The Mitt Romney 47% secret video is below. David Corn from Mother Jones was able to verify the video’s authenticity, and give it context insofar as where and when it was recorded.
It doesn’t come as any surprise that Mitt Romney gathers with groups of millionaires and lets his hair down a bit insofar as what he will say to them to get money into his campaign coffers. That’s politics. Obama has to do it as well. We have all come to accept that US Politics is a business of catering to the beliefs, fears, and prejudices of your donors…
… but what I do find offensive in this release of the real Mitt Romney video taken during a private fundraiser is his statement that 47% of Americans are dependent on government – they are self-defined victims, they don’t pay taxes, and they don’t take responsibility for themselves – and that THOSE are all the people who are voting for Obama. Not “thoughtful” people. It was spiteful; packed full of “they” and writing off 47 percent of people in America.
… and yet everyone in that room nods in agreement. The clenched jaw and swallowed “s” nods developed from very large bank accounts creating their own, distinct, and separated feelings of entitlement reserved only for the very well off. It was more like a cartoon than a real event, but nevertheless gave me a sickening feeling about the particular “kind” of wealthy person who is supporting the Republican Party.
Here’s a question worth asking: Did Mitt Romney pay federal taxes during all those years for which he refuses to release his tax returns? Is Mitt Romney part of that 47% as well? What about corporations (who are people, too) who often don’t pay federal taxes… does Mitt Romney fold them into the 47% in his mind, or is it just conveniently the “poor folk” who don’t make much money, but still pay payroll, medicare, social security, and state taxes? If you can afford a really good accountant so that you don’t end up paying taxes, then not paying those taxes is OK, I’m fully certain, according to Mitt Romney & Co.
A Message to Mitt Romney & Co.
We are the Obama Voter. We have successes and we have failures. We work extremely hard. We go to sleep tired and wake up early. We pay our taxes, and want our taxes to go towards something MORE than wars. We want our country to BE ABOUT more than wars, and individual greed, and arrogance. We want our efforts to go back into the country so that it can become even better for everyone who is a citizen – in their hearts, and in their daily lives, not just on accepted forms of photo ID. We want everyone to vote. We want everyone to love. We want everyone to respect. We recognize that there is more to being a citizen than “What’s in it for me?”
I take offense at the contempt of Mitt Romney and his selection of millionaire supporters have for me, and apparently 47% of the people in this country. I’m not wealthy, but I have started two businesses, sold one to work in an executive position tasked with building and launching new locations for a large company, then left that job to start another on my own again. In my last job I worked for someone who is worth about twice as much as Mitt Romney – someone who, it should be noted, is nothing whatsoever like Mitt Romney… he wears t-shirts, likes take-out food, is allergic to horses, and wouldn’t vote for Romney in a million years. In that job I have met plenty of very wealthy people, none of whom share Mitt Romney & Co’s outlook on the… quality of people who live in America. Mitt Romney and Co. is a different breed of millionaire altogether.
The type of wealthy people Mitt Romney “pals around with” (to use a Palin-ism) are of a lower quality of character than most people I’ve met who earn minimum wage, or who have stood in an unemployment line.
I have paid a lot of taxes. While it stings sometimes, I never dodge my taxes, but I do sometimes complain (mostly due to WHAT those dollars are funding, if it was going towards education or health care I’d be perfectly happy). I pay and don’t dodge taxes because I understand that governments need revenue in order to stay in business. I live simply and put the rest into IRAs. I do what I’m supposed to do – and I’m still nowhere near what I will need for my retirement, because of health care costs, my belief that what my Social Security statements say now won’t be reality in 30 years, and because the company for which I worked did not have any sort of 401k or pension plan.
I am not dependent on the government, but I do think we need to have single payer health care because it’s the only system that has been proven to work. I think we need to start treating one another a bit more like fellow countrymen – people who are stuck in this world together and best make the best of it – and stop looking at our “different’ neighbors as disdainful enemies.
America is better than the Mitt and Co. brand cynicism. America is better than all of the people in that room with Romney in the “47% Video.” Americans… “real Americans” (to steal another Palin-ism) are of a better quality stock than that.
I am voting for Obama, so according to Mitt Romney I’m part of the 47% who feels “entitled” and “never pays taxes” while all his friends smile and nod, looking down their noses at Mitt’s fabricated caricature of everyone who has already declared their support for Obama. It really is absurd.
Again, it’s not a surprise that Romney would tell donors at a fundraiser things they want to hear, however, the tone and the extreme to which Mitt has taken it… and that his campaign, as always, doubles down on Mitt’s 47% comments... is a bit disturbing. The Romney campaign and Mitt Romney himself… and those select few who are funding his bid for president have a very, very cynical and sad outlook on “the rest” of the people in this country.
What’s so wrong with us, MItt Romney and Co.? What’s wrong with me, an Obama voter? Why do you write off 47% of us with such abandon as if its a mindless tax deduction for your horse dancing hobby?
Cynical, elitist, and dare I say snooty to the n-th degree… sad, sad, sad. We are better than Mitt Romney. Rich, poor, and everyone in the middle – we are better than Mitt Romney and his chosen friends.
Published: by | Updated: 06-27-2013 10:16:51
