In the comments that he made at a private campaign fundraiser earlier this year, Mitt Romney no doubt was telling GOP donors what he thought they wanted to hear. “There are 47 percent who will vote with the president no matter what,” Romney declared. He went on to describe President Obama’s voters as people who are dependent upon government and see themselves as victims. These voters, Romney went on to suggest, pay no income taxes.
When a secret video recording surfaced at the website of Mother Jones magazine this week, Romney was embarrassed — as he should have been — and made it clear that he might at least have worded his comments differently. Yet the problem isn’t the dismissive tone of Romney’s statements, or even the callous image of a wealthy man who paid just 13.9 percent in income taxes blithely bemoaning the low tax rates of others. It’s the loose, and false, equation that undergirded Romney’s argument: the notion that voters who support Obama “no matter what” equals people who “pay no income tax” equals freeloaders who are “dependent upon government.”
Comments
I concur with this editorial. I was dismayed by Gov. Romney's comments. I voted for the President in 2008; I may do so again in 2012. However, I most definitely pay federal (and state) income tax every year. I also have never been on welfare or food stamps. (I did, though, receive unemployment insurance once after a layoff.) I also do not think anyone who knows me would consider me a Socialist -- and that includes Republican acquaintances and family of mine.
What a twit.
This Obama voter paid a higher percentage of my income in taxes than Mitt did in 2010. (We haven't seen his 2011 return yet either, have we? He should really stop drawing people's attention to that.)
Romney is discovering that a campaign strategy reflecting right-wing contempt for large swaths of the American populace, hostile ignorance of the world outside our borders, and a detail-free set of "policies" for the future of our country is not a winning combination. Moreover, Romney's uncanny ability to display his lack of fitness for higher office even has conservative columnists like Peggy Noonan ("It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one." [See "Time for an Intervention" at http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2012/09/18/time-for-an-intervention/ ]) and David Brooks {"He’s running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?" [See "Thurston Howell Romney" at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html ] remarking on his many failings. Obama is far from perfect but he has managed to bring us a long way from the terrible economic and moral devastation of the Bush era, and he will do a far better job for the American people than Romney and his crowd could ever do.
The best welfare anyone can get is a JOB. Our economy is in the tank, capital is on strike, our deficit is out of control. Wall street being propped up by the fed.
read this article, very interesting predicitions about the future of america.
Trump, Others Warn: Your Money Is Not Safe
He was making a point, to a group of supporters, The Globe ought not slice this up for accuracy, because they are missing the point. Yes, many of the people who pay no income tax will support Romney. Big deal. His bigger point was that a large chuck of the electorate is out of his reach. That is the way it always is. The bigger point, as I see it, is that Obama has a policial interest in expanding the welfare state. That is why he advertises food stamps, in foreign languages. That is why he over regulates everything he touches, to create dependents on government largesse, who will expand his base beond the 40% or so that it is today.
The Globe is showcasing its exteme bias by putting so much into this non-story, and then declares at the end that "gaffes" get too much attention. Please. The Globe lives for these moments.
Damn elederly. Always looking for a handout!
Advertising food stamp availability in foreign languages is a matter of constitutional law, not political convenience. Check out Title VI, Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficiennt Persons
All states and local agencies receiving federal money have to comply with this common sense Civil Rights law. So it's not Obama seeking to expand the "welfare state", it is Obama doing his job as President of the United States and President of all the people.
Actually Mitt's larger point is that too many American's are dependent upon government. Now Mitt and his supporters of course would like to parse this to merely folks on "welfare", however if that were the case there are so few of those in terms of the federal budget it is not even worth discussing. No, what we hear in these tapes is what Mitt really thinks of every federal program that assists the people of the these United States. This includes SS, Medicare, Vet benefits all of these things all of these people Mitt views as dependent upon government. All one has to do is look at the Ryan budget to see the implimentation of the words. And Mitt is right. I receive VA comp and it is important in my life. Your grandma gets widows benefits or SS and it is important in her life. Mitt like every Republican before him hates these programs views them and the people on them as unproductive. I for one am glad he said it. Let those who believe govt. has no purpose other than defense defend their position. If they win the election good for them. But you better reinstall the draft because no one will serve an ungrateful nation, no one will support a petty, little people.
The truth shall set you free. Romney's real text was the real tragedy of the Obama administration is , "46 million more Americans are on food stamps now compared to 30 million in 2008. 10.6 million were on social security disability in 2011 compared to 9.3 million 3 years earlier. The smallest share of the U.S. population is looking for work than at any time since 1981". It is not about VA benefits. It is not about social security benefits. It is about people who can't get jobs or work are flipping burgers with college degrees in desperation. Throwing your hard earned tax dollars into the public sector does not create jobs. That is simply putting money from one pocket into another. The real genius of America erupts like a new volcano when little people like me dare to buy a truck and start a little new business and hire three people. That is real money in your pocket and the real source of taxes to support the people who really need help. Mr. Obama and his friends do not believe in this concept. Government, they say, will take care of you. Well, it won't. You must take care of yourself.
I'll give you credit for attempting to parse Mitt's words. But even conservatives recognize that Mitt has covered more than food stamps and that his words were "stupid and arrogant." It is one thing to favor a candidate it is another to deny reality. Joblessness isn't what Mitt was talking about. He was clearly talking about people who according to him wouldn't vote for him, those folks getting federal assistance. He was wrong on that many SS recipients had voted for him. You may well believe what you say regarding taxes, but that isn't what Mitt said or believes. That however is not what Mitt is saying nor what he is thinking. As I have said before take a moment forget the policy argument, look at the man. Mitt is not your or my friend. Mitt does not even see us, just like those waiters in the clip, we are merely his servants. Mitt's problem isn't policy, it's Mitt and you can't defend him through policy. Mitt's father had a sense of "noblise oblige" Mitt doesn't he's great you stink. That's the real Mitt and the real problem.
Here's the bad news: in 2007, before the downturn, the 47% number was 40%. It hit 50+ under Bush. Bash away, though.
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Why is telling facts and figures accurately about Obama "bashing" or "lies"? The Kennedy's were truly rich and waited on hand and foot by people they never really saw. Do you, in fairness, hate them too? Emotional responses to Romney do not make Barry's Gaffes and horrific failure as a president any less true or harmful to America. If you believe his Obamacare nightmare will benefit you, a swamp in Jersey awaits your downpayment. It is not bashing when I refer to his bowing to the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia. It is true that he wants Israel back to the tiny, defenseless island it occupied before it was attacked by the entire Muslim world.
The Kennedy's never cheerfully expressed complete disdain for those less fortunate than they. "Obamacare" is not much different from Romney's own healthcare plan, as he himself admitted. There was no "bowing" to "Muslim Kings"- all your right-wing heroes had to interact with Middle Eastern potentates as well, it's called "diplomacy." Israel was not "attacked by the entire Muslim world," and Obama has no interest in reducing its world status or power. Your "accuracy", Mr. Fox, is entirely subjective. Your pen name speaks volumes. L.O.L.
No matter how you slice it, when you have more than 50% of your country collecting a government check of one kind or another, you are well on your way to no longer having a country. I like how the most important warning in all of this is furiously buried by the press.
Fortunately, you're here to save the day. Now pass me that shovel.
Are you planning on taking away my VA comp check, grandma's social security, uncle Bob's serving in the Afghan pay check, Aunt Sue's Medicare. You got big ideas but I don't think the family is going to like you much and you're going to have a tough supporting them and defending yourself against the Taliban at the same time.
I guess I am in the 53% as I pay income, payroll, property, excise, sales and other taxes and fees. And I just got my 2011 back and I am in the 28% bracket. No way am I voting for a guy who pays less than 15% income taxes while I am paying 28% and wants his to remain that way or even be lower. There is no way you can do that and cut the deficit and maintain defense and all the other programs that people want and need. I don't care that in whole dollar amounts he pays more taxes than me - he still takes a whopping lot more home than I do as well. I was unemployed once for about 6 months and was very grateful to have unemployment to get me through it until I found a new job. Romney may not ever need a safety net in his life, but not all of us are so blessed and shouldn't necessarily loose our homes, cars, and life when we hit a rough patch. My 2 cents.
Certain people in Europe perfected the art of the "Big Lie" back in the 40s and they learned that if you tell the same lie long enough and loud enough, it becomes truth to some people. Governor Romney would have us believe that there are earners and takers, as if the lines are clear and we don't move from one side of the continuum to the other over time, depending on circumstances. Governor Romney has never needed to worry about where his rent would come from, or how to send his boys to college (no ROTC, please), or what meds his parents can afford. Great for him! But his dad got help for a while, and so do a lot of us, until we're able to do for ourselves. That's what a civilized, mature democracy does. Honestly, I thought that originally he was a true moderate pretending to be a Tea Party reactionary in order to be elected, but now I think that I had it reversed
Here we go again - the Boston Globe digging & digging, constantly trying to tilt the election in favor of their boy - Obama. Never, writing about Obama's immature intellect; glossing over Obama's deplorable lack of judgement; Ignoring Obama's gaffes.
The Globe ignores Bob Woodward's account of Obama's failure to collaborate with his colleagues(?) or, the other elected officials in Washington. The Globe makes every effort to make it appear that the U.S. would be better served with Obama as President . . .
Clint Eastwood said Obama is the biggest HOAX perpetrated upon the American people. The Globe continues their efforts to shoe-horn Obama into the oval office.
NEW INFORMATION has come forth. The tape was edited. Romney's clarification of statements are missing.