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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Romney: “And so my job is not to worry about those people (47% of American Citizens)”

Mitt Romney declared earlier this year that his job is not to worry about half of the country.

The American Conservative calls Mr. Romney:

Just Another Crude Reverse Class Warrior

…

Newsflash: Romney isn’t simply a stiff. He’s a jerk.

Emphasis not mine.

You all know that I am the least leftwards Moose by many measures. That I embrace capitalism and many of the points of the Right in basic principle.

But it is true that there is an air of entitlement sometimes – not always – found among those who have never suffered the stress of financial risk, who have never worried about feeding themselves or their families. This entitlement comes through as a thoughtlessness unique to those fortunate enough to have been removed from the struggles that virtually every other human has faced at some point in their lives.

Mr. Romney is not a bad person because he is a businessman. He is not a bad person because he has never engaged in the kind of entrepreneurialism that keeps American ahead of the world in innovation, an entrepreneurialism that only comes from being forced to create by necessity. He is not a bad person because he was fortunate enough to have the capital to make his living by optimizing the ideas and efforts of others.

He may not be a bad person, at all.

But he has been unfortunate enough to not have suffered as the rest of us have. To never have stared into the eyes of his child or even the mirror and wonder what he will do to provide the next meal. To feel the bottomless fear that only a parent knows when they can no longer hide from their children the emptiness in the refrigerator.

There is something missing in his soul that cannot be replaced by reading, that has to be built by experience. He is akin to a child refusing to eat their broccoli despite “starving children in China” who would gladly eat if for them, because they simply cannot conceive of the concept.

For this we should pity him, for it leaves a bitter hole in the heart.

He is asking to lead us all, though. That requires an understanding of the people to be led. An understanding that he seems to lack in abundance.

As has been pointed out, 23% of Americans who do not pay income tax are poor. 10% are old and living on fixed incomes of Social Security they have paid for all their working lives.

And 7% are like Mr. Romney: well-off to rich individuals who take advantage of tax breaks to avoid paying taxes at all.

So, Mr. Romney, which of these constituencies are not your problem if you become President of the United States? The poor, the elderly or those – like yourself – who are wealthy enough to not pay taxes? Which of your neighbors, your fellow Republicans, the children of our country are not “your problem”.

And just whose problem are they?


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 158 Comments

158 comments

  2. HappyinVT

    back Romney on these comments.  Preibus told CNN that Romney wasn’t off message.  Erick Erickson and John Nolte want this Romney on the stump. Jennifer Rubin (!) thinks this video is a game changer for Romney.  I’m not sure how this will end up playing.  How many of that 47% are Romney voters thankyouverymuch? How many can’t figure out that Romney is talking about them?

    Polls are showing that the number of undecided is quite small now (6% in VA and 5% in OH/FL) so will something like this sway any of them?  Is it enough to sway some of the decideds?

    My first impression was that Romney was dead in the water over this but I remember the Left lost its shit over Obama’s bitter folks comments.  The difference is that Obama never said he didn’t care about them; he didn’t say they were not responsible.  And he didn’t have an opponent who could make those comments work to their advantage.

    I guess we’ll have to stay tuned.  And no I don’t pity Romney.  Fucker.

  3. Shaun Appleby

    I accept he was saying “not worry about them” in the context of not worrying about trying to win their votes but that’s about the extent of my willingness to defend anything said by that man for the moment.  The rest of his comments, not to mention his apparent contempt and arrogance, speak for themselves.

  5. HappyinVT

    …hedge fund manager Marc Leder.

    According to the New York Post, Leder throws a pretty mean party.

    His “wild end-of-summer bash was the talk of the Hamptons this year,” the Post reported last December. “At the Bridgehampton home that Leder rented for a whopping $500,000 a month, guests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts, while scantily clad Russian women danced on platforms. Dancers at the party also twirled flaming torches to booming beats.”

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/a…  

    I think I’m meh on this.  Rich people throw tacky parties all the time.

  6. Adept2u

    http://m.nypost.com/p/pagesix/…

    Private-equity party boy Marc Leder is billing his stay on St. Barts this week as “Event Week 2011/2012,” according to a rundown of Leder’s parties that’s floating around the island. The Sun Capital Partners honcho has hired party planner Amir Benesh to set up day-and-night bacchanals at his beachfront estate, including one tomorrow touted as the “Famous BBQ Pool Party.” Benesh runs Models-Promo.com, which, its Web site says, offers models, cocktail waitresses, DJs and even fire dancers for shindigs. Rap mogul Russell Simmons attended Leder’s welcome bash Monday with his girlfriend, Australian actress Melissa George. And Simmons’ ex-wife, Kimora Lee, and her husband, Djimon Hounsou, also attended the party. But, spies say, the party was “tame” for Leder,

  7. HappyinVT

    Let me preview: it’s Obama’s fault.

    I’ll be out-of-pocket for awhile.  Someone take copious notes so I can point and laugh later.

  10. Chris Blask

    is found here:

    The lowest-income Americans – those who make less than $25,000 a year – account for the largest number of those not paying any federal income tax: 76% as of 2009. But that share has been decreasing for years. Meanwhile, the percentage of nontaxable returns has been growing for people with higher incomes. As of 2009, more than 20,000 filers making more than $200,000 a year – 1,470 of whom had adjusted gross income of more than $1 million – owed no income tax

    …the percentage increase was even bigger for higher wage earners. Nontaxable returns from people with income between $75,000 and $100,000 went from 4,025 in 1996 to 476,624 in 2009 – an increase of almost 12,000%. More than 1,400 millionaires didn’t pay income taxes in 2009, either.

    Forbes’  Janet Novack has this to say to Mitt Romney tonight:

    Memo To Mitt Romney: The 47% Pay Taxes Too

    …

    Political suicide? I’ll leave it to the pundits to analyze the impact Romney’s comments will have on his election prospects.

    …

    In 2009, according to Internal Revenue Service studies, six of the 400 U.S. tax filers with the highest adjusted gross income (meaning AGI of at least $77 million) paid no U.S. income tax, while 19,551 U.S.  households with income above $200,000 owed no U.S. or foreign  income tax.

    So maybe a higher share of the American public should be paying at least some amount of federal income tax.  The tax code would be simpler, and probably fairer, if we reduced the number of tax expenditures for the wealthy and non-wealthy alike. We all might give more thought to spending restraint.  Then, too, we’re all protected by the military and rely on public infrastructure  to get to our jobs, schools, stores and doctors-and yes, to build our businesses.

    Even Forbes can’t find anything good to say about this.

  11. Shaun Appleby

    That about wraps up the 2012 campaign.  If you were a Romney donor I’m guessing you could find a better investment at the race track.

    What do you suppose the media is going to be filling in with between now and election day?

  12. Peter Jukes

    It appears Daily Kos had this story two weeks ago, but the source got trolled and then autobanned.

    So much for liberal tolerance.

    And as an example of Kos’ techno libertarianism leading to sudden moments of authoritarian fury, he blames his whole user base for the problem ‘you guys…’

    So it looks like Kos is also having a revealing moment when he proves his dislikes his own electorate.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

  13. HappyinVT

    Romney again insulting the Palestinians.  Am on phone and need to get into shower so I can’t provide more detail.

  14. rfahey22

    Honestly, it is incredibly naive to assume that there are no recording devices anywhere in a room full of supporters.  Divulging your “true thoughts” about a group of people in that setting is just a recipe for disaster.

  17. Shaun Appleby

    And having picked myself up off the floor from the shock of the insulting remarks about Obama voters Romney made in the first video released by Mother Jones I realize that another titbit was at least equally damaging to his campaign:


    It depends of course which markets you’re talking about, which types of commodities and so forth, but my own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We’ll see capital come back and we’ll see – without actually doing anything – we’ll actually get a boost in the economy. If the president gets reelected, I don’t know what will happen. I can – I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected.

    David Corn – SECRET VIDEO: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters Mother Jones 16 Sep 12

    Whoa.  “We’ll see capital come back and we’ll see – without actually doing anything – we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.”  This is the managerial flourish Mitt has cited in numerous interviews in defence of the numbers in his economic plan for the entire nation?  One part arrogance, two parts humbug and a dash of pixie dust but mostly not actually doing anything?  

    This isn’t an economic policy, it’s not even bullsh*t; it is an echo chamber feedback loop.  Followed, no less, by the humble admission, “I can – I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected.”  As the core strategy for the economic recovery of a world power by a major political party it would have to be the flimsiest thread of self-delusion I could have possibly imagined.

    In the absence of the other flabbergasting comments methinks this comment alone would have been enough to snag headlines wondering at the candidate’s qualification for the position.  I hope we hear more about it when the shock of Romney’s other remarks wears off.

  19. Strummerson

    I think she has now earned the epithet “reality averse” for perpetuity.  From now on, she mus always be referred to as “the reality averse Jennifer Rubin.”

  21. Adept2u

    If you’re having voter problems I feel bad for you son

    I got 99 problems but a Mitt aint one

    Obot patrol on the net patrol

    Foes want to put our dreams on hold

    Pol critics that say he’s “Kenyan Muslim Hoes”

    He’s from Harvard stupid what kind of facts are those

    If you grew up with holes in your American freedom roles

    You’d celebrate the minute your side got made

    I’m like racist you don’t like the way things bees

    You can grab Ayn Rand John Galt and leave

    Got beef with cable cause they slant our show

    They wont tell it legit well I don’t give a shit SO

    MSM try and make a race So they can catch some of that Citizens United Cash….Fuckers

    Don’t know what they take my brother as

    Or understand the brilliance Barack Obama has

    From Indo to Boston He aint dumb

    He got 99 problems but Mitt Romney aint one #HITME

  22. HappyinVT

    the Ann (!) Romney did an interview where she says that Mitt “doesn’t distain the poor” and then the campaign removes the video from their official account.  Jesus Christ do these people not understand how the Internet works?!

    See video at: Buzzfeed.  No wonder the campaign doesn’t want folks to “tire” of Ann.  But, hey, Obama said something in 1998 about redistribution.”  

  23. Shaun Appleby

    Looking at this analysis of campaign advertising over time by the respective campaigns:


    This shows that ads sponsored by Obama, the DNC and Democratic-affiliated groups outnumbered those aired by their Republican counterparts up until the end of July. Then, with the exception of the second week of the Olympics, Republican ads began to outnumber Democratic ads by 10,000 or more, but this advantage disappeared during the weeks of the RNC and DNC – as the Republicans stood down while Democrats maintained comparable levels of advertising.



    John Sides – The Ad Wars: Obama has been outspending Romney and the superPACs Washington Post 17 Sep 12

    …and also considering this titbit regarding the bridging loan the Romney campaign secured around the time of the convention:


    Before the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney was the Republican nominee in all but name. By law, however, he could only spend primary donations until he officially became nominee. To increase cash flow during the interregnum, the Romney campaign borrowed $20 million.

    […]

    When federal election reports are released later this week, they’ll show debt of $15 million, but the campaign’s actual debt is roughly $11 million. The campaign will soon begin fundraising to pay off the remainder.

    Robert Costa – Romney Campaign Borrowed $20 Million National Review 18 Sep 12

    One has to wonder if the perception of Romney’s campaign, as opposed to SuperPACs, as flush with funds is strictly accurate.  I’m not pretending this is a serious analysis of campaign finances but this loan seems to have been secured at the time their advertising purchases dropped precipitously.  Was this money borrowed to cover an overhang, or ongoing costs?  The justification for going dark given at the time was that advertising is wasted during the conventions; an odd notion not shared, clearly, by the Obama campaign.

    Most campaigns count on fund-raising over time to sustain expenses and it may be an additional headache if they were also worried that recent perceptions of a faltering effort might affect their cash flow at a critical time.

  26. Shaun Appleby

    Best metaphor I can think of is that Romney’s campaign has started re-entry to election day at an angle which insures destruction and which is too late to fix, but the inevitable tragedy won’t happen for another little while.  

    In the meantime they are getting lots of utterly useless and irrelevant advice from all concerned.  This is going to go down in electoral history folks.

  29. virginislandsguy

    I would like to see Lawrence O’Donnell get his hands on this videotape of the first introduction from the recent Univision Forum. The reactions of the anchors and audience must be priceless.

    Here’s what I am referring to:

    That wouldn’t be the last demand from the campaign: Romney himself almost pulled the plug on the whole thing minutes before the broadcast, Salinas said.

    While introducing Romney at the top of the broadcast, Salinas’s co-anchor, Jorge Ramos, noted that the Republican candidate had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night. Ramos then invited the audience to welcome Romney to the stage – but the candidate didn’t materialize.

    “It was a very awkward moment, believe me,” Salinas said.

    Apparently, Romney took issue with the anchors beginning the broadcast that way, said Salinas, and he refused to go on stage until they re-taped the introduction. (One Republican present at the taping said Romney “threw a tantrum.”)

    “Our president of news was talking to the Romney campaign and negotiating it,” Salinas said. “But at that point, you can’t really argue with that. The candidate is there, everyone is in their seats, the show must go on. There’s a limit to how much we can object to it.”

    How Romney Packed The Univision Forum

    Sent to thelastword@msnbc.com 9/22/12

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