Rep. Jack 'Oops' Kingston
Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, who made headlines for proudly suggesting that maybe if poor kids wanted school lunches they should
have to work for it, is now "clarifying" his remarks. And by "clarifying," we mean he says he didn't mean it, except he did, but mostly he thinks people are being jerks for bringing up the things he says.
He only meant children who want to eat lunch might need to work for it to install a proper "work ethic" and ...
The Republican lawmaker added that he never said “poor kids” and acknowledged that “I could have clarified that a lot better.” [...]
“This wasn’t anything in a back room. This wasn’t a policy statement. This was a discussion,” Kingston said, slamming Democrats who he said planted a tracker to film his comments and then fundraise off of them.
“How are we going to change the status quo if we can’t have discussions about sensitive issues, or quasi-sensitive issues, without all the hyperbole that we always get trapped into in modern America,” the congressman said.
He didn't mean
poor kids, you see. He just meant
children who have no money for school lunches. You know, the slacker kids. Why is everyone getting so worked up about it? America is a sorry place when a sitting member of Congress can't bring up important ideas like child labor and whether or not we should eat hobos.
The good news is that apparently there still is a sense of shame in Republican circles. It's not always directed very well, but we've at least confirmed that a House Republican can eventually be made to feel embarrassed about the stupid things he says.