Posted on 09/18/2012 4:42:39 AM PDT by LD Jackson
I've been out and about most of the weekend and today and really couldn't pay a lot of attention to the news or the election campaign. As I was driving home from work last evening, I turned on NPR and their lead story after the news at the bottom of the hour was about something Mitt Romney said in a private fundraiser some days or weeks ago. His remarks were captured on video, unbeknownst to the candidate, or his staff, and that video has been "leaked" to Mother Jones. Before we get to my take on this, here is a portion of what he had to say.
(Washington Post) “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…Getting right to it, let's be honest with ourselves. This statement was never meant to be broadcast to the general public. It was for private consumption only. Nevertheless, can anyone dispute the truthfulness of what Mitt Romney said? I have read some of the original scoop from Mother Jones and the comments that are being made on the post and there is no surprise in what they have to say. To hear them tell it, Mitt Romney was expressing his utter disdain for the people who voted for Obama. Personally, I didn't read disdain in his words. Neither did I hear it in his voice when I watched the video. He was making a simple statement of fact.“And I mean the president starts off with 48, 49 … he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect. So he’ll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that’s what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to convince the five to ten percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not.”
Staying with the honesty theme, this story is going to get a lot of media time. Make no mistake, they are going to play this for all its worth. We should accept that fact and get ready to face the combined onslaught of the Obama media and the Obama campaign. Prepare yourselves for all manner of charges against Mitt Romney, from this day forward. I have already heard former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland speaking on CNN and he is claiming the statement should disqualify Romney from being President. The Obama campaign is coming out against this in full force and they will have the full strength of the media running interference.
The real question of the hour is this. Was Mitt Romney telling the truth about the election? Does the President start with a large number of Americans who are going to vote for him, no matter what he says ore does? Do 47% of Americans really pay no income tax? The answer to all of those questions is yes. According to the Tax Policy Center, 46.4% of Americans paid no income tax in 2011. That doesn't mean all of them are freeloaders, but some of them are. It is a known fact that nearly half of Americans are receiving some form of government assistance. Again, that isn't to say all of them are freeloaders, because they are not. However, when you start off with the premise that so many Americans are relying on the government for some portion of their sustenance, where does that leave Mitt Romney, when he is running a campaign on reducing the size of government? Many Americans will look at his campaign and feel a disconnect from it, simply because they may feel he is threatening the assistance they rely on. My opinion is that Mitt Romney spoke nothing but the truth in his statement. He was explaining his campaign strategy to people who paid good money to hear him speak in a private setting and he was simply being honest by telling them which segment of the voting public he needed to reach, if he has a chance of winning this election. Having said that, it isn't necessarily the truth that the media is going to hammer Mitt Romney with in the coming days.
The Romney campaign has already attempted to clarify their candidate's remarks in a statement of their own.
Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy. As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work. Mitt Romney’s plan creates 12 million new jobs in four years, grows the economy and moves Americans off of government dependency and into jobs.For another take on this, let's turn to Allahpundit. He has a breakdown of who does or doesn't pay federal income tax and why.
(Hot Air) Certainly, the Obama campaign’s never done anything to tout the sort of cradle-to-grave dependency that Romney describes here. I think David French’s recent post about the “bookends” that compose the modern liberal coalition is closer to the mark than Romney’s familiar makers-and-takers formulation here, but he was at a fundraiser and tossing red meat and I guess wanted it to be as red as possible. As for his claim that 47 percent pay no income tax, it’s true but carries lots of caveats. Ramesh Ponnuru wrote an insightful piece about last year; this new article from National Journal is worth reading too. Two political difficulties here. One: While some Obama supporters may not pay federal income tax, they still pay federal payroll tax and may well pay state and city taxes. They do contribute something to government. Two: A lot of pro-Republican working-class voters pay no income tax due to the Earned Income Tax Credit, and a lot of pro-Republican seniors pay no income tax because most or all of their income is Social Security. Not sure how either of those groups will react to Romney’s critique of O’s fans, but my hunch is that Ben Domenech’s right in believing that no one really thinks they’re part of the 47 percent. Everyone thinks they’re a “maker,” not a “taker,” due to whatever little tax they pay, so when Mitt lays into freeloaders, even people who pay no income tax think he’s talking about someone else. It’s sort of the flip side of senior citizens saying that America needs small government while telling politicians “Hands off my Medicare.” I doubt it’ll end up hurting Romney badly, but the media will do its level best. Buckle up!I'm not sure a seat belt is going to be enough. This may require a giant air bag, before the uproar subsides.
You mean that very same 47-49% that will invariably vote to keep their addiction to dependency an ongoing process? What does that say about the direction of America in general? Pathetic. =.=
Hogwash.
Go take another look at the "Julia" cartoon and tell me the above statement is true.
Obama is struggling to close the deal and gets about 47% in the polls on and off again depending on what is going on. I think this Romney Gaff may have been Obama’s planned “October Surprise” trying to finally get above Romney and gain momentum in the polls. I wonder if this isn’t Obama’s last big shot at winning.This tape will distract from the terrorist attack on the Embassy in Libya and the Death of our Ambassador there! Obama’s spin on it being a demonstration that got out of hand that was touted all weekend is collapsing as the President of Libya (a government Obama helped install), eye witnesses, and Libyan security forces all paint a much more plausible picture of what happened than the Obama administration spin Machine has come up with. In order to allow a distraction for the median and regain control of the news cycle Obama has put this recording out!
See here’s a truth:
We are outsourcing all our jobs. Too many.
We have nearly reached a point of change. Once we outsource more than half our jobs, we reach a point of breaking our experiment.
Done.
That is the flaw. Our outsourcing, will kill America.
We need to stop outsourcing NOW. Bring back US jobs, and rebuild our economy.
Then we can win elections again.
Right now, we are slowly losing that capability.
Neither here no there...I think it was a correct and totally objective view of the facts. Period.
Mitt is wrong to back off this... when all Conservatives agree with the figures, facts and the candidate's right to observe them publicly or privately.
Denying logic is a dangerous path.... look what it has done to Liberalism.
Related - I heard this morning that the Canadian Auto Workers just inked a new deal w/ Ford that makes Canada the most expensive place to build a car in the world. All of the big 3 US Automakers have moved plants there. Why?
Aside, you are correct. We don't have enough jobs and I don't see where they are going to come from to pull us out of this nose dive.
The truth hurts, eh? It must as the mainstream media is going nuts over Romney’s comments. Morning Joe is adding his two cents worth, which isn’t worth the two cents. We’re tired of ya Joe.
Once again, a “gaffe” becomes an accidental revelation of the truth.
I think you should email or call the Romney campaign right now, seriously, right now, and tell them to use Julia to explain the culture of dependency and defend the attack today is about to become all day long. Good call by you.
god, and can you imagine if Romney inadvertantly said “52 States” or “Typical Latino Person”?
As one who in theory is part of the problem, let me say this about that.
I pay plenty of taxes on income, including on SS insurance payments.
I still work for a living because of just such issues.
I fully realize the present system is unsustainable.
SS, medicare, medicaid, and other welfare payments add up to the entire federal receipts, thus the borrowed 40% to support the rest of the federal budget. You know, the budget that really isn’t a budget because the US Senate refuses to pass it.
I would be one of the first to suggest reductions in benefits on the order of 40% in order to save or wean us off “the system”.
This is 100% True. Many of us are GD tired of the 47% that are living off the left hind teat of the government. We are getting close to a true tax revolt. This is a Atlas Shrug moment that will be soon to come. F the slugs!!!!!!!
Did you realize that almost 99.99999% of Americans never pay the federal excise tax on yachts?
"TIS TRUE!!!!
We are undoubtedly doomed.
Getting down to the guts of his story this writer wants to focus on the half of the country who have someone in their household who receives a government check ~ a retired person with Social Security, someone else on Medicare perhaps, an unemployed adult child living in the basement doing a string of part time jobs that never raise him to the level where he can get off food stamps or EITC ~ we have 53% of our recent college graduates unemployed ~ of course there's a lot of folks around who have a household member who is unemployed and who may be receiving assistance of some kind, or maybe living on grandpa and grandma in some hard hit communities.
That, BTW, doesn't mean that half the people in the country are on welfare ~ it means the middle class is close to exhausting its resources, and time is running out until the red armband salesmen are going to be on the move taking over the country.
Hopefully the Romney campaign monitors FR (or someone here has quick contact with them).
Someone with a bit of savvy could use the Julia propaganda to quickly counterpunch this LSM crap.
I just hope they’re able to be that agile.
Look, do you want Romney or Obama to play the part of VonHindenberg when the red arm band sellers decide to step out and take over America?
That's going to happen unless people get over this class warfare nonsense and begin to focus on retrieving our economy!
Obama followers must defend why it is a good thing that nearly half the country does not pay taxes. We as conservative voters knew the figure but many liberals do not.
Obama must work hard to get the 47% out to vote, which I maintain will be a tall task unlike what he enjoyed in 2008.
He is absolutely right. We have gotten to the point where telling the truth is controversial. Well I guess we have been at that point for a while now.
One of the prime reasons for outsourcing would be our high corporate tax rates. You have hit upon “catch 22”. How do you reduce corporate tax rates when all you are going to hear is leftist screams of “tax cuts for the rich”? That silly mantra is not helping what ails them. When you hang you hat on BS, you get a heaping pile of manure whether you want it.
Or not.
One quick example is the Chevy Equinox is made in Canada.
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