The simplest approach is to call Obama’s use of it a lie, which is what it is. Any type of nuancing gets Mitt into a “macaca” moment.
I also thought about Mitt turning “47” (or perhaps “47%”) and turn it against Obama, for example:
47 - number of jobs lost per minute under Obama
470 - number of xyz..
470 million - dollars of debt per hour...
470 billion - you get the idea...
My two cents worth, and worth every penny!
its really worse 47% of tax returns paid no income tax not 47% of the population the number that pays no taxes is even higher
It wouldn’t have mattered WHAT Romney had said; the Democrats had to seize on anything they could warp and twist to give Obama something, anything to exaggerate.
47% of voters ARE likely to vote for their Messiah because he throws them a few crumbs after he and Michelle eat the cake.
If it hadn’t been that, it woulda been something else. - Obama needs to EXPLAIN - Benghazi. Hillary needs to explain - Benghazi.
O/T a little:
Response to taxes: If Obama thought Rpmney wasn’t paying enough taxes, why didn’t they change it in 2008-2010?? when Dems had house and senate?
Bain: Big Obama donors - if bad, give back the money
47% is the percentage which pay no FEDERAL income taxes.
Some of this class is the welfare, dependent-on-government, class. Most of those people are Democrat voters.
Most of the 47% - people who do not make enough money to have to pay federal income taxes.
THEY do not like having so little income and would happily pay more taxes if they could be making more money.
They NEED more money.
The Disaster’s policies PREVENT them from making more money and joining the 53% who are so happily paying ALL the federal income taxes who are paying their FAIR SHARE and more.
Were enough buzz words hit?
It is an easy argument to make.
You hit it on the head. The discussion needs to be just what you said. Mitt was addressing a question about how he would get votes in the election. He (correctly) stated that 47% are on government support and that the message of cutting government will not resonate with that crowd. He (incorrectly) mangled the rest of his answer for two reasons. One is that it is not a 100% correlation. Many on government support WANT to return to be productive. He could easily turn that around and give hope to those people in his response during the debate. Secondly, by uttering “I don’t care about...”, he opened himself up to this attack. He was referring to caring about getting their votes, not caring about their lives. That’s where it has been mangled, and his phrasing opened up that line of attack. He will hopefully use this opportunity to mitigate any damage from that part of the attack.
He could be honest & simply say, “47% of the country is receiving some kind of government benefit. The democrats have spent a considerable amount of time demonizing Republicans & convincing these people that I will take away their benefits if elected. That, of course, is a lie. But as a matter of political reality, I probably won’t be able to correct this lie, given how our current media support Obama, & have to put my case before those I can realistically reach.”
I’d just say if you want to talk divisive videos Mr Resident, we can discuss the one where you were using that odd accent stirring up black hate against white people regarding the Stafford Act after Katrina. I would also add that you lied to those people because you voted against the waiver, you were one of 14 senators that voted against New Orleans.
Game, Set, Match.
WRONG! Romney did not use the word “care,” he used the word “worry.” As in “I don’t worry about getting their votes.”
As a Christian nation, those are people we will ALWAYS assist and we always have.
Romney was talking about the element which is able bodied and who have no intention of EVER being or becoming self sufficient. They now have or have had at some time, government assistance and want only to continue and enlarge on that arrangement.
This element permits themselves to be used each and every election merely to cast Conservatives as greedy and uncaring when in fact, Conservatives are really demanding greater accountability in the disbursement of government programs and also, asking for curtailment of the growing mass of recipients... who are neither disabled nor under served.
There is no reason to apologize for stating that fact.
Good points. He can say Obama ignored those who voted to keep 40-something percent of the government Republican. And ignored that they voted for Scott Brown during the healthcare bill debate as well.
Romney just needs to say he misspoke, and meant to say that it would be harder to get the votes of the roughly 47% of people who lean towards Obama, but that he still plans to try. And that if he can’t convince them to vote for him this time, he plans to have them convinced in time for 2016 by being a great president.
I actually thought Romney was saying that 47% of obama’s voters would never vote for him; therefore, he could never appeal to them. However, he could appeal to the other 53% and bring them over.
If this is taken as a serious issue, it gives it more weight than it deserves. It is a silly assertion, taken out of context and put forth by a desperate campaign would be my first statement.
I would not use the words “dependent class”. I would just shrug it off, and say a certain % of the population always votes for the Democrat, and there is no sense wasting ads and campaign time on people who will probably not change their minds and vote Republican, and the criticism is unfounded and taken out of context.
Romney doesn’t need to get into the “meme” of his 47% comment... all he needs to say, if challenged by Obama regarding his 47% comment, is this:: “Mr. President, Americans want a leader that is more focused on lowering that number by increasing employment rather than increasing that number by lowering employment, as your policies have done over the last four year. On top of that, Americans all over the country have expressed great concern to me over your comments earlier this year to Russian President Medvedev as you assured him that you would have more flexibility in missile defense negotiations after November should you be reelected. I would like for you to explain to me and the American people what you meant by that comment?”
Voters are citizens (or supposed to be).
Taxpayers are legal residents (or supposed to be).
They're not the same population.
-PJ
The national mainstream media is lazy. They do not report the news of what happens - they report their packaged set pieces. For the first debate, they had their packaged analysis lined up for Romney's 47% comment, for Bain Capital, and for Romney's Tax Returns. They were all set to expound on why these were critical issues and why they would damage Romney. I can hear the production meetings - "Okay, David, you do your piece on the 47% comment. George, you take the Bain Capital story. And Cokie, you take the tax return piece."
The only problem was, Obama didn't bring those issues up in the debate. The media expected those issues to come up during the debate and they were prepared to run with them, but they couldn't. To the media, these debates are not news in real-time, they are simply staging platforms for their agenda.
Think back to the post-debate coverage of the first debate. There was a general sense of "What the hell do we say now, other than Romney looked presidential?" They couldn't run their propaganda about the big three issues, because Obama didn't bring those issues into the debate.
The media wants those issues introduced into the debate so THEY can pound Romney on the issues for the next 48 hours.
Romney can explain how many Americans need to be instructed on why the government was not created to provide for them, and how they can better provide for themselves.
Hey 2 Cool:
Good idea to bring this up!
I think what he was saying is that 47% of the people don’t pay taxes therefore tax cuts will not appeal to them.
But economic growth will raise the tide for everyone, rich, middle class AND the poor.
Just my 2 cents
Those truly in need or thin their in need will not be offended. Any votes he loses from those who are gaming the system will be more than offset by those who recognize this is what's going on.