Dem accuses Gingrich of racism with 'food stamp president' comment

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) on Monday afternoon accused Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for making racist comments toward President Obama by calling him a "food stamp" president.

"Unfortunately, there's still people in this country who think that the President can't be their president because of his race," Cohen said. "Some even refer to him as a food stamp president."

Cohen did not name Gingrich, but Gingrich said earlier this month that Obama is the "food stamp president" because he has put more people on food stamps than any other president. Cohen said this is a sort of racial code against Obama because Obama is black.

"We know that code is wrong," Cohen said. "I would ask anybody who thinks that way, or has those thoughts, to know that they're backwards-thinking, just like the people were in the 1940s that said black people couldn't participate in our military and couldn't fly for our country, and that the Red Tails couldn't shoot down the Germans and protect our bombers as they did."

Cohen said he saw "Red Tails" over the weekend, a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black U.S. airmen, and encouraged others to see it.

Cohen is the second House Democrat in as many weeks to accuse Gingrich of racism with his "food stamp" comment about Obama. Last week, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) made the same criticism, but Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) said this was a mischaracterization of Gingrich's comments.

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