Remember when democracies could exile bad politicians and doom them to everlasting shame and ignominy? Or erase every record of their name in existence?
I love how Romney's talking about the so-called 47% who don't pay any income taxes when he himself is among those who don't pay income taxes (he only pays capital gains taxes, which are something different and are taxed at lower rates). For that matter, he doesn't pay payroll taxes either, and he may not even pay social security taxes.
This will carry the same weight as Obama' 'clinging to guns and religion' comment 4 years ago. Those on the left will use it as an attack, those on the right will take it as form of Romney street cred.
This is shit my mom thinks and agrees with. There's a lot of people in this country that think a lot of poor people stay poor on purpose because they get money for nothing.
I'm seriously having a crisis here. I don't know how to resolve the idea of a person who agrees with the 47% Speech with the mental image I have of the person who raised me. This is really fucked up and I feel sick.
Nah, Dad isn't that nuts yet. Of course, he's obviously got some serious cognitive dissonance going on; he's an immigrant who supports a party that is a tiny leap of logic away from a exiling Hispanics and putting a wall between us and Mexico.
I'm seriously having a crisis here. I don't know how to resolve the idea of a person who agrees with the 47% Speech with the mental image I have of the person who raised me. This is really fucked up and I feel sick.
For me, my mom taught me how to think and figure things out. And while she may be completely wrong and doesn't understand the broader social implications I can at least understand her thinking. She likes the idea of everyone paying into the government and everyone getting benefit from it. I used to think that way and I attribute her still thinking that way as having not studied the problem as much as I have.
I don't understand why anyone is surprised by Romney's comments. These views aren't exactly new. Republicans have been bitching about the "Welfare State" for quite some time.
I was discussing this with my co-worker. So basically Romney doesn't-care-about/thinks-are lazy/hates: 1) people that work hard but don't make quite enough (aka the working poor, but we already knew that), 2) old folks on social security (who've probably already paid into that system before they retired), 3) high school kids with side jobs to help out their families, 4) rich people who use tricks and technicalities to avoid paying any income taxes, and 5) himself. So in his hypothetical presidency when the plan of over taxing the poor and not taxing the rich comes into effect and the 47% gets reversed, what then?
Sorry, this 47% thing is really getting to me for some reason. I know what its like to make under the amount to qualify to pay income taxes, even though I worked really hard and was NOT lazy and entitled. >_<
I don't understand why anyone is surprised by Romney's comments. These views aren't exactly new. Republicans have been bitching about the "Welfare State" for quite some time.
It's the idea that a candidate for the highest elected office would declare a willful indifference to and irresponsibility for half of the nation he wants to lead. That's what's really radically alarming about this.
Yeah, this. Holy crap he told the truth! Quick, let's make him a pariah!
In all honesty, how many representatives do you think feel like this and just don't say it? The travesty should not be that he dared to say it out loud; it should be that the sentiment exists. Unfortunately all the outrage is going to do is encourage people to be more careful about what they say; it will not change their worldviews.
Yeah, this. Holy crap he told the truth! Quick, let's make him a pariah!
In all honesty, how many representatives do you think feel like this and just don't say it? The travesty should not be that he dared to say it out loud; it should be that the sentiment exists. Unfortunately all the outrage is going to do is encourage people to be more careful about what they say; it will not change their worldviews.
We might see some good come of this if somebody spent less time capitalizing on it for political gain and a little more time actually addressing the man's comments.
No one in the political machine is really interested in the views that prompted the whole thing, only in what kind of advantages they can pull from the situation.
Comments
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser
USA! USA! USA! USA!
Good luck, Mister Romney.
We should bring that shit back.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.xml
I'm a public school kid and I don't know how I'll look him in the eye this weekend.
Sorry, this 47% thing is really getting to me for some reason. I know what its like to make under the amount to qualify to pay income taxes, even though I worked really hard and was NOT lazy and entitled. >_<
In all honesty, how many representatives do you think feel like this and just don't say it? The travesty should not be that he dared to say it out loud; it should be that the sentiment exists. Unfortunately all the outrage is going to do is encourage people to be more careful about what they say; it will not change their worldviews.
No one in the political machine is really interested in the views that prompted the whole thing, only in what kind of advantages they can pull from the situation.