GOP'er Don Young (R-AK) Doubles Down: Suicide An ‘Illness’ Lazy People Get From Government Handouts

[big_dog]

Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) on Wednesday stood behind his assertion that suicide was caused by a lack of support from family and friends, and added that government handouts were also to blame. The Alaska Republican had drawn criticism after he told students at Wasilla High School on Tuesday that families and friends of victims were at fault for the state’s high suicide rates. Students found the remarks particularly hurtful because a classmate had died just days before.

Young went on to tell the students that same-sex marriage was like two bulls mating. In a statement to the Associated Press on Thursday, Young spokesperson Matt Shuckerow said that the congressmen did not “mean to upset anyone with his well-intentioned message.” Shuckerow said that Young had offered his “regret for any offense taken during the honest and spirited discussion.”

But on Wednesday, Young seemed to double down on his remarks while speaking at the Palmer senior center in Wasilla. According to the Alaska Dispatch News, Young was “defiant” when he was asked about his “lack of support” comment. Young explained that one of the students “had the gall to say suicide is a disease.” “It is not a disease. It is an illness,” he continued. “Now a lot of times that illness should be recognized by a support group and it should be supported by the teachers that recognize this person has an illness. He needs help. Is it his parents or is it his friends who are not supporting him?”

The congressmen went on to say that there were less suicides when he first moved to Alaska because people worked hard, and didn’t take government handouts. “When people had to work and had to provide and had to keep warm by putting participation in cutting wood and catching the fish and killing the animals, we didn’t have the suicide problem,” Young opined, adding that government handouts were “saying you are not worth anything but you are going to get something for nothing,” http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/goper-don-young-doubles-down-suicide-is-an-illness-lazy-people-get-from-government-handouts/

[randys1]

1. Before 2010 we would hear this stuff from the moron down the street who

works as a mechanic at the local garage, full of shit so bad he stinks to high heaven, but you know the type.

Now they are mainstream and politicians.

America is badly broken, badly.




Not picking on mechanics, instead lets call him the security guard at Target.


Wait, some of them are decent people, never mind

[pscot]

2. what would that make 30 years in Congress?

Tell us, Don.

[Politicalboi]

3. Give this man some more rope

I remember how poor Robin Williams was when he killed himself in the deep snow of California.

[louis-t]

4. It's not a disease, it's an......

And of course, typical non-apology apology. 'sorry if anyone took offense' at what he said. POS.

[alp227]

5. Same BS argument by Michael Savage recently

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/10/21/michael-savages-disgusting-rant-ptsd-and-depres/201248

Don Young must be a Savage listener.

[sharp_stick]

6. This POS is just too mean to die

Nobody likes him, his own family thinks he's a dick and yet he still keeps going.

The only reason anybody will actually go to this assholes funeral is to confirm that it's actually him in the damned box.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

Mark Twain

[Kingofalldems]

8. Why don't you post what Democrats believe as opposed to right wingers?

Or maybe what you think.

[tanyev]

9. Says the man who works 113 days a year and receives $174,000 from the government.

Does he return his Alaska citizen's dividend every year?

[lpbk2713]

10. I think the water in Wasilla should be tested.

There might be something in it that makes people batshit crazy.

[Bandit]

11. Run Forest Run

Please whup this arrogant senile SOB.

[butterfly77]

12. These old crazies...

Have ruined this country and others,they are living in the past.