Mitt Romney was videotaped without his knowledge at a fundraiser recently. MotherJones, a liberal website, released the tape last night. Here is an excerpt of what he said.
There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47% 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…[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
– Mitt Romney
BosGuy 
I’m not sure of the number but let’s not kid ourselves and act like everyone in America is a hard worker. There are a couple of facts here that need to be remembered 1 he was saying this at a private event. He has to sound like this here. I bet at private Obama events he sounds just like a Commie. 2 its true. There is a large number of Americans that are draining the system and putting nothing back. We were designed to be a large base of taxpayers supporting small govt (local and fed) projects and churches were given tax free status to take care of the needy through charity. It was like a pyramid. Now the pyramid I’d upside down and it just can’t support itself for long like this.
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Seems Romney forgot to mention that his 47% includes 28.3% of the people paying payroll tax. You know, people who have employees? 10.3% are the elderly.
That’s 38.6% of the population that SHOULDN’T HAVE TO PAY an income tax.
Then you have the 6.9% non-elderly who don’t pay taxes because they make less than $20k a year. I’d be willing to bet that you know a lot of people that fall into this category. Ask them if they would pay taxes if they could make more money.
No. Fuck that. Let’s play devils advocate and assume that half of the people in the US that make less than $20k are dead beats and would rather live off the gubmint than work for a living. I’d say that’s an over-estimation but hey, just go with it.
So add the <1% of the population that fall into the "other" category to our 3.45%, do a little more rounding up to make it a round figure and go with 5%.
Less than 5% of the US population are free loaders. Romney actually believes that it's 47%.
This kind of reminds me of the whole voter fraud issue. I would totally agree that we would need to get some legislation going to force people to have ID when they voted had there been thousands of cases of fraud, that would certainly be a red flag. However, the fact is there were only 50ish cases of voter fraud since 2002 that were prosecuted. That is NOT a red flag. Why make such a big deal about it? Because the one thing in common with all of those 22 million would-be disenfranchised voters is that they are Democrats. That's right: 22 million AMERICAN Democrats would not be allowed to vote because about 10 people a year commit voter fraud. There are more people being killed by sharks each year. Why isn't Romney concerned about killing all of the sharks?
Romney's comment is a perfect example of how the right want to take a small problem, blow it up, and make you afraid of it so you'll vote Republican. You seriously believe nearly half of the country are free-loaders while in reality, you're talking about hundreds of millions of people who lost their jobs and homes and are now living in a hotel room just trying to hold on until they can get back on their feet. People with families. Those are the people Romney was referring to in his closed door, fund raising campaign for his billionaire constituency.
I'm all for small government and all, really, but no one is going to conserve their way out of poverty. You can't function if you don't have food. You can't get a job if you don't have a phone. You can't work if you're sick. Anyone who defends this 47% statement is totally out of touch with the plight of the average American. You can either help us out until we are able to get back on our feet, or you can pay higher healthcare costs because we have to keep filing indigence in the emergency room, and watch your state taxes go through the roof as your prisons fill up.
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Very insightful comments above. Last night on the news, I also heard the president say that he supported distribution of “wealth” in our society, to help give some a step-up.
That could also be misconstrued to say the the President supports socialists ideals.
I am not a fan of either candidate and will make my determination after the debates.
I really think we need a government that supports those in need (sincere need), encourages our young to become educated for their own personal success, and is fiscally responsible.
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Does this include disabled veterans? Should we be taking care of them?
What about wealthy people who’s income comes from capital gains, and who, in 2010 wrote off losses and therefore paid $0 in income taxes?
And corporations like Exxon – “People” according to the Supreme Court …
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Frankly I am surprised at the anger above. Looking only at income tax it totally misleading. If you look at income and payroll taxes, the 47% goes down to 19%. So you are mad at the working poor. Of the 19%, over 10% are living on social security. They worked all their lives , paid for social security, and now collect it.. Of the remaining 8+%, 2% make over $100,000 per year (4,000 households included make over $1,000,000). So just who are you mad at?
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Just reading the comment from the reader above – some of it’s true, but the context in which Mitt said it, shows in my opinion a superiority complex….some people don’t have it easy, life is hard, and to make a statement(s) like that shows ignorance, a lack of empathy, and a rich, egotistical person, which is not someone to run America!
SteveA
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I don’t know why people find Mitt’s comment to be so shocking. First let me say that I’m not a Mitt supporter nor do I find Obama to be the answer to all of America’s ills. But Mitt’s comment does have some underlying truth to it. I can’t validate the percentage that he quoted but there is a large percentage of Americans that want to be taken care of by the government. They don’t want to take accountability for their own lives. They would rather get government support then to have to work two part time jobs. I met a gentleman who refused to get a job because he would lose is government support. Then he took out his iphone to respond to a text!
There are also people out there that complain about the cost of prescription drugs but do not take accountability for their own health. They eat what the want; they don’t excercise and they smoke a pack a day. And they want free meds from government. It’s not the governments responsibilty to enable its citizens to live unhealthy lives. A free pill is not the answer. Take accountability for your own health and you probably wouldn’t need most meds.
I realize this does not apply to many Americans but lets not pretend it not happening out there.
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Could not have said it any better. Romney simply stopped being a politician for a while and spoke honestly. We’ve become too dependent on government to solve our problems, many of which we’ve created for ourselves.
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