Ron Paul Criticizes Son Rand Paul And The GOP For Wanting To Cut Food Stamps

During a new interview confirming that he will not endorse Mitt Romney,
Congressman Ron Paul has criticized Republicans for precisely what his
son Rand spearheaded earlier this month. After telling CNN "no way" he'd endorse Romney, Paul went on MSNBC repeating his rejection of Romney and discussed food stamps.

When Rand Paul went on Glenn Beck TV defending his Romney endorsement last week, he also discussed 4th Amendment-violating drones, noting "I'm
afraid Mayor Bloomberg's gonna be going over my backyard barbeque
seeing if anyone's got a big gulp, or whether or not I'm separating my
recyclables correctly". [minute 7 at this clip:]

The "big gulp" reference was a dig at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on the sale of sugary soft drinks over 16 ounces in the city.

Bloomberg's absurd nanny-state soda ban has the support of
left-wing statists such as Bill Clinton. However, Rand himself has also
ironically obsessed on citizen's eating habits, endorsing the very same
mindset that Bloomberg promotes.
Some states allow those in poverty to redeem food stamps at fast
food restaurants because certain recipients, such as the elderly and
homeless, don't have access to cooking and refrigeration facilities.
Rand insisted that people
should not be allowed to buy "junk food" or McDonalds with Food Stamps:
"The American people don't want food stamps going to buy junk food, to be used at McDonalds." The freshman senator also tried to characterize some of the nearly 47 million Americans on food stamps as dishonest millionares:

Rand Paul: "Should you buy junk food on food stamps? Should you get
to go to McDonald's on foodstamps?" Paul asked. "It's out of control.
It's not about helping those in need. It's about being wise with the
taxpayer dollars, it's about being wise with the taxpayer dollars and
not giving people $20,000 a year in food stamps. We need to give it only
to people who can't work, those who are in need, and those who are not
able bodied. But we're giving it to millionaires."

Paul's proposed food-stamp amendment, which would have
reportedly saved $322 billion over ten years,was rejected 65-33.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe June 20, Ron Paul brought up the
issue. Asked if he sought to cut social security and other social
programs, Paul explained that he wanted people to have the opportunity
to opt out of it. He made a specific point about Republicans being "seen as cutting food stamps",
and explained that he himself, on the contrary, would be the best
protector of such programs because he wanted to cut the massive military
budget:

Ron Paul: [11:00] "...and when it comes to welfare, matter of
fact I'm probably the best protector
of social security and some of these programs for child healthcare and
elderly healthcare- because we cant afford it. We're going bust, and
it's all gonna collapse. You have Obamacare, is totally destructive to
the medical care system. I'm saying save-
I want to cut a trillion dollars out of the budget- but a lot of it
comes from overseas funding and war, and I'm saying- this is the only
way we can preserve some of these programs and work our way out of it. I
want young people to opt out of social security. But my goal isnt to
cut- I think it's where the republicans make a mistake. theyre seen as
cutting food stamps, and increasing the military budget. I think that's
bad politics and so in my more pragmatic stance on how we get to the
place where i want to go, actually I'm probably offering a program
where some of these programs that we have taught people to be so
dependent on, I would probably preserve them longer than others because
we are going to lose them because of the bankruptcy that is coming."

Thus, Paul characterized his own son Rand's food-stamp amendment as
"bad politics". In reality, Rand wasn't merely perceived or "seen as
cutting food stamps"; he officially advocated it, while at the same time
advocating increased military spending.

Rand Paul is known for advocating reduction of the military budget- but on March 22 2012, Rand
appeared on Glenn Beck's show discussing his proposed 5 year budget
plan. Asked by Beck about defense spending, Paul noted that he would
actually increase military spending increase by cutting four other
departments: [4:38] "Instead of having military spending go down,
like the sequester would have, ours actually allows for a gradual
increase in military spending over time.."
Beck's assistant asked Rand for clarification; "Wait a minute. You're
actually going to increase military spending?" to which Rand replied an
unoquivical "Yes." Despite being the son of the most well known
non-interventionist of modern time, Paul voted for sanctions against Iran and has been referred to as a neocon in libertarian clothing.