Posted on 09/17/2012 8:21:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Republican candidate Mitt Romney responded to criticism after a video surfaced of him calling out 47 percent of Americans for not paying income taxes, saying they all feel entitled to government handouts and will vote for President Obama no matter what. In the video, Romney can be heard saying that it’s not his job to convince those people to vote for him, but rather he needs to focus on independent voters.
Romney defended to the tape, saying, “It doesn’t capture the question, so I don’t know precisely what was asked, but I think it was about my campaign and how I’d be able to get the majority of voters to support me.”
The GOP nominee asked for the entire video to be released. He said that it was not “elegantly stated” and that he was “speaking off the cuff.”
Romney went on to say that it’s a message he plans on continuing to carry....
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnewsinsider.com ...
The irony is that my senator, Chuck Schumer, attacked Romney as “out of touch” with the common American with those remarks.
I had an incident with Sen. Schumer at the East Avenue Festival in Rochester two years ago, when he was up for election. I confronted him about the new Arizona law and his grilling of Sam Alito when he was nominated for SCOTUS. He whined that Alito was a “radical right winger” and he was justified to be rough on him. As for the Arizona law Gov. Brewer enforced on illegals, Schumer told me it was “racist.” I told Schumer “I have relatives in Arizona, and they think.” Schumer pointed at me and said “*I* don’t care what YOU or your relatives think!” and walked away mad. I yelled at him as he was walking away “too bad I did not have a camera....this would be all over YouTube!” But then, New Yorkers would vote for Stalin as long as (D) is after their name.
I watched the video.
You obviously didn't.
There was no apology.
"47, 48, 49 %, something like that, these are people are in his camp, they will vote for him no matter what ... and I have a large number of people that will vote for me no matter what ... my campaign effort is to focus on the people in the middle. ... It's a question that I recall about the process of the campaign ... I recognize that among those that pay no tax -- approximately 47% of Americans, I'm not likely to be highly successful with a message of lowering taxes. That's not as attractive to those who don't pay income taxes as it is to those who do; and likewise those that are reliant are government are not as attracted to my message of slimming down the size of government. And so I then focus on those individuals who I believe who are most likely to be able to be pulled into my camp and help me win the 51 or 50.1% I'd need to become the next President."
How is that not an apology?
Now he is floundering trying to explain himself.
He should restate what he said: My message of lowing taxes has no appeal to those who don't pay taxes.
And he is right about that.
Let's not even get into that this proclamation of his alienates 49% of voting people, by stating his message is worthless to them.
Romney is not a conservative, when he tries to talk about conservative issues IE lower taxes he is unable.
Everyone benefits from lower taxes, not just the people who pay them.
It's called economic growth, yet Romney apparently is unable, maybe unwilling to put that idea out in front.
He really is a disaster as a campaigner.
If I rightly or wrongly accuse you of saying something stupid (which you often do) and you respond by saying it wasn't "elegantly stated" and that you were "speaking off the cuff", have you apologized?
Didn't think so.
"Bottom line is that no one knows what would happen to Gingrich’s votes, for me I want him to stay even if the only thing that happens is that Romney wont take the prize during the nomination process. Personally, I had hoped Gingrich would be doing a lot better by now."
Your guy got beat on the square, is now wandering in the wilderness, and you still got a gut full of piss about it. Deal.
He stood by his statement and sentiment. His comment seemed more for the grammar police.
MS should really be demanding their name come off MSNBC and then they should burry what is left of NBC.
Oh yes they are, which is why they are called payroll taxes. Once you make your contributions they no longer belong to you. SCOTUS made that determination in Flemming vs Nestor
When you pay into a fund, and eventually get your money back, that isn't a tax.
You may never get your money back. A single person could pay into the system for 50 years, die just before he started collecting a pension, and get nothing except a small burial allowance. This is part of the myth the liberals like to create that somehow there is a bag of money with your name on it that contains all your contributions.
SS and Medicare are pay as you go systems with today's workers paying for today's retirees. They are also Ponzi schemes with those in retirement now collecting far more in benefits than they contributed. That will change as the society ages. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree; today it is 3.3; and by 2030 there will be just 2.
It is also worth noting that during the times when SS was running a surplus--more taken in as revenue than paid out in benefits--the surplus was deposited into the General Fund and spent on other things. In its place the Treasury issued non-market, interest bearing T-bills in the amount of the surplus and deposited them into the SSTF, which currently contains $2.6 trillion. That $2.6 trillion is part of our $16 trillion national debt and held as "Intragovernmental Holdings." Other government trust funds work the same way including Medicare and federal pensions.
The 47% of Americans who pay no actual taxes are deadbeats, and it's time they started paying. We need to have this debate; we need to find out what kind of country this is. It's time to stop running from it.
Given our graduated tax system, many in the 47% are working but don't earn enough along with various deductions to pay taxes. Some, including illegal aliens, even receive EITC. The so-called working poor also pay sales taxes on gas, clothing, and food.
We do need to reform our tax system so that everyone has skin in the game. Calling people deadbeats is not helpful if we want to win. It is unfortunate that Romney inelegantly phrased it the way he did, but he was at a donor meeting and talking in the context of political strategy. The Left insinuated themselves in the meeting as part of their strategy to destroy Romney. They dropped this bombshell now to divert attention away from Libya and to be a knockout blow to Romney. It is their October surprise come early.
Romney should use this as an opportunity to discuss the very issues that animated the Tea Party. The welfare state is bankrupting us. We can't afford it. Government cannot keep all the promises it has made. We will become Greece if we don't stop this culture of dependency.
I agree.
I expect MORE than a few trolls in the comming days pushing the useful idiot dead end third party candidates
AND
the usual suspects pushing the “not voting for romney because he [insert BS here: eats puppies, is a mormon, hair too perfect, hair not perfect, refuses to X the way i do..etc.)
The outfits like media matters have already stated they use trolling as part of their strategy.
“There is a problem with the sentiment Romney expressed, though it’s not one the press or the left (but I repeat myself) will pick up on and criticize: he seems to assume those currently dependent on government support wish to remain that way.”
Just as in olde England there were “the deserving poor” and “the undeserving poor”, it’s important for Romney (and conservatives) to draw a distinction between “the deserving entitlees” and the “un-deserving entitlees”.
I would consider those who have worked their entire lives, and who now draw upon Social Security and Medicare, to be of the former category.
Romney must convince them that he is NOT referring “to them” when he talks about “the dependent society”. Otherwise, he (and coservatives) are going to lose on this one.
It's not a very good one. Having watched the entirety of the video, Romney distinctly telegraphs that the MSM should be careful, because the 2-3% Undecideds he's persuading are open to that very message, that a United States composed of 47% deadbeats is a distinct hindrance to our country's recovery and to our country's future.
Maybe Romney should resurrect the Obama statement in 2008 at a donors meeting:
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
You said: “What ever troll...”
What are you talking about? Why would you say that?
How very interesting.
You are free to tell me of course you think what I said was stupid, as you often do, as I am free to say I do not say stupid stuff, you apparently intemperate it is as such - you would be wrong.
Sorry, honey you have know idea who “my guy” was, just because I hoped that Gingrich would stay till the end. Making a statement that I wanted someone to stay in the race, does not necessarily mean Gingrich was my guy.
I would rather everyone stay till the end of the competition. The competition hones everyone skills, and the front runner usually benefits from additional ideas put forth.
Really? Pissed in my gut - that’s just weird.
Social Security is not a tax: Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA)
I do not remember the abbreviation for medicare, that is also not a tax.
Before you say it, I know it is not voluntary even thought the feds say it is and I also know that it effectively operates as tax on the bottom line.
Actually, they are indeed taxes. The distinction is that FICA and Medicare are considered to be payroll taxes. They are levied only on earned income, with only a few exclusions.
The federal individual tax that Romney is referring to is an income tax. There's also the corporate income tax.
And there's more: the federal gas tax, the utility taxes, etc. are considered excise taxes.
Social Security is primarily funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA). Tax deposits are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund which comprise the Social Security Trust Fund.
Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax is a United States Federal payroll (or employment) tax imposed on both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare —federal programs that provide benefits for retirees, the disabled, and children of deceased workers. Social Security benefits include old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI); Medicare provides hospital insurance benefits for the elderly. The amount that one pays in payroll taxes throughout one's working career is associated indirectly with the social security benefits annuity that one receives as a retiree. This has caused some to claim that the payroll tax is not a tax because its collection is tied to a benefit. The United States Supreme Court decided in Flemming v. Nestor (1960) that no one has an accrued property right to benefits from Social Security.
“He is right, it is the truth and we cannot allow the truth to become defeat. **** the 47%. They have ****ed up my entire life long efforts and I will NEVER forgive nor will I forget.”
Amen. Brother. ____ ‘em.
Why does Romney always get in trouble for telling the truth and Obama never gets in trouble for lying to the American people?!!!
When the press inevitably keeps on repeatedly asking him questions about this, I would turn this on its head and say, “You know, I’ve answered the tough questions on this campaign, and I am accessible to the media to answer any questions that you may have. The President on the other hand has not been asked to account for his failed policies in the Middle East. When are you going to star asking him when did you know there was problem in Egypt and Libya, why did you ignore the signs that were clearly there, why was there not stronger security for these embassies especially on 9/11, especially when you were warned that there were going to be possible violent protests against the United States? This is what is an important issue to the American people, and we have yet to here any satisfactory answers from the Obama administration regarding these questions.”
When the press inevitably keeps on repeatedly asking him questions about this,
Guaranteed that will be the only question he gets for a month as they conveniently (for obama) ignore the middle east blowing up.
When I write a check to State Farm for auto coverage, that money is no longer "mine" either. That doesn't make it any less of an insurance payment, and it certainly doesn't make it a "tax."
Your argument that there's no "trust fund" is nonsense, and determined to miss the point that workers who contribute to Social Security aren't contributing to the general welfare, they're contributing to their own. OF COURSE THERE IS NO TRUST FUND. Anyone who understands basic economics knows that the existence of a "trust fund" held by the government is fundamentally impossible in anything resembling a free market system. Since the money is collected, it must be spent; the alternative would be unacceptable government interference in the financial system. That doesn't mean that the money is not owed. That doesn't mean that the money isn't carried on the balance sheet, and that doesn't mean there will not be serious political and economic consequences when the money comes due.
Yes, it's a Ponzi scheme. So what? Bernie Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme, too, and he wasn't collecting "taxes." Yes, the money went into the general fund (it has to, BY LAW.) The US collects a variety of fees that aren't taxes that go into the general fund. That doesn't make them "taxes." Stop playing the liberal game. People paying the payroll "tax" aren't contributing to the general welfare.
People who work and don't pay income tax are deadbeats, whether they're rich deadbeats like the Secretary of the Treasury or live in double-wides on the wrong side of the tracks. You're mentality is that it's perfectly acceptable for the leftists to attack people who actually built and maintain the country as not paying their "fair share," but when a politician finally tells the truth and says that you can't be paying your "fair share" if you're paying nothing at all is an unacceptable game-changing gaffe. It isn't a gaffe.
It's the truth, and it's time to tell the truth. There are too many people in the wagon, and too few pulling it. And those sitting in the wagon have an interest in continuing to vote themselves benefits, and continuing to vote for politicians who tell them that the people pulling are the problem. This is a debate that we need to have, and we need to STOP allowing the leftists to set the terms.
Personally I think Mitt and his allies have this under control more than we know.... at least I hope so.
I’m guessing they know exactly what they doing, and when to do it, and what to expect when its done.
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