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Mitt Romney...


kingfish
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FOR SEVERAL weeks, we’ve been asking Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to explain how he can cut taxes, as promised, without adding to the nation’s debt, as also promised. Now he’s effectively let the cat out of the bag: He can’t.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romneys-confession/2012/09/15/863d2c14-febf-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_print.html

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"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 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…

 

"[M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

 

--MITT ROMNEY

 

For a second there, I thought that was ECN on stage at that Fundraiser speaking to donors.

Edited by JYD
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Yep. I have a 0% rate on my annual salary of $0.00

 

You probably won't have a salary in five years anyways because you'll be waiting outside the welfare office for your free check, right?

 

Anyways, I'm not sure what this quote is supposed to prove? Everything he said there was correct. You may think he shouldn't have said it and that it will hurt him in the elections, but the fact of the matter is that he was correct in those statements.

 

 

Black people are going to vote for him just because they want to vote for "someone of color" (if you consider Obama black). They have every right to vote, but they (majority of blacks) would vote for Obama because he's black even if another liberal candidate had better policies and views that suited those people more.

 

 

Anyways, I'd rather not even talk about this stuff until it gets closer to the election.

Edited by EastCoastNiner
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Black people are going to vote for him just because they want to vote for "someone of color" (if you consider Obama black). They have every right to vote, but they (majority of blacks) would vote for Obama because he's black even if another liberal candidate had better policies and views that suited those people more.

Around here (and I'm in Kansas, won't need to explain why that's significant), most blacks vote Democrat...doesn't matter his color. They are simply feeding on the fact that Republicans favor the rich, and that's really what guarantees their opposing vote. They hate Bush and Romney, love Clinton and Obama...to say it was about color is your way of NOT acknowledging just how irrelevant the middle class (and the poor) mean to your party.

 

After two terms of Bush, the black community was more than eager to vote in a Democrat. I'm sure you can cite examples of a black man probably stepping out and saying it was all about getting a guy in office that they can relate to...but then again, the main course was not color, but focus.

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lol, saw these on Twitter.

 

"Mitt Romney, the guy who pays no taxes on millions of dollars thinks you're a welfare freeloader. God Bless 47% of America! #RomneyEncore"

 

"Hey Mitt Romney, You Know That Huge Lead Obama Has? You Built That. #RomneyEncore"

 

"I was an army brat, Mitt. I saw military families using food stamps to get by. They sacrifice. You mock them. Shame on you. #RomneyEncore"

 

"Mitt Romney should just talk to an empty chair this morning. That way he can't offend anyone. #RomneyEncore"

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lmao Lkr

 

Check out this article. Good read.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

 

In 1980, about 30 percent of Americans received some form of government benefits. Today, as Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute has pointed out, about 49 percent do.

 

In 1960, government transfers to individuals totaled $24 billion. By 2010, that total was 100 times as large. Even after adjusting for inflation, entitlement transfers to individuals have grown by more than 700 percent over the last 50 years. This spending surge, Eberstadt notes, has increased faster under Republican administrations than Democratic ones.

 

There are sensible conclusions to be drawn from these facts. You could say that the entitlement state is growing at an unsustainable rate and will bankrupt the country. You could also say that America is spending way too much on health care for the elderly and way too little on young families and investments in the future.

 

But these are not the sensible arguments that Mitt Romney made at a fund-raiser earlier this year. Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people “who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

 

This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

 

It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.

 

It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.

 

The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.

 

Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.

 

The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own.

 

The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits have dependency.

 

But, of course, no middle-class parent acts as if this is true. Middle-class parents don’t deprive their children of benefits so they can learn to struggle on their own. They shower benefits on their children to give them more opportunities — so they can play travel sports, go on foreign trips and develop more skills.

 

People are motivated when they feel competent. They are motivated when they have more opportunities. Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the world’s poorest regions makes clear.

 

Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. I’d put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.

 

Personally, I think he’s a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not — some sort of cartoonish government-hater. But it scarcely matters. He’s running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?

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