Way to insult your base, Rombot:
Not to mention all the folks on social security, serving in the military, etc.
This post is in: Election 2012, Assholes
Way to insult your base, Rombot:
Not to mention all the folks on social security, serving in the military, etc.
Comments are closed.
GregB
New Mexico is a blue state.
Both sides do it!
geg6
Sorry to step on your post with an OT comment so soon, Cole.
But I’d like a lawyer’s take on this, if any of our in house counsels are here:
https://twitter.com/PhillyInquirer/status/248114049408176128
WereBear
It was only a couple of months ago that I threw Mother Jones the $5 they were asking for.
And just look at what I received in return!
Now is the time to give back.
JPL
Mitt will be on Fox at four. Who is going to live blog the special event?
NickM
Romney was born on third base, thinks he owns baseball.
dmsilev
By the way, the full episode of Mitt Romney Unplugged is now available.
Amanda in the South Bay
You know all those poor white southerners who serve in the military and receive food stamps are going to vote for Romney no fucking matter what.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Saw that graphic this morning. Nice but doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
All those crackers in the red states will assume he wasn’t talking about them, okay, their Ni-CLANG neighbors but not them!
They’ve been “whatsthematterwithKansasED’ for too long to give it up on just this.
Plus what about the zygotes!
Felinious Wench
Yes, but the people in these states still say “well, exactly, we’ve got a lot of non-contributors in my state, and why should I have to pay for them?” “What about you?” “I paid taxes, it’s my money, the government should be giving it back to me.”
These states are where you see the biggest gap between the rich and the poor. The poor get played off of each other through racism and religion. It has always been thus in The South.
tones
So…
I guess we finally know who the makers and takers are – what a surprise.
ding dong
That chicken’s super sore already and people have had it with the chicken every which way.
ding dong
That chicken’s super sore already and people have had it with the chicken every which way.
japa21
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Beat me to it. I am sure the response will be, “Of course, look at the high percentage of “blahs” in those states.” Well, forget Utah. And New Mexico. And Texas, but they have all those other colored people.
Steve
Wait… people in the military don’t pay taxes?
trollhattan
I guess I’m a PierceBot. He’s written a speech for Willard.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-speech-after-secret-tape-12824014#ixzz26qiDlhZx
KG
@geg6: here’s what I said in the last thread:
And yes, I am a lawyer.
Violet
Old white people aren’t takers. They’ve earned their Social Security and Medicare.
rikyrah
everyplace but Idaho and New Mexico will blame the Nigras….
cause those po’ White folks know Willard’s not talking about THEM.
Fargus
Dollars to donuts almost everybody who has no net federal income tax liability doesn’t realize it. If you made the following Venn diagram:
1) People with no net federal income tax liability
2) People who know what their net federal income tax liability is
3) People who are SUPER MAD about these 47% of moochers and welfare queens
The overlap would be negligible.
eric
@geg6: the law is bad and we would strike it, but before we do, we are gonna give the state one last chance to demonstrate that people are getting and can get the required ID in an expeditious way so that there is no significant disenfranchisement. The dissent says this is pointless because they are going to rely on predictions and not facts, which is what the majority has a problem with now.
Petorado
This is why I think Bobo threw up his hands in his latest write-up. Brooks knows that when Romney brought up 47% of Americans as moochers and looters that the cat was out of the bag that it wasn’t just immigrants and blacks that were the problem: Romney indicted a whole bunch of the conservative white base as well. All that work by Beltway pundits to build the meme and Romney shat all over it.
catclub
@Felinious Wench: Yes, actually, the poor _ARE_ the reliably democratic voters in these states. And the rich white folks in charge of those states would be happy to cut some of them off.
The problem is things like Medicaid spending, which also benefits hospital owners and nursing homes.
Now, Military bases and shipyards are an entirely different kettle of fish.
The comparison of Mississippi and Connecticut is interesting, for the correlations between income and voting, or lack thereof.
Elizabelle
Ta-Nehisi Coates puts up Team Obama’s response to Mitt.
ChrisNYC
The prominence of that map today is the best part of this. That lie of theirs is done as of now. More than done, it’s toxic and reeks of fail. Thanks Mitt.
catclub
@trollhattan: If Romney ever goes Galt on the GOP, his valedictory speech is written.
roc
Along these lines, a look at what a family of four with a stay-at-home parent could earn before they pay federal income tax:
http://squashed.tumblr.com/post/31757816989/mitt-romney-thinks-you-need-to-take-responsibility-for
tl;dr? If you made $20/hr and worked 8 hours every weekday for all 52 weeks of the year, you would still pay $0 in Federal taxes.
butler
@Steve: They don’t pay on their BAH allowance, which can be a good chunk of their income. In addition, a good chunk of enlisted personnel don’t make very much (E-1s get about 1500 a month in taxable salary), and if they have families its very easy to see how they wouldn’t have any income tax liability.
ETA: which is totally fine with me, but apparently it makes them “moochers” according to Romney’s worldview. Along with those collecting VA benefits or military pensions or whatever.
DPS
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
This is exactly right. In fact, it’s for this reason that I don’t really see any votes at all being changed by this. Anybody who would be offended by it is already voting for Obama; everybody else who hears it will think “oh, he’s talking about those moochers next door; he’s not talking about me, because I earned and deserve my Medicare/unemployment check/disability check/whatever.”
catclub
@Elizabelle: The motto at the DNC? “Forward Together.” Cannot be repeated enough.
It is almost as if Romney is an Obama plant.
Cassidy
@Steve: When deployed, no. Also, most SM have a pretty low level of pay and tend to start families early, so with the child tax credit and tax return, a large portion of the military doesn’t pay taxes.
trollhattan
@catclub:
Jennifer Grandholm’s words still ringing in my ears: “The ‘R’ is for RE-verse.”
Also, too, it’s noted a lot–here and elsewhere–how lucky Obama has been in his opponants across his career but really, which among the pack of rabid dogs who ran this go would have given him a tough time? They had a half-year of ABR and still couldn’t find anybody.
Was half-hoping for Santorum so everybody could stop pretending today’s Republican party is anything other than who they are. Willard’s not doing a bad job, but the social reactionary stuff is well-buried.
Tractarian
Pitch perfect.
Redshift
@Violet:
Of course, Mitt and the wingnuts can’t get to their 47% without them, but they’ll never tell them (though hopefully we can.) Hell, Mitt probably doesn’t even know; he’s been told that 47% don’t pay income taxes, and so it makes sense that they’re people who don’t work hard enough to be rich like him.
amk
@Elizabelle: Brilliant.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@DPS:
It might not change votes but it does keep all the negative (by Villager standards) reporting continuing along the lines of “Romney Campaign in Disarray” while the rest of the chattering class tut-tuts Rmoney’s latest gaffe instead of saying how every development is otherwise good for him.
Furthermore, this “campaign that can’t shoot straight” (I lifted that from Cilizza at the Kaplan Test Prep Daily, I feel dirty) meme feeds into the view that Rmoney is a loser, his campaign is a loser and that it’s not simply worth supporting anymore. If that translates into wingnuts of various ilk sitting on their asses come election day instead of voting, that’s as good as getting their vote.
pseudonymous in nc
@Felinious Wench:
Or, as an insightful political commentator put it in 2007:
Seriously, that was Charles fuckin’ Barkley who said that (again, the sports/politics thing) and I’ve quoted it ever since.
raven
I’m watching this MSNBC afternoon show and they have this McCain dude on that just said the video was released now because the democrats are so worried. The panel, save CJ whatever her name is, burst out in sustained laughter.
Laura
OT:
I am still unsure if Clint Eastwood was trolling the GOP or not, but it’s damn clear that he doesn’t actually give a crap about them
http://gawker.com/5944272/clint-eastwood-on-rnc-speech-anyone-dumb-enough-to-ask-me-to-speak-at-a-political-convention-gets-what-they-get
Brachiator
@Fargus:
I’m sure that some people know. But you make a good point.
The Obama people could easily provide a boatload of concrete examples and ask, “Mitt, are these people moochers?”
As others have pointed out, you could start with a military family. Then seniors, a married couple with kids, etc.
It ain’t hard to blast this lie. And Romney can’t backtrack on this without alienating his dupes, uh, I mean, his base.
@DPS:
But Mitt is on record as saying that receiving almost any type of government payment makes you a moocher. The myth is that you are weak, worthless, not a manly Real White American ™ unless you are self reliant (apart from being able to mooch off your parents).
Again, it is easy to take it to the voters on this. If the core of Mitt’s supporters want to vote for him anyway, they might as well know that he intends to hang them out to dry.
Ripley
‘Backward Alone!’
catclub
@trollhattan: My point was _TOGETHER_
We are all in this together. The other way I put it responding to the occasional wingnut email I get is:
There is no US in USA.
Laura
@Brachiator: You’re missing the point. These are the types of people who can be on disability, social security, medicaid, food stamps, etc etc and they STILL DON’T BELIEVE THEY’RE ACTUALLY TAKING FROM THE GOVERNMENT. They just don’t.
jibeaux
@NickM: Born on third base, trying to steal second.
Calouste
BTW, highest percentage on that map? 45%.
In MittMath, the average for the US is higher than the highest percentage found in any state.
aimai
@NickM:
Beautiful.
aimai
amk
@Laura: LMAO. So tweeted.
trollhattan
@catclub:
I got it–Grandholm used the transmission metaphor to distinguish the parties: the “D” being for drive forward the “R” being for reverse. Loved her whole speech (women politicians aren’t generally encouraged to get that revved up).
jrg
As if some toothless redneck with 6 kids making $20K/year thinks Romney is talking about him.
Facts don’t matter. That’s why I fear Romney less than say, Palin. Palin would Nazi up the place. Romney might actually give these dumbass rednecks what they deserve, and give it to them hard. Sure, many, many innocent people would get hurt, but rural white ‘murica is so fucking dumb, there might be no other way they can learn.
Mudge
Alaska being 50th is interesting. I guess all of those state oil rebates, which lead to taxes, don’t count as mooching.
schrodinger's cat
@trollhattan: Sully criticized her, calling the speech her Dean moment.
Shawn in ShowMe
@DPS:
Really, you don’t see 1 in 20 votes being changed by RomneyFail in certain states, either by voters pulling the lever for another candidate or not showing up at all? ‘Cause that’s all that would it take to turn a red state like Georgia blue.
RJB
Isn’t it time already for a post that lets us all play the “what does David Corn have up his sleeve” game? After all, I’m sure Romney and his staff have been having loads of fun with it.
I’ll go first. If I were David Corn, I’d start with something strong as a setup for a big song-and-dance number to close act 1 (or, if you prefer vinyl to broadway, for the end of the first side of the album).
And if I were a Romney donor, I’d be asking “why haven’t you released your tax returns, and is there something in there that will make me regret supporting you?”
So here’s my guess: the 47% clip was the strong opening number that got us all up in our seats and ready to be entertained (I guess I prefer Broadway to vinyl), and the first act closes with Romney talking about his tax positions in a way that makes it look like he is more a 47%er than a 53%er.
I don’t know if there is a second act, so that might be the finale. But guessing the second act now is pretty tough, because I don’t think we’ve seen the setup for it yet.
Comrade Mary
So there’s this lovely bit from the full video that was just released:
Ugly, unscrupulous and inept. That’s our Mitt!
Someguy
@Violet:
Old white people are mostly Romney voters though, that’d make them racists. They earned that label too.
catclub
@Calouste: To get to 47% you also count non-filers. The map gives the fraction of returns, for filers.
trollhattan
@schrodinger’s cat:
That’s our Andy–those unresolvable problems with the lay-dees who aren’t named Thatcher. So odd he’s all about Madonna, who’s nothing if not famous precisely for marketing bluster in the face of no evident talent.
max
@catclub: Yes, actually, the poor ARE the reliably democratic voters in these states. And the rich white folks in charge of those states would be happy to cut some of them off.
And the poor don’t get much money in those states (the ex-Confederacy) either. New Mexico is so high because of the Native American population.
It’s the above 50% crew plus some of the lower middle class (the Klan types) that are the R’s in those states. (Consider that the McCain/Obama split in Texas was 45-55 and then consider how many disenfranchised people there are there, plus the large number of Mexican immigrants who don’t have the vote, and you have why Texas is still red and why the R’s there really hate, oh, everybody who isn’t a hard R.)
The people who are getting money from the Fed via some means other than welfare (farms subsidies, military, SS and so on) will not expect the R’s to cut their money, as the House R’s are busy demonstrating. No Republican will ever cut spending in a serious way.
DPS:This is exactly right. In fact, it’s for this reason that I don’t really see any votes at all being changed by this.
Well, to respond to Imani’s post last night, the sex scandal should have no real traction in the South, just like many R sex scandals have not had traction in the past. One reason is that party loyalty trumps, but the other, more important reason is that people will fail to *hear* about it. Never underestimate the effort the Southern establishment puts into tilting the news their way. If they don’t want you to hear about it, you won’t hear about it. And if a paper veers off the track, they’ll get 10,000 letters accusing them of being communists. (This stuff is, in the end, what all the complaining about the liberal media is about – they’re complaining about the Northern media and their pesky facts.) (Jesus Christ, they were quoting Martin Frost complaining about Obama’s ultra-left agenda, and Martin wasn’t even a regular blue dog in Congress back in the day. If I had known he was going to be mouthing off like that in the future, I’d have never voted for the sonofabitch. Of course, he’s a banker now, so that probably explains some of it.)
Way to insult your base, Rombot:
Yeah. It’s really hard to campaign on a platform that winds up fucking your own base. That’s why Mitt has so many problems. Back during the civil war this was the point where all the muttering by white people in the South about a ‘rich man’s war’ was really taking hold.
max
[‘Willard Mitt Romney: dead meat.’]
trollhattan
@jibeaux:
And I’m so stealing this!
catclub
@Shawn in ShowMe: yep.
My favorite fun fact: 11% of white voters in Mississippi
voted for Obama. If 15% had voted for him, he would have won the state.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I like the fact that Alaska has the least amount of “moochers”. When someone brings it up, make sure to mention that it’s because everyone in the state receives a rebate check from oil exploration, or, in other words, the most socialist state in the US.
WereBear
He’s WHITE. That, to their mind, makes them Romney-kin.
gogol's wife
@Comrade Mary:
This kind of thing is what makes me think they engineered that video that incited the riots.
patrick
FWIW the map uses 2008 data…the 2011 data is 46.4%
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/federal-taxes-households.cfm
of the 46.4% who pay no federal income tax, 66% pay payroll taxes (SS/fica/medicare tax)
leaving 18.1% who pay neither….of that 18%, 57% are elderly, 38% have an income of under $20k/yr….
cursorial
Someone correct me if I’m imagining this, but wasn’t it a conservative argument not too long ago that the best way to incentivize work over government subsistence is to refrain from taxing people who don’t make much money to start with?
It’d be nice to see more conservative pundits forget the “good for Romney/bad for Romney” news cycle and point out that the tax system we have was designed to fix the stuff they were outraged about before.
trollhattan
@patrick:
It’s such a crazy argument, especially after you add in sales tax, state income tax, property and vehicle taxes, user fees, special assessments, impact fees….
Laura
@gogol’s wife: Stop going full Mel Gibson Conspiracy Theory
Brachiator
@Laura:
The point is that Romney and Ryan want to end these programs and Romney has defined them as being part of mooching.
And yes, some of these people may want to keep going, “What, not me!” Doesn’t mean you can’t rub their noses in the hard facts. Make Romney move further out on that limb, then cut it off.
catclub
@cursorial: That only applies for rich people. Poor people need to be taxed MORE to incentivize them to work more. I am cribbing from Atrios here.
We should ask at what income this particular Laffer curve crosses over from one to the other.
@Calouste: Also, the 47% is the highest number for this statistic, and was picked for 2009 tax filings, so 2008 could have a lower average.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@ding dong:
__
Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: To get away from the Romney campaign.
Q: Why did Karl Rove name his superpac “Crossroads GPS”?
A: He’s the chicken
Q: Why is “GPS” in the name?
A: Because by the time the Romney campaign is done fucking that chicken, you’ll need a GPS to find all the pieces.
PreservedKillick
As Sully says, unfit to govern.
Nancy Darling
@rikyrah: There is plenty of anti-black racism in places like Idaho and Wyoming—a puzzlement to me since hardly any black folks live there.
PreservedKillick
Oh, and by the way….this is where Netanyahu butts the hell OUT and FAST.
RJB
Geez, we didn’t even get the game started, and it’s already over! Oh, well. And it looks like I lost anyway. I don’t have time to watch or listen to the full video that was just released, but if he said something about his own taxes, wouldn’t it be a headline?
DPS
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
Yes, I agree with this. If it contributes to a “Willard is a pathetic loser fuck-up” media narrative, that is potentially helpful.
Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker
@Comrade Mary
Oh. My.
Brachiator
@catclub:
The other part of this is that a number of credits would phase out and disappear altogether if people had better paying jobs.
And Romney seems to believe that unemployment compensation makes people more dependent and less inclined to work. He should be asked point blank if this is what he believes and if he thinks that unemployment compensation programs should be ended.
Violet
@Brachiator: I hope someone is doing this sort of thing. Show some sample voters that Romney considers moochers. Make sure the old people are white. A military family. How about some farmers. White, white, white farmers. From Iowa, maybe. Then a family with a kid with a congenital health issue. Or maybe a teenager hurt in an accident. Something people can relate to. The ways people mooch in the 47% are endless. They all deserve a showcase.
Bulworth
Oh he didn’t mean those people down there. He meant the other 47%. Gubmit workers, blah people, soshulist academic types, actors in Hollyweird. That 47%.
Shawn in ShowMe
@catclub:
I don’t think a lot of folks realize how close Obama is to winning 40 states thanks to RomneyFail. OFA already started out with the superior ground game, the competition keeps supplying them with ammunition and the Republican margins in places like Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri were not that big to begin with. Drip, drip, drip.
Chris
@catclub:
This. Voting is class based even among white people even in the South.
Anecdotal, but I know more than a few people who fulfill the “white, Southern, identity driven yellow dog Republican” stereotype. All of them are middle to upper middle class suburbanites. Quite a few of them are from families that only moved from Yankee land in the last generation or two.
The white Southerners I’ve met from poor and working class backgrounds – far less ideological, and far less racist.
It’s not my part of the country, but I think there’s an entire class dynamic in the South that people ignore when they concentrate only on race…
Death Panel Truck
@rikyrah: Idaho will blame the “taco jockeys.” (Yeah, I know, Willard didn’t say that). I lived in Idaho for five years in the late 90s/early 00s. The Hispanic population is growing, and the locals hate it. And speaking of New Mexico: I remember a story about a guy from NM who came to Nampa to visit friends in 1999 or so. They went to a pizza place, and when they came out, the guy found a note on his windshield which read, “Welcome to Idaho. Now please leave.”
His transgression: driving a car with New Mexico plates.
Dennis SGMM
@Comrade Mary:
Mitt would rather have his country die for him.
patrick
I agree…especially considering a lot of the deductions (i.e. the EIC, child tax credit IIRC) that cause 46% to not pay taxes, were implemented by Republican administrations….
and payroll taxes are EXTREMELY regressive (they need to lift the cap on SS taxes…not sure, is there a cap on medicare taxes, too? if so, that needs to go) and 82% of people pay FEDERAL TAX, it’s just that some ONLY pay payroll taxes, and of those that pay neither, 85% of 95% of that 18% are either elderly or households earning less than $20k….
heck, my household is ~1.5 times median household income, 1 income earner, and with 2 youn kids, tax credits and deductions, I’m pretty sure my payroll tax liability is higher than my federal income tax liability….
schrodinger's cat
I heard some of Romney’s video, he drips contempt for the people he wants to rule. He lies with such ease.
catclub
@Bulworth: Dean Baker is always criticizing reporters for reporting what people believe, rather than what they do. It is actually hard to know what people believe. Romney has done that here. I hope that aspect, of assuming that anyone who pays no taxes also fits into his description, is what comes back to bite him.
Ruckus
This map needs to be overlaid with the map of states that get more in fed money than they pay.
Brachiator
@schrodinger’s cat:
And that’s the other part. Romney does not intend to govern. He intends to rule.
And the rubes keep trying to paint Obama as the UN helicopter commanding tyrant.
What a bunch of dopes.
Litlebritdifrnt
Weigel can be such an idiot at times
As I tweeted to him, this tape was not doctored to make Mitt say something he did not say. There is a big difference.
khead
Romney’s not talking about them. Duh.
OT – Steve Sabol died today. Maybe this shit with the NFL replacement refs caused him to give up.
Linda Featheringill
@Comrade Mary: #53
MittTape:
To my transcriptionist ears, he says:
[Talking about the Carter election}
We had the hostages in Iran, that was all we talked about. And that we had two helicopters crash in the desert, that was the focus and him solving that made all the difference in the world. I’m afraid today if you simply had Iran stand there with a nuclear weapon, they would go, “Hold on!” This is really a [end of phrase]. I really think that if something of that nature presents itself, I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.
patrick II
Mitt is on Cavuto right now saying that the problem is that people’s salaries are not high enough to pay taxes.
I wonder why that is. What a hypocritical asshole.
Downpuppy
@patrick: A married Couple, 2 small kids, working 2-3 jobs at $10-15/hour, could have gross income of about $50,000.
In 2011, that would be $0 in federal income tax. But there’d be withholding, so maybe 1 in 10 would realize that net federal income tax was $0.
4000 hours hard labor a year = Moochers
Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker
@Litlebritdifrnt: when did James O’Keefe ever release a tape of someone just talking, without any role-playing or manipulation?
Gex
One has to wonder… Between Mitt and his host, how many percentage points they added to that 47% as they left scads and scads of laid off workers in their wake.
JPL
@patrick II: Keep us updated. He wants to be president of all the people right including welfare queens.
DPS
@Brachiator:
I know, but people make exceptions for themselves (“I just had some bad luck and anyway I earned my unemployment check”) and just keep right on judging other people (“I am so sick of these lazy bastards sitting around drawing money for not working”). This is an instance, I think, of the “fundamental attribution error.”
Brachiator
This is almost too easy. Even some conservatives claim to want to increase adoptions, because they are pro life. Especially in the Red States.
There is currently an Adoption Credit. For 2012 it can be as high as #13,360. It is refundable, and the maximum can be paid if a special needs child is adopted.
Ask Romney if people who file returns and claim this credit are moochers, especially if they receive a refund even after their income tax liability has been reduced to zero.
Again, it is easy to produce concrete examples stripping out deductions and credits.
Two questions for Romney. Where in the hell are your income taxes? We want to verify for ourselves that you are not a moocher.
And where is your moocher tax plan for the country?
Bonus question: does Romney support a high minimum tax to make sure that the rich are not reduced to becoming moochers?
Super bonus question: why should kids get their parents’ estate? At all. Doesn’t this make them moochers? Doesn’t self reliance mean that they should go out and earn it themselves? Shouldn’t Romney support a 100% tax on estates?
jibeaux
@trollhattan: I stole it myself. Off the twittermachine, can’t remember whose it was.
1badbaba3
Mitt is just trying to prove his boy St. Colossal Dick right about how stupid their side is.
If it takes longer than ten seconds to debunk a reichwing talking point, check yourself for a pulse.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist and Fact Checker:
Exactly, someone else tweeted to Dave after I did “you’re smarter than this”. I agree.
burnspbesq
@geg6:
As I understand it, the Supremes vacated the lower court decision and remanded for additional fact-finding as to whether the State can actually implement procedures that will enable eligible voters to get the ID they need.
In legalese, that’s an indirect way of sending a message to the lower court that it fucked up and needs to clean up its own mess.
MazeDancer
Just watched Mitt on Fox being “interviewed”.
Doubling down – that’s his strategy. Like “Yay vid”.
Shrugged off vid’s leaking because “This is a message I’m carrying day in and day out” For him, the vid is just another vehicle to get out the message.
He did exempt military and seniors, but otherwise it was basically stomp the moochers.
Wherever Mitt was, it was very nicely lit. They had him looking good. And he was being reasonable and measured in his tone. Even upbeat.
trollhattan
@jibeaux:
I guess that makes us both moochers–but moochers with taste!
Paul
@Brachiator:
Awesome post! I wish one of the moderators in the upcoming debates would ask those very same questions.
gelfling545
Some of the assumptions I have seen being made about the likely reactions of the 47% strike me as nearly as bigoted as the Romney campaign. Clearly some people will assume it does not apply to them but it will not be all people or even all people of any particular region or demographic. Whether it causes few or many to oppose Romney, every little bit helps. What helps even more is that Romney has not looked even a little presidential during this episode.
LesGS
They got:
“Who is John Galt?”
We got:
“Who are the 47%?”
Forum Transmitted Disease
Listening to everyone in my office cheering Romney for being willing to stick it to those mooching government employees.
We’re a defense contractor.
If it wouldn’t personally fuck me to death, I’d be praying they get exactly what they ask for.
japa21
@burnspbesq: I remember that the lower court judge said in his ruling something to the effect of, “Although there are problems with this law, I trust the state to make sure those problems are resolved.” I have a hunch what the PA SC is telling that judge is that he is an idiot if he is just going to take the state’s word on that.
If this judge ever have hopes of getting elected to the SC, I expect there will be a reversal.
SatanicPanic
@catclub:
Some wingnut was trying to argue on yahoo earlier that Democrats crossed over to pick Romney because the Obama campaign thought Romney would be the easiest to beat. No word on which other candidate from that group of clowns had a better chance against Obama.
smintheus
Off topic, but important.
First question to Romney on the complete video at Mother Jones is about foreign policy. Questioner seems to be saying that Obama may find himself in a foreign policy crisis as Carter was in 1980, and if so Romney could be able to take advantage of his weakness. Romney responds that indeed if some kind of disaster like the Iran hostage crisis does arise then he will do his best to seize on it:
Think of that. Romney sees a crisis in foreign policy or a military disaster as a political “opportunity”. And he was waiting for a chance to leap upon it to advance himself.
Little wonder that he leapt upon the ongoing riots in Egypt and Libya to attack the president.
trollhattan
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Lack of self-awareness–check.
Immunity to irony–check.
My condolences on the continued need for that paycheck. Most of us have been/are still there. We all need Mittenbucks that go to work for us.
dmbeaster
@geg6: Here is the ruling.
The PA SC basically said the trial judge got it wrong – he applied the wrong legal standard to the evidence (and the correct legal standard is messy in this situation). The opinion articulates the correct legal standard, and orders further hearings consistent with the new guidelines.
The trial judge should take a much tougher stance and will probably enter the injunction. There is always the possibility of the trial judge being cranky and sticking with his prior decision while pretending to comply. That is atypical but possible – I dont know anything about the likelihood of that.
This is a common type of outcome since the appellate court does not hear any evidence – it only examines the record from the proceedings below. When it articulates a new standard for review, it could have issued an order based on the record below if the court felt that the issue had been fully explored in the record, and further proceedings were unnecessary. But that is atypical – the appellate court usually sends it back for further proceedings consistent with the opinion, because it is somewhat unfair to make a decision based on a new standard when the evidentiary record did not address that new standard.
GregB
It’s almost as if Romney knew something was going to happen.
The money trail for the Innocence of Mohammed may yet lead to a honey pot.
Patricia Kayden
Nice to see that MD is among the lowest “moocher” states. Well, Romneybot apparently went on Cavuto’s show and double/tripled/quadrupled down on his comments. Let’s see if he can win with this insult-half-the-electorate strategy.
He’s as bad as Palin. Just not as pretty.
MattR
@Forum Transmitted Disease: I believe Mitt’s advice to you would be to have your parents get you a better job.
Violet
@Forum Transmitted Disease: Can you concern troll, as in, “Aren’t we taking government money here in the defense industry? Are we the moochers Mitt Romney is talking about?” All said with the most worried concern troll face you can muster. Might be fun just to see some of their expressions.
Litlebritdifrnt
@trollhattan:
Like I have often said, most of the tea party types around here are either retired military or retired government workers. You know the IGMFU crowd.
bemused
Kevin Drum asks why the rich are so damn angry. I’d also like to know the answer to that.
Violet
Someone in a previous thread linked to this RedState thread. Nice to see the wingnuts have their own purity trolls:
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@gelfling545:
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
gelfling545 – I understand what you are saying, but is it bigoted when we see it (I work at a defense contractor as well, in the big red state).
Violet
Someone in a previous thread linked to this RedState thread. Nice to see the wingnuts have their own purity trolls:
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@gelfling545:
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
gelfling545 – I understand what you are saying, but is it bigoted when we see it (I work at a defense contractor as well, in the big red state).
JPL
Uh-oh, Not sure if this has been mentioned but the editorial board of the Washington Post has written another editorial questioning Mitt’s 47percent statement. It certainly isn’t as good as David Brooks’ column but whatever. link
Mnemosyne
@DPS:
Republican voters staying home on election day is just as beneficial to the Democrats as actively flipping their vote to Obama would be.
Villago Delenda Est
The ONLY thing Rmoney has left is ni*CLANG*.
That’s it.
Shawn in ShowMe
@SatanicPanic:
You know the drill: No matter who won the Clown Car Nomination, he/she would later have been accused of being an Obama plant. ‘Cause surely a true conservative would not be losing to this guy.
Their xenophobia has been allowed to linger long enough. It resulted in the destruction of some of our greatest young leaders in the 1960s, precipitated the decline of city neighborhoods in the 1970s, and undermined our educational system in the 1980s. Step out into the gawd damn light already, your nation needs you.
Chris Gerrib
Regarding “moochers who vote for Romney” see this comment on a conservative site.
Chris
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Y’all wouldn’t happen to be 1) in Miami and 2) hiring entry level positions, would you? Defense happens to be what I’m into….
(Long shot, but hey, it would double the number of Democrats in your office!)
catclub
@bemused: If you want gratitude, get a dog.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
This is where you find that libertarian types are actually neo-feudalists.
Jefferson implemented an estate tax precisely to prevent multi-generational accumulation of wealth, which he saw as the true cause of the French Revolution and all the terrible things that happened to it.
Marx saw this as a problem, too. It prevented a lot of people from ever finding out just what their proper role in society was, because if they inherited wealth, and lived off rents, they didn’t have to work. Therefore they were, by their nature, parasites.
The parasites are at the top. Not at the bottom.
trollhattan
@bemused:
I believe Mr. Marley pinned this one down. Want more.
bemused
@catclub:
Yup, that’s where I was going…we are not sufficiently appreciative or in awe of the fabulously wealthy. Poor babies don’t get no respect.
Jay in Oregon
@Mudge:
I would point out that a lot of people use their Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend checks to actually better themselves.
I, and a whole host of people that I grew up with, used that money to help pay our way their college, especially out-of-state. Without that, I would probably have gone to a state school, stayed in-state, and end up one of those Tea Party, Palin-worshipping yokels.
Sure, there are plenty of people who blow it on stuff they don’t need, or are still scraping by the rest of the year.
But you know it’s another popular and effective government program, because the Republicans in the state have been trying to steal money out of that permanent fund for years; decades, even.
Think “privatizing Social Security” on a smaller scale; they either want to “borrow” from the fund from time to time, or at one point they were offering to give every qualifying Alaskan a one-time lump sum payout of about $25,000 and keep the rest. Neither plan has found much support, but give the Tea Partiers another decade or so and we’ll see…
muddy
@Death Panel Truck:
A guy I know in Vermont was telling me a story that absolutely outraged him, and it was all the fault of teh gheys. Someone he knew went to a Red Sox game in Boston, and someone keyed their car with the message, “Fags go home”. This guy was very upset that just because someone had VT plates, someone would assume they were gay! And they *weren’t even* gay! It was so unfair! It’s all teh ghey’s fault that this car was damaged.
I said the one who did the keying was the *only* one responsible, but this guy thought I was just nuts. I mentioned about the Republican saying about personal responsibility. He just kept saying it wasn’t fair because they weren’t gay. Apparently keying would be just fine if they were? Don’t know why I put a question mark…
Idiots are everywhere, even in deep blue states like VT and MA. Still, your odds are better, which is a relief to me.
muddy
Oh dear, I’m in moderation because I used the British word for cigarettes. I guess that’s why anyway. I hasten to say I was quoting someone and not saying it for myself.
1badbaba3
@Violet: Considering that he only tells the ‘truth’ behind doors closed for “you people” (and you know who you are, people), I’d have to say three out of four ain’t bad. He will tell the truth and he will lose the election. And he will lie (again and again) and still lose. Too bad so sad.
Downticket landslide, bitchez! Mitt makes all things possible.
Are we sure it’s not too late to bring Grifterella off the pines? Heh, Heh.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Super bonus question: why should kids get their parents’ estate? At all. Doesn’t this make them moochers? Doesn’t self reliance mean that they should go out and earn it themselves? Shouldn’t Romney support a 100% tax on estates?
Also notice that mittshit has said that he didn’t get a head start, he had to work his way through college. (Not withstanding cashing in the stocks) So another question is how much did he inherit? Trust funds, stocks/bonds, cash in the bank, whatever.
As an aside I worked 16 yrs in the family mfg business. Was given the stock and capital when dad wanted to retire. Worked another 16 owning the business. Every thing else went to siblings. And the total value? Less than what mittshit makes in 5 days, not working. I got a hand up. How big was mittshit’s hand up?
Gex
@Violet: In fact, if defense is 4% of GDP and the Ryan plan calls for discretionary spending of 3.5%, defense is going to have to get some serious cuts. They can’t just do it by cutting all non-defense spending. Throw some numbers at them.
It wouldn’t even be entirely a troll.
muddy
@Ruckus: I don’t recall Romney said he had to work through college. He and Ann just said how poor they were, sometimes having to resort to selling stocks him dad gave him. And you know he didn’t pay for his own tuition or fees or books to start with.
He’s been a moocher all his life, and he mooched the fuck out of those companies he drove out of business. He’s mooched off the pensions that people paid into their whole lives, and made the government take over the payments. Then he says those people are the moochers.
Mitt mooched first.
Ruckus
@muddy:
OK didn’t work but he was so poor. Poor fucking baby. I can show him fucking poor and I’m not even close to the bottom.
That’s why he’s so sure he knows what a moocher is, he sees one in the mirror every morning.
Southern Beale
@muddy:
Also tuna casserole. Which we all know is shorthand for “food of the poors.”
muddy
@Southern Beale: No, no, how dare you! They don’t eat declasse casserole, she stated they ate tuna and pasta. Pasta bitchez! Noodle casserole only for the 47%.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
I know that Jefferson proposed an estate tax. Didn’t know that he actually implemented one.
I know that the US Constitution did away with a formal aristocracy. This helped do away with all the machinery by which British aristocrats and the gentry preserved estates to pass them along to their heirs.
On the other hand, Jefferson talked a lot of shit about estate taxes, but was himself a parasite living off the backs of his slaves. He couldn’t even bring himself to free the slave he was fucking.
But I totally agree with you that the parasites are at the top, not the bottom.
I take your point about libertarians being neo-feudalists, and would add that they suffer delusions of competence that they would rise to the top in such a society when most of them would be rolled over into a ditch. Feudal societies are not built on individualism or self reliance.
Gex
@Forum Transmitted Disease: Sounds eerily familiar. My brother-out-law (gay, no marriage making us family) works for Lockheed Martin and complains about the government spending too much.
My other favorite is he both 1) complains about he and his wife can barely afford to send his kids to state school and 2) doesn’t understand why a single mother working minimum wage can’t just send her kids to state schools.
It is really hard to like people after you learn about their conservative politics. Ugh.
Chris
@Brachiator:
At the risk of blaspheming against the cult of the Founding Fathers… there’s a lot to loathe about Jefferson.
(On the slavery thing, Washington too, and more than a few others. Rightly is it called America’s original sin).
eileen
@Nancy Darling: Isn’t part of how it works lack of familiarity? I mean isn’t WV both very white and pretty darn racist? (going off the change from Kerry to Obama in percentage of white vote).
The Populist
@GregB: No They are a purple state. So in that state you have a mix of people who will vote for either party.
The Populist
@Gex: So true. I have a bunch of conservative friends but they aren’t overtly political so it never comes up. The few who are “true believers” tend to try to argue with me only to be told that if they want to hang out or whatever, I don’t want to listen to your b.s. ideas.
I hear enough of it from people who aren’t friends of mine. If they can’t be pragmatic, they can’t talk politics with me.
The Populist
@Brachiator: Just look at the poverty in these super red southern states. It just looks like what one sees in Mexico or anyplace else where there is an oligarchy.
I get told all the time that California is awful. I laugh and say that it’s really not and that it beats living in Texas (n offense to any of my liberal friends living there!).
The Populist
@Ruckus: Didn’t he have a trust? I thought when his dad died, that money was split up among the Romney children???
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
The slave he was fucking was not a human being to him.
That’s been the problem for a long time. We’ve expanded the definition of “person” to include her descendants. That’s the difference.
Well, most of us have. There are still a lot out there who have not accepted this new paradigm.
Gadsden Flag Burner
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
I’m with you on that. The teabagger mail I see going out (from retired military officers, no less!) infuriates me to no end.
But I also see some OFA mail going out and several cars have Obama stickers clearly visible.
Villager nirvana has been attained. Both sides, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Sally Hemmings was his wife’s half sister. There is evidence to suggest that Jefferson was very much aware of her personhood and that he exploited her anyway.
Jefferson whined a lot about King George III pushing the slave trade in the Declaration and he mumbled stuff about all men being created equal.
I don’t cut him any slack just because he wanted to slap aristocrats around. Jefferson, with malice and deliberation, protected his own social class despite what he knew in his heart to be true.
He even reneged on a promise he made to Tadeusz Kościuszko, the Polish general who fought in the Revolutionary war, to use the proceeds from Kościuszko’s estate to free and educate Jefferson’s slaves and other Virginia slaves.
Some of the Hemmings clan are still fighting for recognition as Jeffersons.
And as you suggested yourself in an earlier post, some people have not even begun to pay back what is owed.
Chris
Brach – not only should he not be cut any slack, his otherwise egalitarian tendencies make him worse, I’d argue. He was the original IGMFYer.
hep kitty
I remember older white men grumbling about the lines at the unemployment office, cuz it was the govment. And they’re there getting their unemployment check. Yes, it was slow as shit.
I would take my place in line an hour before opening, standing in the dawn light with a few other people, so I could get in and out within 3 hours.
But hey, old man, freeloaders ought not complain about how they get their gubmt checks.
Too bad it’s not like Newt says, where you can just sit on your ass and get your check without having to do a damned thing.
No, you stand in line. For hours and hours, chunks out of your life standing in line. You put in hours and hours looking for work, working temp jobs, taking useless classes, preparing for and flunking interviews. Working for free.
I’d like to march Newt and Mitt through just ONE of those days out of my life standing in the unemployment line with all those filthy, lazy, diseased, lice-ridden parasites like myself.
Triassic Sands
My guess is that the vast majority of low-income wingers won’t ever hear about Romney’s comments, so he probably won’t suffer much, if at all, from the Revenge of the Red State Parasites.
You have to be stupid and uninformed to be low-income and support Romney, and one of the ways you stay that way is by being totally unaware of stuff like this. Besides, I’d guess that 75% to 100% of those involved would simply reply (when informed that Romney thinks they are lazy, freeloading parasites) “Well, at least he’s not a baby-killer like Obama from Africa.”
hep kitty
By the time they opened the doors, the line would quickly start wrapping around the building
gnomedad
@Petorado:
You say that as if facts matter. None of the base will believe he’s referring to them.
hep kitty
@Gex: These are the stubborn holdouts who refused to see what is happening to those all around them, even loved ones, probably. They will never get it until it affects them personally and in a profound way.
I realized this after I gave up on us getting out of Iraq or anyone even caring that we were there or why.
I knew then that the people are just so damned selfish and shallow and gullible that they’ll never get it until they themselves get hit and hit hard.
Shit can happen. I should know.
hep kitty
Newborn loses faith in humanity after record 6 days
Death Panel Truck
@Nancy Darling: The racism in Idaho is directed entirely toward Latinos. The Latino population has been growing there since the 1990s. I lived and worked in southwest Idaho (Boise/Nampa/Caldwell metro area), and believe me when I tell you that the locals long for the “good old days” when the wetbacks knew their place, which to them is a good bit south of the Gem State.
Idaho is a gorgeous state. Too bad it’s inhabited by ignorant yahoos.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ (formerly IrishGrrrl)
Why I do declare! I don’t know nothing about taking no welfare.
Ruckus
@The Populist:
I’m pretty sure the motherfucker got a lot more that most when George kicked it. And before.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ (formerly IrishGrrrl)
@gnomedad:
Indeed my online perusing today shows that the base is dead set on believing that RMoney was referring to the Welfare Queens and T-Bone Buying Young Bucks….certainly not, horror of horrors, their white, working class selves.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ (formerly IrishGrrrl)
@geg6:
I’m not a lawyer but I play one on TV….no, seriously jk. The one thing that has me worried is that during the original trial, the lawyers for the Plaintiff made it very clear that the DOT not only could not provide the IDs in time, they weren’t even really trying. And the lower court judge bought the State’s BS. I believe there is language in his ruling that he thought the State had “good intent” and were making a “good faith” effort to provide IDs. I don’t know if this will turn out well.
On that note, I would also dearly love a REAL attorney to give us their take.
Elie
@rikyrah:
Ya know — they actually KNOW that Romney is talking about them… they just are going to ignore it to win the point they want. They will let their children and grandchildren feel the white boot on their neck — just like the confederate cracker soldiers – to make the point – cause the point is the most important thing — I am WHITE and I AM BETTER THAN YOU. That is all. That is it. My children might starve, my life and my rights might be trampelled by the MAN — but I am white and that is my WIN statement. They hold the knife to their own throats… to the throats of their women and children — for their future. Terrible. No self esteem and no self respect. They put all of their self respect on the color of their skin — against all other measures — wealth, peace, justice and fairness… They are doomed to disappear — like rare life forms unable to adapt. sad sad sad — brutal.
Comrade Mary
I just listened to the CBC hourly news report and am shocked at how they have moved on from last night’s report (“Romney goofed again; he insulted Obama voters in a secret tape publicized by leftist magazine Mother Jones”) to the most recent report, which shredded Romney for insulting the elderly and wounded soldiers (!), pointed out that most of the 47% pay other taxes even if they don’t pay federal income tax, and quoted the White House’s criticism of Romney’s stance, before giving credit to “liberal” magazine Mother Jones.
Given how the CBC usually lazily echoes American mainstream opinion, this shift cold be an anomaly or a reflection on how this is going to be covered everywhere but at Fox.
jake the snake
@Laura:
I have had the feeling all along that it was some sort of a spoof. There is no better analogy for the Republican Party as it exists now, than a cranky old white man arguing with an imaginary Democrat.
Scamp Dog
@Brachiator: Actually, I think we should cut hm some slack. The failure to free slaves was certainly a major flaw, but I’m glad he went ahead and wrote that all men were created equal, instead of the non-hypocritical “all white men are created equal”. Basically, he helped us get rid of the aristocracy AND gave us the bludgeon to beat him up with about slavery.
The bad stuff doesn’t cancel out the good stuff, and the good stuff doesn’t cancel out the bad stuff either. They’re both there, and both need to be remembered.
brantl
@jibeaux: Born on third base, trying to steal second is pretty good, Born on third base trying to steal all the bases, even the one you’re on is even better, in my opinion.
Mike G
@The Populist:
I live in CA and have lived in TX. And I was near Austin, the least reactionary part of the state.
Texas blows. It’s a low-services state with so-so infrastructure and an atomized society with little social capital and a social conservative punishment-and-cheap-labor ugly ethos. Plus the weather sucks.