"THOSE PEOPLE" AND THEIR HIGH-SECURITY ANTI-TERRORIST VEHICLES

Am I reading too much into this Fox Nation juxtaposition of two unrelated stories?

A record number of Americans -- about 14 percent -- now rely on the federal government's food stamps program....

Continue reading at ABC News.com

... A new report from a watchdog group shows that the number of limousines owned by the federal government rose by 73 percent during the first two years of President Obama's administration....

Continue reading at Foxnews.com

Am I wrong to read this as an attempt not just to call the government profligate in bad economic times (which would be what a reasonable right-winger might say), but to suggest a link between, um, food stamps and luxury cars? Y'know -- "welfare Cadillacs" and all that?

If you're wondering: when you get to the original story about those limousines, from iwatchnews.com, you find that (a) not all of the increase came in the Obama years (it started in fiscal 2009, which begin at the end of Bush's term), (b) not all the "limousines" are what you and I would call limousines, and (c) a big reason for the increase is security of State Department personnel and overseas dignitaries who ride with them:

... Most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

Obama administration officials said most of the increase reflects an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world.

... some of those purchases could reflect requests made by the Bush administration during an appropriations process that would have begun in the spring of 2008.

... In a statement, GSA spokeswoman Sara Merriam said, "The categories in the Fleet Report are overly broad, and the term 'limousine' is not defined," adding that "vehicles represented as limousines can range from protective duty vehicles to sedans."

... The State Department in a statement said its limos are deployed by overseas diplomats and in the United States by Secretary of State Clinton and "distinguished foreign visitors." Many of the limos in its fleet are armored to protect against attack....

Damn welfare chiselers!