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Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

First Romney insults 47 percent, then your intelligence

Posted on Monday, October 08, 2012 at 10:07 AM

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GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan

I was 'completely wrong' to say that 47% of the American people are victims and moochers, 'dependent on the government ' Mitt Romney told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday night.

To recap, first Romney admitted he said it, then he defended saying it, then he said that it was completely indefensible.

Take your pick from the Etch-A-Sketch candidate.

'Clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right,' Romney reassured a rapidly nodding Hannity. 'In this case, I said something that's just completely wrong.'

At the moment, he might have added. I'll get back to you if the polls change.

A week earlier of course Romney was talking about President Obama like this: 'There are 47% 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.'

Entitled to health care, food and housing. Why the nerve of those poor people. They really ought to be homeless, hungry and destitute and what a lesson that will be for them.

But Romney has bluntly stated - and I think even his supporters still take him at his word - that his 'job is not to worry about those people.'

And I think that may be the most candid statement of his entire political career. He said this at a $50,000 dollar a seat dinner after all, among the kind of people he is himself, and he never thought he would hear himself quoted afterward.

So first he insulted half the nation, then he defended insulting them, and now he's just content to insult their intelligence. That's what progress looks like, Romney style.

Meanwhile the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September.

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rpbrown | Oct 08, 2012, 07:20 PM EDT

Rich people blaming poor people who've been put out of work by the decisions of those same people is nothing new. Romney was not making some bold new statement when he said his comment about the 47%. I also do not think it is scrupulous to blame the wealthy either as it is OUR nation and we all have the power to change it. So really, develop some maturity and stop thinking your better than other people for whatever reasons you think you are and lend a hand to fix the nation. Pay attention to the DETAILS, not the rallying cries of politicians. Make decisions you feel are right when you contact your representatives (which you should be doing) and when you vote. And then be a caring person and also as innovative as you can so that we may once again be a place of freedom and creativity.

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sqeyes48 | Oct 08, 2012, 07:09 PM EDT

For the last 10 years the 'job creators' have had the tax breaks.... by now we should be awash in jobs.

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mairint | Oct 08, 2012, 05:36 PM EDT

Right on Mitt Romney. Get on with helping the country to work itself out of the unemployment mess and the jobs will filter through. Why go on giving Obama style handouts instead of handups? People always feel happier when they are productive and working and providing for their families. Romney is Right.

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Fran Connor | Oct 08, 2012, 04:43 PM EDT

Hey Hollabackgurl, can you point out where Tom/Peggy mentioned vets and seniors? A democracy will die when the people realize they can vote themselves the treasury. We're getting close.

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hollabackgurl | Oct 08, 2012, 04:40 PM EDT

Since last September, the unemployment rate has dropped 1.2 percentage points. The only election year in which unemployment dropped more during the same period was Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election, as far back as shown in monthly records that started in 1948.

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Maggie47 | Oct 08, 2012, 04:34 PM EDT

Here in Atlanta the unemployment is 11.8%

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olovely | Oct 08, 2012, 03:26 PM EDT

Could there be anyone who thinks that the Bush administrations total lack of interest in the victims of Hurricane Katrina wasn't racist?

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allentown | Oct 08, 2012, 02:53 PM EDT

Everybody is asking: "Why didn't President Obama use the 47% in their first debate"? Could it have been an agreement between the two campaigns? I won't use the 47%, if you don't use my racist remark about the federal government not caring about Black Americans in New Orleans during Katrina. I guess we'll see during the next Presential Debate. Remember, 58,500,000 viewers already knew about Romney's 47%, but how many knew about Obama's racist remarks, since only Fox and CNN reported them.

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hollabackgurl | Oct 08, 2012, 02:04 PM EDT

I'm shocked that you, like Romney and Ryan, would call our veterans and seniors moochers, Peggy/Tom. They gave so much so that you could live in peace and your response is to call them dependents.

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pilib04 | Oct 08, 2012, 01:25 PM EDT

Cahir, you must make your parents proud. Good job.

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bobduggins | Oct 08, 2012, 12:37 PM EDT

I believe Romney is right. In one way or another there may be more than 47% on the government take. It takes ***** to come out and say what many are thinking.

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tom/peggy | Oct 08, 2012, 11:56 AM EDT

The shocking story is that so many in our country are on the government dole. I grew up very poor and despised the thought of taking from others. So yes I'm one of those conservative radicals who believes we should all pay something. It's a matter of self pride and dignity. Certainly some are not able but 47% that's a joke. Can we go on to a far more serious story. I'm still waiting for the Libya Consulate coverup story.

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BrianO | Oct 08, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT

lets see another Romney hit piece, after an Obama propaganda piece, after an America hit piece, after a Ryan hit piece, must be time for another piece of fictional drivel to prove your neutrality.

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olovely | Oct 08, 2012, 11:25 AM EDT

Never has a Republican candidate lied this often, to so many. The 47% candidate is the real Romney candidate. All he thinks he has to do to fool is is talk it back. This writer is correct, it's insulting the nations intelligence.

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FastEddy | Oct 08, 2012, 11:22 AM EDT

Sorry, Cahir, this is not The October Surprise. The real surprise for the last weeks of October is that His Worshipfulness has no clothes: He can't do anything without a teleprompter and when Treasury Secretary Gietner get tried for high crimes and the misdemeanor of stealing US Fed Depositor Gold and giving it to the Greeks, That will clinch it.

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