Mitt Romney says half of Americans are grifters - GOP presidential candidate sees 47 percent of Americans as "victims" - VIDEO
Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 09:49 AM
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| GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney (Photo: AP) |
If you needed proof of how out of touch from the ordinary struggles of the people of this nation Mitt Romney actually is, it arrived yesterday, courtesy of a secret recording from a closed-door fundraiser released by David Corn at Mother Jones.
Romney regards forty seven percent of Americans as parasites, the tape revealed. In fact he sounded almost jealous of the poor, and how good they have it. But just wait till he becomes president because then their free ride will be over, he assured his private audience.
'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’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax.'
Where we see poor but hardworking people struggling to escape poverty, Mitt Romney sees spongers living high off the welfare hog courtesy of his (we're supposed to believe) high taxes.
Romney clearly holds half of this country in contempt. He'll be there with his boots on when the time comes to teach them a lesson, I expect.
But here's the thing, Romney's own career has been about playing the system from the winners corner. With his secretive Swiss Bank accounts and his Caymen Islands accounts, and his secretive trust funds, and his refusal to document his own tax returns, why should we believe he's morally superior to the ordinary citizens he so casually condemns?
Recall that part of the reason so many Americans don’t pay federal income taxes now is that Republicans passed a series of massive tax cuts that wiped out the income-tax liability for many Americans. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush made that scenario a reality, remember.
It may be partially true that 47 percent of the population figure pay no net federal income tax but Romney hasn't noticed that most of them do pay federal payroll tax. Of those who pay neither income nor payroll taxes, most are the elderly. That's because elderly people generally don't have jobs. I'd have thought many seniors might have been trending toward Romney but hopefully this will make them reconsider. Students, if they're smart, have probably just been warned off him too.
The idea that half of Americans are just a bunch of grifters is how America's super rich talk about us all when they're among themselves. It's repulsive, but it's wholly accurate.
Mitt Romney has said he believes corporations are people, but he does not believe struggling Americans are. You're all bloated dependents. You're entitlement junkies. You think that the government should take care of you because you clearly lack the means and the smarts to take care of yourself. Perhaps they'll hire Clint Eastwood to lecture you.
After all, if you're so smart, why didn't you have a rich daddy like he did?
56 comments
citizen69 | Sep 18, 2012, 03:17 PM EDT
With such sweeping generalizations about half of his country whom he sees as not his job to care for, this man does not deserve to be President of any country. While Obama has also been a let down by promising a lot and delivering little I hope Romney's total disregard and complete misunderstanding of half the American people will mean his campaign is in ruins.
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olovely | Sep 18, 2012, 03:17 PM EDT
The largest group of people in that 47% are senior citizens. The other two largest groups are military veterans and disabled people. The vast majority of people on welfare are white, and live in red states.
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jflanagan | Sep 18, 2012, 02:56 PM EDT
There are, according to the polls, about 47% who will vote for President Obama barring a major catastrophe. Even then he can count on at least 45%. What Governor Romney obviously meant, to those who are not Obama adorers, is it would be a waste of time to put much effort to turn them and he needs to concentrate on the about 7 percent uncommitted to get enough votes to win.
Don't I just love how this liberal writer puts in an offensive word not used by Governor Romney to slant the story even more.
He gives more to charity, in percentage of income, than the cheapskate Irish clown VP Biden and before he became President, Senator Obama wasn't a great benefactor himself.
President Obama loves poor people. He's made more of them than anyone I can remember. He will continue to do so because of his hate of the upper middle class and has caused household incomes to decline by about $4,000 a year on average.
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eiriamach | Sep 18, 2012, 02:27 PM EDT
How much would Romney owe in TAXES on just the dividends from his million-dollar-plus Individual Retirement Account if he had invested that money in diversified US accounts instead of an offshore, tax-sheltered, seriously obese IRA? By keeping his IRA in the Cayman Islands, he also avoided paying 'unrelated business income tax,' at 35 percent, on the corporate assets he transferred into it. If that money were in ordinary investments instead of in an offshore IRA, he would pay 35 percent on dividends/ interest and 15 percent capital gains. Romney also draws income from a dozen accounts (worth $30 Million) of the many accounts Bain Capital keeps in the Caymans. And here's another sad fact picked up on the NY Times blogs: "20% of registered republicans do not pay any additional federal income tax." Probably not the brightest GOPers, that 20 percent will blithely vote for the wealthiest person ever to run for POTUS.
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hollabackgurl | Sep 18, 2012, 02:09 PM EDT
Even Romney's family dog runs away from him.
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Nelsonbarry | Sep 18, 2012, 02:02 PM EDT
He is absolutely right. Even Obamas relatives that are illegal.
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borefield | Sep 18, 2012, 01:54 PM EDT
Cahir, I didn't even read your story! Just the headline. The truth hurts, right!
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EphraimKibbey | Sep 18, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT
Romney just threw the only demographic he is winning under the bus. He thinks that ALL that 47% are for Obama, but the over 65 year olds that WERE still mostly voting for him make up a BIG part of it. Wait until the Obama commercials start running in Florida explaining that Romney is ABANDONING those seniors who are living off their hard earned social security because he thinks they are personally irresponsible. This just shows that he has no idea how our economy works for the 99%. What about our armed forces, do they pay income tax on their salaries? Are they personally irresponsible? Are the working poor who work three jobs and still do not bring home enough to pay income taxes on it personally irresponsible. If you look at a map of the United States, why are all the states that have the greatest number of people not paying taxes in the GOP stronghold of the Deep South. GOP voters, if you do not pay income tax, Romney says you are what's wrong with the US and he cannot be YOUR President SO DON'T VOTE FOR HIM!
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eiriamach | Sep 18, 2012, 01:20 PM EDT
The majority of the 47% receive NO government subsidies. (Look at the various corporations that Romney and company would like us to think of as "people too" to see where most government subsidies go.) Many of the 47% receive tax credits on their income tax; the wealthy exploit tax loopholes to reduce their income taxes, sometimes to 0 percent. Social security is not a subsidy, and neither is unemployment insurance. Workers pay for these programs over 45-50 years of their lifetimes.
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Nicomax | Sep 18, 2012, 01:09 PM EDT
Mitt Man must have skipped or failed statistics at the Harvard Business School. In his plea to the right-leaning swells in Boca Raton he conflated the 47% who do not pay federal income taxes, mostly due to their advanced age or low wages, with the 47% who are often found in polls supporting Obama. As we have learned BHO has no trouble securing both funds and votes from the left-leaning swells in Greenwich, Beverly Hills, Cape Cod, or even Boca Raton, unless they also employ the same tax accountants Mitt's been using.
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olovely | Sep 18, 2012, 12:36 PM EDT
Romney only believes in affirmative action when it's provided by his Governor father. Otherwise forget the New Deal and the GI Bill and Social Security and Medicare and Obamacare. All of you are parasites, especially you non-working seniors. The faster you die due to lack of medical care the better off we'll be.
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hollabackgurl | Sep 18, 2012, 12:22 PM EDT
Another drive by snark by BrianO that insults the messenger because he can't defend the indefensible. Romney thinks that half the electorate are hopeless losers. That's a Tea Party article of faith, but it's repulsive to see it infect the GOP mainstream and millionaires too.
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BrianO | Sep 18, 2012, 11:45 AM EDT
Let me guess another attempt by the non bias press to dehumanize Romney, getting kind of old, I know you like kissing Obama's butt, but couldn't you at least pretend to be a journalist?
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dubshay | Sep 18, 2012, 11:37 AM EDT
And the catholic church supports this Moron, sorry I meat Mormon. Maybe the hierarchy of the catholic church and Mitt Money should head down to the St. Vincent de Paul and start taking names of those that are'nt paying their fair share. The true colors of the Catholic church shine true in supporting this clown, they care not for immigrants, they care not for the poor, they care only about their own deluded doctrine. We don't care about the poor who suffer or who is deported as long as we can continue to hate gays, decry contraception and keep women in their rightful place, barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. My God, they have a double standard. And we Irish continue to support them after all the abuse they have heaped upon us?? It's just one CULT supporting another CULT, Catholics and Mormons.
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