steak.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.