Romney Exposed
Wow. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney chose to deride about half of America's electorate. A video clip reveals Romney’s cold-hearted, insensitive attitude and contempt for numerous Americans.
A leaked video of a secretly recorded fundraiser shows Mitt Romney telling a group of wealthy donors:
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what….These are people who pay no income tax.... [M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Calling Romney’s remarks “arrogant and stupid”, William Cristol of the conservative Weekly Standard, asserts that a good chunk of the 47% who don’t pay income taxes are Romney supporters –that includes seniors, lower-income Americans, men and women serving in the military.
Southern states have the highest percentage of "non-payers, according to Tax Foundation.org
CNN contributor LZ Granderson says Republicans who are not rich, especially in the South, better take a good long hard look at Mitt Romney.
Huffington Post points out---- “Many Americans don't pay federal income taxes, in part, because of deductions like the child tax credit that have been championed by conservatives and progressives alike. Almost all of the 47% do pay other federal taxes in the form of Social Security and Medicare payroll deductions and gas levies, as well as a variety of state and local sales and property taxes that aren't dependent on income.”
By the way, MoneyCNN.com tells us that Romney’s “47% who pay no federal income tax” includes 4,000 millionnaires!
Here’s a statement from Obama campaign manager Jim Messina that was emailed to reporters Monday:
“It's shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as 'victims,' entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take 'personal responsibility' for their lives. It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation."
Conservative pundit David Brooks contends that Romney’s outrageous comment at the fundraiser suggests the following:
1. Romney really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?
2. Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Most say that hard work is the key to success
3. Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.
4. Romney has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.
5. Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. People are motivated when they feel competent. They are motivated when they have more opportunities. Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the world’s poorest regions makes clear.
Also, check out Jeff Madrick’s blog post published today on Huffington Post: Mitt Romney’s 47 Percent Remarks: Wrong on the Facts, Not Just the Rhetoric
