7/1/208 - ME Republican Party Leader "Doesn't Believe" Mainers are Facing Tough Times--Unless They Brought It on Themselves
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JULY 1, 2008
CONTACT: REBECCA POLLARD, 772-4353
(PORTLAND, MAINE) - In a Bangor Daily News article yesterday, Penobscot County Republican Party Chair Lois Bloomer showed an elitist, out-of-touch view that denies the very existence of the tough economic choices Mainers are facing today-unless they brought it on themselves.
"I don't really believe that at this point people are having to choose between food and medicine and housing, and if they are it's because they made poor choices with their mortgages," Bloomer said.
The comments came in a July 1, 2008, story written by Tim Devaney following a press conference at which Eastern Maine Labor Council President Jack McKay harshly criticized President Bush's economic policies for hurting the middle class.
More from Bloomer: "I don't see what's wrong with the unemployment rate. It's not that bad. I think the unemployment rate is mostly for people who don't want [or can't] work anyways."
Nevermind that people who can't or don't try to work aren't even counted in an unemployment rate calculation.
"It's pretty unbelievable that anyone living in Maine right now could be so out-of-touch, so disconnected to the financial realities facing families right now. Gas prices, food prices, heating oil prices, health care costs-the list goes on and on and on," said Rebecca Pollard, spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party. "For way too many people this winter, these could even be life-and-death realities."
"We've known for a long time that Republican policies are grounded in the belief that people struggling financially are somehow not working hard enough, but to actually hear a party leader say so, and so callously, really floored me actually."
