I know it’s obvious, I know it’s too easy, I know everybody and its dog is all over it, but can I just point and laugh at Romney a little all the same? Because it’s too perfect.
That is how they think. I know some, and that’s how they think. They think everybody who isn’t rich is contemptible, and out to steal their stuff.
At the fundraiser, Romney was asked how he could win in November, and he replied:
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.
You have to love the way it ticks all the boxes, and the way it ignores reality. He seems to think that 47 percent of the population is on welfare, which is never cut off. That’s Romney’s America! Almost half of us are beneath contempt and not his job to worry about.
Class war. Booya.
From Romney’s perspective, apparently the country would be better off if 148 million people in the US (the 47% of the 314 million US population that he thinks are dependent on the government for food, housing, and healthcare) were forced into homelessness, starvation, and dying in the streets with untreated illnesses.
It should be obvious, but apparently was not obvious to Romney: That 47% doesn’t actually exist.
46-47% of American households do not pay _federal income tax_ – the Tax Policy Center says that 53.6% do. But that’s primarily people who don’t make enough money to owe income tax. The majority of those people still pay _federal payroll taxes_, which are about the same share of government revenue as the income tax. Only about _17%_ of the population doesn’t pay federal payroll or income taxes (~10% people who are old enough to collect Social Security and are not longer working, ~7% people who make so little money that no payroll taxes are collected either).
And that doesn’t include state and local taxes, which vary widely, and sales taxes, which apply to everyone regardless of how much money they make. Many of the people Romney dismissed as freeloaders are paying a higher fraction of their income in taxes than he is.
NPR provides a good presentation: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/09/18/161337343/the-47-percent-in-one-graphic
I just have to wonder whether the secret shooter was an underpaid menial worker at this event.
On another site, a commenter said “Romney doesn’t care about the 47%.”
The following commenter said, quite correctly I believe, “Romney doesn’t care about the 99%.”
Anonymous Atheist:
To follow that up, if that 47% is dying in the streets, who the heck is Romney thinking will dispose of all the dead bodies?*
Or, how does he expect the illnesses to remain contained within those dying in the streets? Does he intend to live in an ivory tower above the masses?
*damn, that’s such a morbid thought to even entertain; it makes me cringe considering it.
New nickname for Rmoney: Money Boo-Boo.
Tony – Ooh, I know! Arm the future fleets of domestic drones with means of incinerating the corpses! 😉
To be fair, Romney was probably carelessly including children in that 47% — and boy, do they believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. Little leeches.
47% would never vote for him? Does that man he thinks he will get all the votes of the other 53% ?
Sounds like he thinks he has already lost.
I pay income tax at a higher percent of my income than Romney does, so Romney is being subsidized by the government more than I am.
Well, remember the context: fundraising. The tactic here is: convince your audience they’re up against a juggernaut. So dig deep, dammit…
… and of course the great unwashed have to be at least somewhat ‘great’, at least in number. Keeps the narrative consistent, at least in this one way.
Speaking of narratives: that those great unwashed don’t know what’s good for them anyway is an ongoing subthread in lots of political contexts. A tradition, even. So while it might seem a bit odd to hear Romney as much as admitting out loud he’s not strictly popular with presumably more than half of the country once you add the leeches to those damned do-gooder silk stocking socialists they run with, no, not so much, actually.
Hell, I’d expect that for some of his crowd, it’s red meat. Curse that unwise majority. We’ll just have to fix them
… and let’s also remember, in the modern US context especially, the mere fact that an actual majority opposes you wouldn’t necessarily be a game-ender, anyway…
Especially if so many of them are poor. As, those, you can frequently screw out of their vote entirely.
So Romney’s plan for America is that all those 85 year old widows who aren’t paying taxes should just borrow money from their parents and start a business!
Sounds fine to me.
Now, will he explain why putting money in bank accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands is *his* way of helping the American economy?
Seens to me that Romney is the one with the over-active sense of entitlement.
I think Soylent Green is the answer Romney is looking for.
Most people seem to assume that Rmoney meant what he said. I doubt it. I think he probably despises his donors almost as much as he despises the people he puts out of work.
@ #2: “Many of the people Romney dismissed as freeloaders are paying a higher fraction of their income in taxes than he is.”
As far as I can gather, one does not have to pay much tax percentage-wise to pay more than Romney does.
It’s called in other contexts a ‘race to the bottom’. In this one, Romney has to be a hot favourite.
Whoever wins in November will have the thankless job of managing an astronomical level of debt.
Personnal debt levels are unprecedented, and as Jay Leno pointed out a couple of days ago, so many people have given up looking for work that they no longer appear on the unemploymnet rolls.
Some sources claim unemployment levels are around 12% and rising.
I work in an industry that exports commodities to the U.S. a great deal, and those exports have been trailing off as U.S. domestic demand slackens.
Of course, the fact the canadian dollar is now worth more than the american doesn’t help exports any.
@sheila –
No, he as much as said in a hastily organized press conference Monday night (about 10pm EDT) that he stood by his words and fully believes what he said. They just weren’t phrased elegantly, because he was speaking off the cuff.
So he claims to mean it. Whether he despises the donors or not isn’t something I can say.
I’m not at all surprised he feels that way. It’s that paranoia that is the center of their world. What surprises me is his rare display of candor, given his aversion for the truth.
It’s a toss-up as to which I find more offensive. His dishonesty, or his ineptitude.
It is terribly offensive because when you are in his position, you ought to know the facts. I mean we are talking about a “financial wizard” here. Listening to the tape I did not catch even a glint of “off -the-cuff-speak.” There was a certain sincerity which he affirmed at the press conference. So, he means it and no amount of spin works. Funny how in the hours of yesterday the explanation became so twisted as to be humorous.
Trends:
Debt isn’t the demon that right-wingers make it out to be. A certain level of debt is necessary. And trying to trim the deficit during a severe recession would be a disaster.
It worries me that Romney actually thinks that people are not entitled to the most basic things they need to live.