Saucedo Mercer, Candidate for Congress in Arizona, Responds to Latino Rebels About Controversial Facebook Post

Jul 16, 2012
3:32 PM

Last night we submitted questions to Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, Republican candidate for Arizona's 3rd Congressional district, regarding the following Facebook post. We followed up today with a piece that showed that two of Saucedo Mercer's FB posts in the last week were lifted from other sources that weren't credited.

The questions we submitted were these:

  • Can you confirm that the post about food stamps was deleted tonight from your campaign's Facebook page? Why did you delete the post and the comments from people?
  • We have noticed that several of your Facebook posts come from other unattributable sources (for example: Photo) which is the food stamp as well as the following post from July 11 which came directly from this blog post: Political Post. Can you explain why you or your campaign continue to post unattributable content with no credit to other sources? This is similar to say a speech one might give and no attribution is made for quotes, ideas, etc. that a candidate might mention.
  • Many people on the post tonight criticized you for comparing food stamp recipients to feeding animals? Can you explain what you meant by this analogy?
  • Here are a few more links that attribute your post tonight about food stamps and analogy to feeding the animals. It was a Minnesota rep who said the same thing about three months ago: HuffPost, Mediaite, CA. Your post tonight is the exact same content as what this representative said. Let us know if you plan to comment about this or whether you would like to talk via phone. We do plan to run a story tomorrow morning around 9 EST and we would like to get your take on all this and the specific questions we sent you earlier.Thanks!

    At 3:00 PM EST today, Saucedo Mercer emailed us the following statement:

    I removed the post because I wanted the focus to get back on the real issue: The need for jobs to decrease dependency on government programs. I believe in the American Dream–it is part of my life. It is NOT the American dream for 1 out of 7 Americans to be on food stamps. The original analogy was not mine nor do I take credit for it, but it was to make a statement that aligns with my beliefs: the American Dream is about success, independent achievements and strong families to continue to assist the next generations to achieve their dreams. If almost half of our population is dependent on Government entitlements, we will continue to perpetuate a cycle of poverty.

    The words on the FB post never compared people on food stamps to animals in the wild. It only describes an ironic issue but of course people like you and those who get excited about "controversial issues" will sensationalize it and go on the attack of character instead of addressing the real issue. How about you and your "supporters" doing a story on how great would it be to allow the free markets to create jobs for people who need them, people who are on food stamps or other governmental assistance when they are capable of having a job so they can provide for their families and be able to pay their rent or their mortgages. We all know there are people on Welfare and food stamps that really need them but we also know that the government wants more and more people dependent on such programs to keep them as devoted voters and keep them dependent so they can control them. Food stamps and Welfare programs only rob people of their dignity and perpetuates the problem. Like that famous saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime."-Unknown

    At 3:40 PM EST, Saucedo Mercer posted the following on her Facebook page:

    There was a post that was attributed to me on FB yesterday. regarding the quote you will see below. I removed the post because I wanted the focus to get back on the real issue: The need for jobs to decrease dependency on government programs. I believe in the American Dream. It is part of my life. It is NOT the American dream for 1 out of 7 Americans to be on food stamps. The original analogy was not mine nor do I take credit for it. A Minnesota State Representative, Mary Franson, shared the same quote and she was viciously attacked by the left. Even death treats against her and her family were coming her way.

    By reposting that quote, all I wanted to do was to make a statement that aligns with my beliefs. The American Dream is about success, independent achievements and strong families to continue to assist the next generations to achieve their dreams. If almost half of our population is dependent on Government entitlements, we will continue to perpetuate a cycle of poverty.

    What the people who want to spin this and call me names and turn it all around don't realize that if we just let free enterprise and the free markets create those much needed jobs we would not be having this "argument" It is ironic that the left go on a "feeding frenzy" when they see a comment that they can spin and put their own analogy into it. The comment does not compare people on food stamps to wild animals.

    As I read it, it addresses an issue in which we need to focus on instead of useless rhetoric. I am for creating jobs by allowing those who create jobs do so in a speedy manner not having to wait months or even years to be able to offer jobs to people in the community. Rosemont Copper Mine is a perfect example. Below is the "quote" that created all the "negative" comments. I am sorry, I don't know who wrote it, so I cannot give the proper credit.