Folks, after reading this morning's headlines, I am at a loss. I am not going to laugh at Romney or sneer or snark.
The 2012 GOP candidate might have been able to recover from the Latino jokes. He might have been able to explain away the comments about young women locked in a Chinese factory, but essentially calling nearly half of all Americans a bunch of hopeless losers is indelible.
I have no idea if Mr. Barro's prediction is correct. I have no idea what my fellow Americans will do when they step into the voting booth on November 6, but effectively dismissing half of the electorate disqualifies Mr. Romney from the office of the President in my book.
I don't care who he was talking to. How can any American vote for a man who has written off 47 percent of us?
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64 comments:
"How can any American vote for a man who has written off 47 percent of us?"-EO'B
The 53% who wish the other 47% would just go away?
Smarmy Plutocrat
I guess Romney won't be getting your vote. I don't think he was writing off 47% of us. He has written off 47% of the votes. That's pretty realistic. He could have said that he's written off 98%of the black vote, 70% of the latino vote, etc. It's just the truth. He'll still get most of the married vote, the white guy vote, a bigger share of the Jewish vote than anticipated, and all of the Hospital Corpsman vote.
I really liked your article as it is very interesting to read thank you
"He could have said that he's written off 98%of the black vote, 70% of the latino vote, etc. It's just the truth."-Bill
No it's not the truth because that's not what he said. Your electoral math may turn out to be accurate but your equivication on "The Truth" will never be.
(47%)"believe that they are victims... I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Here's a lesson in Personal Responsibility Mitt. I could give a shit what you or anyone else thinks about how I live my life.
Smarmy Plutocrat
equivocation, sorry.
SP
How did he come up with 47%?
I know how the AM radio ass hats come up with those numbers, mainly by pulling them out of their ass.
Essentially, he just said that anyone living paycheck to paycheck is dependent on the government.
Until I read that, I thought he reminded me of Bush, Sr. - prissy, a little out of touch, but a decent businessman.
Now I realize I've been selling George HW Bush short. Romney is a cardboard cutout of Bush, Sr, and that's insulting both Bush and cardboard cutouts.
Hey O'Brien: I wonder if the reason that ol' Mitt won't release his tax info is that he's one of his own 47%? Wouldn't that be deliciously ironic? He says he paid 13%, but he didn't say that was income tax, and often rich dudes that pay only 13% net don't pay any income tax due to the nifty set of available deductions that your government provides.
So, you know, from my home on the northern tundra, I sit in my igloo and wonder such things.
Just some further evidence of how far out of touch some politicians are. That video is disgusting.
eviljwinter - Take a gander at Erick Erickson and his "We are the 53%" crap. Claiming that 53% of Americans pay federal taxes and they subsidize the other 47%. That's probably where Mittens got the figure.
Yes. Disgusting! And how about his statement that Palestinians aren't interested in peace with Israel? My God! Has he lost his mind? Speaking the truth during an election?
Private conversation between Hillary and O: "Wow! We should have had some security in that Bengazi consulate and not believed that bull shit about how everyone loves us".
(Off topic per:Bill)
Bibi want peace? Free Gaza.
SP
Dear SPMR. No, wait. That says it all! Laugh Out Loud!
Mitt Rmoney wouldn't know the truth if it came and slapped him in the face. And it has many times. Tea-GOP keep drinking the Kool-Aid!
Mitt's problem is in the delivery. This might be the first time we've seen him totally comfortable and in command of his message.
He's amid his people and he's speaking their language: protect the rich and keep those pesky underlings in their place.
OK VD. I'll take two, 10oz glasses. Thanks
After every screw up, I've wanted to say, "That's it for Mitt." But I've been wary of voicing it. Thanks.
I don't dare predict anything re: Nov. 6, but if Mary Matelin's nonsensical defense is the best his supporters can do, Mittens is in big trouble:
Classic example of the Rasmussan track of the Political Class vs. Mainstream thinking. Everyone in the real world understands what he meant, the difference between VA benefits, Medicare, SS earned government transfer payments or temporary, emergency assistance vs. the generational dependence spawned of unaccountable government transfer of taxpayer dollars; it is also the shorthand for over half century of failed social engineering programs. This is hardly novel thinking which the Political Class should know since presumably they read deTocqueville. He wouldn't say this, but I will: it is a metaphor for the difference between a community organizer and an entrepreneur. It is also an excuse/opportunity for the MSM to wittingly or otherwise reinforce the Obama destruction/distraction strategy, but they will once again be surprised how little their countrymen will agree with them on this issue or their perspective.
Huh?
source
I think you should do a prediction contest, Erin. Base it on electoral votes. Gotta have your entry in by a date certain. Fun.
I am confident Dewey will defeat Truman come November.
I need Romney's 47 percent explained to me. Is it people who don't pay Federal income tax or people who get Federal benefits such as Medicare/SS/military benefits?
Mr Romney won't answer the question "are you better off than you were four years ago" because he doesn't want to look at two more years of tax returns...
MR
If he's talking about people who don't pay Fed. income tax, many of them work just the same and pay plenty of payroll tax. Their income tax has been reduced to nothing courtesy of GOP tax cuts/deductions.
If he's talking about SS/Medicare recipients ... I thought he wanted those votes.
All the other assistance programs are nothing compared to those.
Who knows. I'll watch the uncut footage later and try to figger it.
Not sure why, well, I guess I know why, you ignore the fact that Romney and Ryan have talked and talked about Medicare and how anyone over 55 is not going to be effected but under 55 will have options. SS is a different matter and everyone who's now collecting SS after paying into in in a big way for their entire working life, will not be effected by any changes made. But, for sure, changes will have to be made to both programs if they are to exist into the future. He, obviously, was talking about the 'income distribution' folks who agree with O that you should share what you earn but give it to the government so they can decide who you should share it with.
@ Erin-the 47% figure covers a wide swath of our population. The working poor, ie, households whose income falls below certain thresholds for a family of a certain size(currently, a family of 4 earning $23,050 or less)will not pay income tax but 2/3 still pay about 9% of their income in payroll tax, plus other taxes such as excise and sales taxes. This group is 61% of the 47%.
Seniors are 22% and 17% fall into other categories (students, the disabled, the unemployed, recently-discharged veterans, etc.
Yes, we have some ironies here. Of the ten states with the highest proportion of individuals and families paying no income tax, all but nine are states of the Civil War Confederacy-red meat Romney country. The "Keep the Government's hands off my Medicare" crowd. (The other is militia-and-survivalist mecca Idaho.)
Seniors support Romney by 15 percentage points. Veterans, the last time I looked at their numbers, were about 2-1 for Romney. (The Vets must have not looked at the Ryan budget...if Ryan and Romney were to have their way, the Veteran's Administration would bleed to death in 5-10 years.
Hope this helps.
MR
Hey E'O-
The percentages of tax related benefit recipients are now posted at infinite sources, including Fox who opine he wasn't addressing "earned" benefits like VA or SS but those of laggards like physically disabled, mentally ill or mentally retarded who hang like a mill stone around the neck of the economy.
In addition some commentators have queried Why is a tax cutting GOP shill whining about people not paying taxes. Isn't that some sort of incongruence?
Beauregard
Romney again, on the 47%:
The 47% "believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing...that that's an entitlement"
Back in the good old days, wouldn't we have called those needs 'human rights'? Simple human compassion and decency?
MR
You're just out of touch MR.
Why down here in Dixie the idle poor drive their welfare cadillacs over to the Sonic and get Cheddar Peppers and Slushes with their food stamps and talk about how wonderful life is on the dole.
Beauregard.
@ Erin...the best rundown I've found today on the composition of the 47% is at Atlantic Monthly, Derek Thompson has a great round-up of who comprises this group, where they live, and the other taxes they pay besides income tax.
MR
Correction @ my 4:01 post-the number of ex-Confederacy states at the top of the list is 8, not 9. New Mexico is also in the top 10.
MR
I was being a bit facetious.
I mean his quote is utterly ridiculous:
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing."
That implies that 47 percent of the population are "victims" that support Obama.
Huh?
I am more interested in the royal boobs.
James Old Guy
3 turds in a punch bowl?
@ JOG-Forget about Kate's itty bitties-I wanna see Pippa's butt...
MR
Do the paparazzi pay taxes?
"You take the blonde, I'll take the one in the turbin."
Igor
P.S. What if I could prove I WAS a robot?
On CNN's homepage right now:
"Kardashian pulls out own baby"
No, I did NOT click on it, but somehow I am lessened by its very presence.
Excellent example of how language and cultural expectations shape thinking. Here's where I went:
KK spread eagle with hands plunged into womb extricating the spawn. Then...
"Today on the Shop at Home Network...Kardashian Self Baby Extricator. 299.00.
PT Barnum
Alas, the GOP didn't/doesn't have a massive pool of educated talent from which to draw its candidates - and anyone prompting me with the specious news that Romney went to Harvard, I shall remind them that Bush jnr 'attended' both Yale and Harvard... and look where that got us. Alas, both appear to be socially inept functional illiterates who only open their mouths to change feet.
One suspects that when Romney opined on the 47% last May, he was, in truth, articulating his sincere thoughts on that same benighted bunch and not merely playing to the then assembled audience.
To be frank, we (non-Americans) look on askance at this bumbling poltroon and wonder whether you’ve cookie-cut him from the same lump of febrile dough as Bush jnr? The mistakes are the same; the wholesale level of schoolboy ignorance is the same; the social and political ineptitude are the same; the same wilfully incorrect assertion that the US "was founded as a Christian nation" is there (along with other laughably wrong and deliberate misinterpretations of the US Constitution) - not that the LDS cult can be considered a religion… Mormonite magic underpants and their imaginary friend hailing from a fictitious planet no scientist can find, notwithstanding).
As Dr Paul Krugman said this week, for Romney to characterise 47% of the US populace as scrounging freeloaders, wallowing in victim status, is just "grotesque": worse than that, it's a deliberate and wilful misrepresentation of those same people.
That being the case, how on earth can any American (at least with an IQ above that of their own shoe size) in good conscience now vote for this tawdry clown? If not for your own self-worth, then think about how this rambling buffoon will represent America in the eyes of the world.
We suffered eight years of Bush jnr - please don't make us suffer his idiot nephew in November.
Oh, and as cogent aside, the GOP dispelled this myth about 'the 47%' themselves in the article below.
This article originally appeared in the Nov. 28, 2011 issue of National Review, which describes itself as, "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."
The Freeloader Myth
It's possible that Thurston Rmoney is part of the 47% himself! But we will probably never know since he will never release his Tax Returns! The most secretive presidential candidate in history!
@all
This is one huge mess. Romney talks about the 47%, Obama says that small business owners did not build their business, someone else did.
It does no good to bash one side or the other. There is nothing that will satisfy all. We'll just have to wait and see, and vote.
Look, I don't care if someone is black, white, green. red, or pink polka dotted. The fact is, Obama will get the black vote, because they will vote for color, not issues. That is the truth. Obama will get the majority of the hispanic vote because they want to continue to receive stuff for free. In the end, it will come down to the white women and independents vote.
We have so many problems on so many different levels, I'm not certain anyone can solve 'em. We're in deep trouble no matter who is elected.
Printing more money is not the solution. Blaming Bush is not the solution. Health care is not the problem. Energizing small businesses will be necessary. The people need to think out of the box. People need to truly understand what redistribution of wealth really means, and how it will affect everyone.
The U.S. is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. People need to understand the difference.
I think everyone should have show a photo ID at the polls. Heck, I wouldn't be opposed to a basic civics test either. Heck, I had to show a photo ID to get a library card.
The people need jobs, not too much government. That is a fact.
This is not about the left or the right, but it is about the freedom for the people to make their own choices. Plain and simple. Personally, I don't want the government to make any decision for me, but that is just me. I can only speak for myself.
When the people become dependent on the government, they become lazy...they don't have to think. At that point, the government controls everyone. You can't grow a country (or economy) on other peoples money. You must have a free market.
Before you start bashing me, I believe we should fire all politicians on both sids of the aisle, and start over. I'm for term limits, and not for a lifetime check. I'm not really right or left, but I am me.
Bashing Obama does no good. Bashing Romney does no good. Blaming Bush does no good.
You know, people have a right to change their mind. Think about that and put it in perspective.
Regardless who is elected, everyone should be formulating a Plan B. It's gonna get worse.
"The U.S. is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. People need to understand the difference."-Yabu.
I do and think it has outgrown it's utility. To easy to manipulate along with no restrictions on money=Organized Crime. We now have the technology to do direct democracy. Remove the middleman(Reps, Sens, etc). Anarchy (without explosives) Citizens councils subject to IMMEDIATE RECALL. Temporary Alliances between Councils for specific purposes, time limited, function limited.
In for PLAN B. Yabu and I agree on something.
The End is near.
Prophet
@ Prophet
I absolutely cannot believe that anyone agrees with one line I've posted on Miss Erin's blog (plan B). Regardless of who's driving, we need to make some changes. I don't care if the people are right or left, they need to come together and understand and respect what type of grass grows on each side of the fence. The people are entitled to their opinions, but at some point, they will have to decide how they want to live their lives. How they want to live their lives is the key. I believe the government has no right to tell me how to live mine. I truly with all my heart believe that.
This country is so divided...nothing good can come of it. I talk to many people, and I'm astonished how many do not know about (or understand) the issues. They don't seem to care. They don't want to get involved. They could care less. They trust other people to make decisions for them. That is what is scary to me. It's not that they don't have a clue, it's that they don't want to have a clue. There is a whole lot going on besides American Idol and reality TV. The people don't care. They have no drive. They think the government will take care them. Not gonna happen.
Everyone needs a plan B.
Yabu wrote: "The U.S. is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. People need to understand the difference."
Sorry, but this is the oldest conflated myth in the US Right's canon - but still a myth, nonetheless. The two are not mutually exclusive: the former (actually a federal presidential constitutional republic) merely describes your system of government, when set against alternatives such as constitutional monarchy, absolute monarchy etc; the latter (democracy) the type of government when set against alternatives such as dictatorship, theocracy or anarchy etc.
It is worrisome that this contrived myth is still being punted in the US - the only thing more worrying being that people still accept and/or believe it.
Here's something for y'all to chew on. With the right bitching because 46.4% pay no income tax and the left crying because Romney hasn't released tax records thereby proving that the rich don't pay their fair share, what better time than now for tax reform. Flat tax, nat'l sales tax, I don't care, but the current cumbersome behemoth does indeed favor the lower income and the higher income brackets while pretty much screwing the guy in the middle. I make way too much to slide, but not near enough to benefit. Tax reform now, something we all can agree on.
Sorry to be so scarce, gang and thanks for all the diverse and thoughtful comments.
I've been busy with some paying work and I wish y'all could hear the voices I hear. Young entrepreneurs and savvy biz kids are doing everything they can to build their lives in this miserable economy. I love listening to them. They're creative. They're smart. And they've got guts and one hell of a lot of heart.
Damn right I have faith in this country's tomorrow.
yeah, yeah ... it's back to work for me ...
The difference between Thurston Rmoney and his 47% and Obama's "You didn't build that" comment, is Obama's was selctively edited and taken out of context, Rmoney's was a direct quote of what he actually thinks. The Tea-GOP can not contiue to compare apples (Facts) to oranges (Lies) and expect intelligent people to contiue to buy their BS.
In this story is Pres. Obama's full quote containing the Tea-GOP selected and edite "You didn't build that" quote. WARNING! Tea-GOP, Facts and truth ahead. May be detrimental to your Lies and dogma!
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/28/_you_didn_t_build_that_but_you_sure_did_edit_it.html
I was over on FB and saw the link to this letter, then scooched over here to see what's new with the EOB and thought, Well now, that's timely."
Enjoy the letter. Once you get some time off from your paying work.
http://blog.duchessstrollins.com/2012/09/19/a-letter-to-mitt-romney/
@ Erin, RE Mary Matlin's decline...I guess if you had to live with James Carville EVERYONE would turn into a babbling fool.
Every red-blooded American should read the letter Ms. Amanda recommended.
Every one of the 'bulleted' items in the letter, have been made worse by the Obama administration. Everyone of them.
Instead of posting drive-by, fact-free, FOX 'NEWS' type rhetoric, Bill, would you care to elucidate on that claim citing impartial, unimpeachable and empirical sources?
It's OK, we'll wait...
When confronted with facts the Tea-GOP do one of three things: Ignore, deflect or insult! This is not a declaratvie stament. It is absolute fact. It happens everytime I confront a Teapublican with those pesky facts!
I leave the insults up to the compassionate libs. CNL, do you really think my opinion, even backed up by facts, is going to be well received and respected by people like you who don't even admit the obvious failure of this administration? Sand, meet head
Bill, whether well received or not, it'd be nice to see if you can mount a well sourced (and by that, I mean impartial, unimpeachable and empirical sources) defence of your claims - like you said, each point above (and assuming you're happy to have them fact-checked, unlike the GOP/Teabaggers).
Like I said, we'll wait.
Don't hold your breath, CNL, and I won't waste mine. Unless it's in Mother Jones or comes from Kos it's not true for you. You go ahead and check some of your sources and then come up with an opinion. I'll have my opinion until someone convinces me I'm wrong. So far, I'm right.
"impartial, unimpeachable and empirical sources"! Not in this country or any other for that matter.
Bill, so far, all you've said is, "I'm right", with no supporting evidence to vindicate that position: hardly proof positive mate. More a mere opinion than any actual facts.
But hey, if that's how you Teabaggers roll...
Nothing to vindicate, bloke!
"Nothing to vindicate, bloke!"-Bill
Truer words were never spoken.
Empiricism is a beautiful thing.
Hume
David Hume, speaking to me from the beyond! Where's my ouija board? This must be a first on the EOB blog.
No evidence to support that claim either.
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”- Benjamin Franklin
Learning is good. I won't, however, be taking any of Professor Obama's classes.
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