Fox’s Tantaros Treats Food Stamps as a Diet Plan: ‘Do You Know How Fabulous I’d Look?’
Fox’s Tantaros Treats Food Stamps as a Diet Plan: ‘Do You Know How Fabulous I’d Look?’
On the eve of Thanksgiving, Fox News pundit Andrea Tantaros mockingly dismissed the plight of hungry Americans, claiming that she would “look fabulous” if she were forced to live on a food stamp diet.
Tantaros’ vapid commentary came in response to Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker’s pledge to accept the food-stamp challenge and try to subsist on $133 for food per month for an extended period of time, just as food stamp recipients in New Jersey do.
After Fox Business panelists speculated whether Booker’s pledge is an effort at “positioning himself for a run for the presidency as a man of the people,” Tantaros quipped: “I should try it because, do you know how fabulous I’d look. I’d be so skinny. I mean, the camera adds ten pounds.”
Tantaros’ comments are appalling and uninformed. While most of us feast on turkey and yams, stuffing and cranberries, on Thursday, millions of Americans will go hungry, just as they do every day. The food stamp challenge exists to demonstrate the struggles that food insecure families face trying to live on their monthly allotment of food.
Despite the difficulty in subsisting on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which was formerly known as food stamps, helped keep millions of families out of poverty in 2011.
Tantaros’ commentary continues a long and extensive Fox campaign to dismiss hunger-related issues and to demonize SNAP recipients.
