Blog with a Thousand Faces

joegressivism:

During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don’t assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them. Fielding a question from a donor about how he could triumph in November, Romney replied:

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.

Can someone explain to me what the big deal on this is? It doesn’t seem all that shocking to me, mostly it just seems odd.

Is he talking about the 47% that support the President because they’re democrats or the 47% that don’t pay taxes? Because those aren’t really the same group. There are plenty of Republicans who make so little money that they don’t pay taxes. Not all poor people are democrats.

Everything else just seems like standard bootstrapsy republican rhetoric and a misunderstanding of entitlements.