Anonymous wrote:Tell me if I am wrong about this:
Romney confused two groups, those who pay no federal income tax (47% of all households) and those on welfare, who he thinks are addicted to dependency. It seems clear to me that it is the latter group he despises, but by using the 47% figure, it seemed he was speaking of the former, which contains soldiers, people on social security, low-income working families, and perhaps others that he had no intention of demeaning.
The moral is that a politician who insults a large part of the nation risks the resentment spreading further than those he aimed the insult at.
Romney conflated two croups - those who pay no income tax, and those who he believed are addicted to dependence (the proverbial welfare queens). Then for good measure, he confused all of them with the 47% who will vote for Obama no matter what (like me). He's right that there's no need to reach out to THAT 47% for their votes, though he has an obligation, if elected, to govern them responsibly.
The message he seemed to convey (intentionally or not, and I believe it was intentional) was that the anyone who is solidly in his camp is a good, hardworking, moral person who disdains all forms of government assistance, while those solidly in Obama's camp are shiftless bums who delight in sucking on the government teat and are driving the country to ruin. Both those premises are wrong - quite a few GOPers get a significant amount of government assistance, and many Democrats are productibe members of society. But even worse is the misperception (or lie, however you want to characterize it) that anyone who receives any government assistance or preference is a freeloader. This coming from a man whose income is taxed at a SIGNIFICANTLY reduced level the vast majority of the rest of the country. If that's not government assistance, a government preference or (gasp) redistribution of wealth, I don't know what is. `