Romney: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So, this is Romney's very own "clinging to guns and religion" moment?

They shall take the income tax I owe, from my cold, dead hands.

This is hilarious coming from somebody in Greece, the world capital of tax evasion that has caused relentless stress on markets worldwide.

He's actually German.

[Politico]

So, this is Romney's very own "clinging to guns and religion" moment?

They shall take the income tax I owe, from my cold, dead hands.

This is hilarious coming from somebody in Greece, the world capital of tax evasion that has caused relentless stress on markets worldwide.

He's actually German.

I presume German-American or American-German? I cannot understand why a non-American would be interested in this board...

[Landslide Lyndon]

So, this is Romney's very own "clinging to guns and religion" moment?

They shall take the income tax I owe, from my cold, dead hands.

This is hilarious coming from somebody in Greece, the world capital of tax evasion that has caused relentless stress on markets worldwide.

He's actually German.

Please, let Politico live his myth in Greece.

I presume German-American or American-German? I cannot understand why a non-American would be interested in this board...

Thank God that's the only thing you don't understand.

[Politico]

So, this is Romney's very own "clinging to guns and religion" moment?

They shall take the income tax I owe, from my cold, dead hands.

This is hilarious coming from somebody in Greece, the world capital of tax evasion that has caused relentless stress on markets worldwide.

He's actually German.

Please, let Politico live his myth in Greece.

I presume German-American or American-German? I cannot understand why a non-American would be interested in this board...

Thank God that's the only thing you don't understand.

I am afraid a message board called Dominique Leibniz's EU Election Atlas would bore me to death. I suppose it would be rewarding for some to convince the EU youth on there of how bad the EU is compared to the US...

[yourelection]

This recent "gaff" by Romney may in itself not be that damaging, but it has been preceded by a few lest serious "gaff" and these keep adding up.

This "gaff" is boarder-line, though, and it is very close to sticking to him for the rest of the campaign.

Also I am not sure that his press conference helped him much. It might just have made the matters worse.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.

[Mehmentum]

The main difference between Obama's 'Guns and Religion' fumble is that Mitt Romney's comments come after a string of missteps, gaffes, and general bad news for Romney.

-The trip overseas where he insulted our biggest ally.
-The botched convention, complete with Republican speakers selling themselves over Romeny, Paul Ryan's lies, and Clint Eastwood completely overshadowing Romney's speech.
-That article in politico talking about how Romney's campaign being in dissaray.
-The whole Ciaro embassy fiasco.
-And finally this.  

Worst of all, all of this is happening right around convention time, when most people start paying attention to the election.  The first serious look they're getting at Romney is this slew of gaffes.

If this were an isolated event.  Everyone would get riled up but it would blow over.  But the fact is this isn't an isolated event.  This is a pattern.  This will blow over of course, but at the rate Romney's campaign is going, how long will it be for some other mistake to take its place?    

Yes, this single comment may not matter that much in the long run, but what will matter is that Romney and his campaign is a complete disaster and there is no indication that its getting better.

[Politico]

Yes, this single comment may not matter that much in the long run, but what will matter is that Romney and his campaign is a complete disaster and there is no indication that its getting better.

It cannot get any worse than this. Furthermore, a sizable chunk of the electorate is now expecting a hybrid of Joe Biden meets Barry Goldwater to show up in the debates, which is not what is going to happen. They'll be pleasantly surprised by Romney. The campaign is deploying unprecedented resources towards making this happen.

Romney will win the debates just by showing up and appearing to be a viable alternative to Obama. About 60% of the people who will vote are not excited to see Obama get back in. Out of those 60%, two thirds of them are in Romney's column no matter what (i.e., 40% of the electorate), and a plurality of the other third (i.e., a plurality of the 20% "in the middle") will back Romney once they see in the debates that he is not a monster. In other words, Romney wins with 48-55% of the electorate (obviously the lower end appears more likely right now, but there is still an eternity between now and Election Day).

[Ichabod]

Do you really think that Mitt "47% of U.S. people are parasites and hate me" could, at least hypothetically, get 55% of popular vote? I hardly think so.

[Likely Voter]

Clearly when you look at the details Romney's conflating of the 47% of non-income tax payers and 47% of base Obama voters is absurd. Obviously within the 47 are many Romney voters as today's Gallup poll on vote by income shows.   However, if you arent paying attention to the details you may not realize how Romney just accused you of being a lazy moocher who cant take responsibility. That is because when people hear Romney talk about 'victims' they assume he isn't talking about them, even if they are in the 47% of non-income tax payers. The working class whites and/or retired seniors probably agree with him that there are a bunch of  lazy layabouts sucking off the gov't teet who vote for Obama and thank god Mitt Romney is taking a stand against them. The fact that they are sucking off that same teet doesn't really occur to them.

[memphis]

Clearly when you look at the details Romney's conflating of the 47% of non-income tax payers and 47% of base Obama voters is absurd. Obviously within the 47 are many Romney voters as today's Gallup poll on vote by income shows.   However, if you arent paying attention to the details you may not realize how Romney just accused you of being a lazy moocher who cant take responsibility. That is because when people hear Romney talk about 'victims' they assume he isn't talking about them, even if they are in the 47% of non-income tax payers. The working class whites and/or retired seniors probably agree with him that there are a bunch of  lazy layabouts sucking off the gov't teet who vote for Obama and thank god Mitt Romney is taking a stand against them. The fact that they are sucking off that same teet doesn't really occur to them.

The above is 100% correct. I wonder if one did a poll and asked a representative sample of adults whether or not they pay income taxes, how many are even aware that they are part of the 47%. I'd wager no more than half of these folks. The rest think of themselves as "the taxpayers." Just about all of these folks (except retirees of course) get a pay stub every week or two that shows income taxes (annd FICA) withheld. It's a little much to expect of the public to understand that even though they have money withheld, they get it all back (and more frequently) at tax time.

[krazen1211]

Romney has met these moochers firsthand.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/20/romney_to_contraception_heckler_if_you_want_free_stuff_vote_for_obama.html

[7,052,770]

Romney has met these moochers firsthand.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/20/romney_to_contraception_heckler_if_you_want_free_stuff_vote_for_obama.html

You're against the government providing birth control?  Didn't guess that you want more welfare spending and more abortion.  But that's cool.

[ajb]

Someone has just ceased to be the right's favorite new person:

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/09/18/abqnewsseeker/gov-martinez-critical-of-romneys-47-percent.html

[krazen1211]

Romney has met these moochers firsthand.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/20/romney_to_contraception_heckler_if_you_want_free_stuff_vote_for_obama.html

You're against the government providing birth control?  Didn't guess that you want more welfare spending and more abortion.  But that's cool.

Hmm? There won't be more welfare spending unless the moochers are able to take over the House of Representatives. House Republicans will otherwise force Sequestration II to pay for the debt ceiling increase for all of these freeloaders.

[7,052,770]

Romney has met these moochers firsthand.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/20/romney_to_contraception_heckler_if_you_want_free_stuff_vote_for_obama.html

You're against the government providing birth control?  Didn't guess that you want more welfare spending and more abortion.  But that's cool.

Hmm? There won't be more welfare spending unless the moochers are able to take over the House of Representatives. House Republicans will otherwise force Sequestration II to pay for the debt ceiling increase for all of these freeloaders.

Government pays for birth control for poor women = fewer welfare babies born (which are MUCH more expensive than the pills)

Also, if you care, it also = fewer abortions.

[Badger]

LoL. Poor Romney. I'm beginning to believe Obama will carry IN, GA, MT and NC if things continue this way.

Easy there, hoss.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

That's not what he said.  He said that many people depend on government because they feel entitled.  Not everybody, but enough that it needs to be mentioned.

[Eraserhead]

This seems to be getting more coverage by MSM than I expected. Terrible for Romney.

[anvi]

I don't know how much it will hurt him.  I just thought Romney's comments were bad because they were...bad.  What an asinine thing to say.  And to defend.

[Ogre Mage]

I think a side beneficiary of this could be Elizabeth Warren.  The incompetence of Romney and his campaign is likely to be a drag downballot in MA.  I hear voters there have less than pleasant memories of his time as governor.  Moreover, this latest Romney mega-gaffe plays right into her dominant campaign message about the struggles of the middle class with Romney as the ultimate symbol of a politician who is out of touch and just doesn't get it.

[Likely Voter]

this bit from David Frum picks up on my point and has some scary actual data to back it up...

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/18/here-s-why-mitt-s-100-wrong-on-the-47.html

For those who don't know, blacks and Hispanics are about 12.5% of population each.

[Mister Twister]

I've been surprised at Mitt Romney lately. He's been getting flustered and he keeps saying stupid s***. I know he's behind and getting a little desperate but I thought he was supposed to logical and calm? He's been a gaffe machine the past couple of weeks

[Middle-aged Europe]

I've been surprised at Mitt Romney lately. He's been getting flustered and he keeps saying stupid s***. I know he's behind and getting a little desperate but I thought he was supposed to logical and calm? He's been a gaffe machine the past couple of weeks

The remarks in that video are from May, I think.

[Zanas]

I am afraid a message board called Dominique Leibniz's EU Election Atlas would bore me to death.

Maybe you should rename yourself US-only-Politico then...

But do keep on please ! You're such a laugh !

[rob in cal]

   Another interesting aspect of this is that a big chunk of the 47% non federal income tax paying group of people was created by the child credit, first it was 500$ per child passed by GOP congress in the mid 90's, then doubled by W in early 2000's to 1,000 per child.
   This credit, which has benefited a huge number of people, has likely pushed lots of families out of income tax territory, because the credit comes after you figure how much income tax you owe, and is then applied to it.  Perhaps Romney should be asked whether he is for repealing this GOP backed tax cut. BTW, it represented one of the most broad based and pro-99% type tax cut that the GOP has passed, as obviously a 1,000 dollar credit per child is going to have a proportionally greater impact on a family earning, say, 50K, then one earning 10,000,000 dollars (and I believe its phased out any way for higher earners).