Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

Long story short is wasn't Ryan who killed the GOP's chances in '12 it was Romney's.......

I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49 -- he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.

Seriously? How could he be so dense as not to understand WITHOLDING; for federal income taxes, SS & Medicare? THAT'S what his '47%' are paying, and they heard him loud and clear. Uh, uh, car elevator, dog on the roof boy, they said with their votes.

https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/makers-vs-takers-romneys-47-percent-rhetoric-echoes-fox-news

Romney Dismisses “47 Percent Of Americans” Who “Pay No Income Tax” And Won't Respond To “Our Message Of Low Taxes”

https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/makers-vs-takers-romneys-47-percent-rhetoric-echoes-fox-news

Mother Jones Reports On May 17 Recording At Romney Donor Dinner. In a September 17 post, Mother Jones reported that Romney, to an audience of donors, disparaged those who don't pay income taxes and receive government benefits. Mother Jones posted video of Romney saying:

ROMNEY: 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.

I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49 -- he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. He'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. [Mother Jones, 9/17/12]

TheGrio: Romney's “Basic Argument” Is That Obama Supporters "Simply Take From The Rest Of Americans." Zerlina Maxwell wrote on the news site TheGrio:

The message is one that Romney has said on the campaign trail repeatedly, one that he insists he will continue to say, and one that is a tenet of conservative thinking.

[...]

Romney's basic argument is that there are large segments of the country -- Obama supporters -- who are freeloaders and don't contribute to our society. This “47 percent” simply take from the rest of Americans -- in Romney's framing they are taking from the wealthy like the people in attendance at the Romney fundraiser -- and they take disproportionately from government benefits. This entire premise is false of course; wealth inequality is at record levels and it's really the rich that take disproportionately from government by way of tax loopholes and government subsidies. [TheGrio, 9/18/12]