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September 18, 2012 9:50 AM “Talking Politics”

By Ed Kilgore

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We are going to hear a lot of interesting things today from the Romney camp (just can’t wait for Jennifer Rubin’s reaction!), but there’s already a bit of official campaign spin from none other than Bay Buchanan, per The Hill’s Justin Sink:

[W]hile the Obama campaign has said the comments demonstrate Romney’s “disgust and disdain for half our fellow Americans,” Buchanan said he was simply “talking politics.”
“He’s analyzing the voter base,” Buchanan said. ‘How do I reach my 50 point plus one vote? And when you do that, and I tell you I haven’t met a candidate who doesn’t, I always recommend they don’t, but they always seem to like to be that political analyst, what he’s saying is there are people out there who don’t pay taxes, unfortunately, they’re in a position where they’re dependent on government, and those individuals are — those Americans are voting for Barack Obama. they’re in his backyard.”
But Buchanan insisted that as president, Romney would be “extremely concerned” about the poor and the elderly who are the large majority of those who do not pay federal income taxes.

So that’s the defense? Romney was just offering the detached analysis that 47% of Americans are parasite scum?

I guess this makes sense if you figure Mitt’s already fatally alienated “the 47%,” so now the prime objective is to avoid offending the sensibilities of non-parasites who don’t much like this kind of hateful crap. Such “swing voters” probably would like to hear that Romney at least plans to become president of all the people, even if his tender compassion towards the less-fortunate is expressed by boosting their taxes and/or reducing safety net benefits.

Presumably Buchanan’s out there this morning because she’s had a lot of practice at spinning the unspinnable. She chaired all three of her brother’s presidential campaigns, and her last gig before signing on with Team Mitt was to head up the short-lived Tom Tancredo for President effort.

Ed Kilgore is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly. He is managing editor for The Democratic Strategist and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Find him on Twitter: @ed_kilgore.
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Comments

  • stormskies on September 18, 2012 9:57 AM:

    It will certainly be interesting to see the reaction of the millions of Americans who fall into that 47% who have intended for buffoon Romney/Ryan.

    How is the world are they going to be able to 'rationalize' their vote now ?

    More delusional hoop jumps to justify ?

  • John Dillinger on September 18, 2012 10:00 AM:

    The thing is, I bet at least a third, if not more, of that 47 percent are in Romney's column--seniors, military, whites who make a living wage, but not enough to pay federal income taxes. Or at least they were for Romney before this. I think Obama needs to go hard with this, but not nationally. He needs to spend some money in MO, WV, and GA on ads and see if he can get any traction bringing home some of what used to be Dem voters, after showing them what their Republican overlords actually think of them.

  • Danp on September 18, 2012 10:09 AM:

    It will be interesting to see if Romney drops the whole "class warfare" argument. My guess is no; that he sees his followers as too stupid to get it.

  • c u n d gulag on September 18, 2012 10:19 AM:

    Ah, it's nice to see Bay picking up the slack on her brother Pat's rope.

    Bay, if for some reason you weren't Pat's sister, and weren't on TV, YOU would probably be one of those 47%!

    It's too bad that a good chunk of that 47% will vote for the betterment of the 53% in every election - and more particularly, the top 2%.

    If you want to know, "What's the Matter With Kansas?" you need look no further - there's your answer.

  • Hedda Peraz on September 18, 2012 10:24 AM:

    Never over-estimate the intelligence of the American People.
    A large number of that infamous "47%" are too stupid to know they are in it.

    And quite a few will vote for Mitt because he ain't black.

  • Ron Byers on September 18, 2012 10:25 AM:

    I think it would be smart for somebody to point out that a large part of the Tea Party rank and file are members of the 47%. I wonder if they realize Romney thinks they are Lucky Duckies because they are on Social Security and Medicare.

  • Bo on September 18, 2012 10:27 AM:

    Romney has doubled down and said that his comments are accurate though inelegant.
    Bay Buchanan has claimed that Romney was "just talking politics".
    Well, let's look at the "politics" of Romney's "accurate" statement, shall we?
    Place this map (http://dailydish.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e2017c31f0a947970b-popup) next to a current electoral vote prediction map.
    Does anything jump out at you? Well, it hit me square between the eyes! Romney just indicted, not Obama's supporters, but the very core of his own political support in the southern states (plus Idaho) and a critical battleground state (Florida).
    So what does this really say about Romney who was supposedly a successful leader and manager? I think he hit the trifecta on this one:
    Communication skills -- FAIL
    Logic and analytical skills -- FAIL
    Strategic and tactical skills -- FAIL
    Aside from the fact that The MittWit is a jerk and a snob, he lacks the leadership and managerial skills to be president. Unfit to govern. Stick a fork in him. He's toast.

  • Nanuq on September 18, 2012 10:37 AM:

    Bravo, Ed, Bravo!

  • Daryl McCullough on September 18, 2012 10:37 AM:

    Bay Buchanan wrote: "He’s analyzing the voter base. 'How do I reach my 50 point plus one vote?'..."

    What's funny about that is this earlier statement by Romney about Obama:

    "He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces. If an American president wins that way, we all lose."

  • BillFromPA on September 18, 2012 10:43 AM:

    Mitt represents a class of people who believe, without having investigated or lived the matter, that being born in America is actually the same as winning the lottery, if you are so lucky, you've got it made and only lazyness prevents you from achieving great wealth. A person's lack of wealth is proof of that individual's worthlessness. Mitt had his way through college, etc., paid and he sold off part of the portfolio he was handed, and to this and others like him, this is a 'struggle'.

    Mitt and his fellow 1%ers have been laid bare and those of lower economic orders who vote for him are reveiled as fools.

  • Mimikatz on September 18, 2012 10:45 AM:

    The GOP has won elections since Nixon by convincing a bunch of the 47% to identify with the winners, and to promise them the chance to join those winners. The Romney comments spitting on his own supporters shows he doesn't understand this dynamic at all. The one thing the GOP can't afford is to admit it is all really a con, and Romney has done just that. Has there ever been a worse candidate? Well maybe his fellow Bain alum Queen Meg Whitman runs a close second.

  • citizen_pain on September 18, 2012 10:46 AM:

    When are Americans going to learn that it is people like Romney that are the true parasites in our country? When are people going to realize that it's the monied elite that are bleeding us dry?

    A successful parasite lives of its host without the host's knowledge, reaping all the benefits without putting forth much effort.

    This is exactly what the plutocracy has done to average Americans since the beginning of our country, and Romney is the poster boy of plutocracy.

    I wish someone would put together a chart showing how much entitlement programs for the public cost as opposed to how much tax cheats and corporations are robbing from the treasury, and the cost of all these "incentives" states give to companies to open a factory, etc.

    I for one am sick and tired of this pseudo capitalism being practiced in this country, whereby a business uses taxpayer money for their overhead and the pocket all the profits. And when they fail, the taxpayer bails them out.

  • berttheclock on September 18, 2012 10:48 AM:

    I wonder how many of those "deadbeat" 47 percenters work for Mitt as gardeners, maids and assorted service jobs?

  • jpeckjr on September 18, 2012 10:54 AM:

    @Bo. Yes. I saw that map and thought the same thing.

    It is based on the percentage of income tax return filers who have no additional tax liability (thus, does not include children who do not file tax returns.)

    The state with the highest percentage of no additional liability is MS, followed by GA, AR, NM, AL, SC, LA, TX, FL, and ID. Except Idaho (Idaho!?), all are Southern states, with large low-income and African-American and Latino populations.

    The pie-chart that goes with it shows 47% of filers do not have additional income tax liability. That's WAY different from "don't pay taxes."

    Romney essentially said white people pay taxes and other people don't -- race and class. Except in Idaho, one of the whitest and most Mormon states in the country.

    See, it's the poor people and minorities who are ruining this country, not real Americans like you and me.

  • jjm on September 18, 2012 11:13 AM:

    In 2011, payroll tax receipts totaled $818 billion, only $200 billion less than was brought in by the federal income tax. And of the 47%, 61% of them pay payroll taxes.

    Among the 47% are 7000 millionaires (of which Mitt might once have been) who paid no income taxes.

    I hope this guy just cut his own throat with his own supporters from the 47% -- all those moochers in the deep South.

  • castanea on September 18, 2012 11:57 AM:

    Mimikatz-

    "The Romney comments spitting on his own supporters shows he doesn't understand this dynamic at all."

    Actually, I'd argue that Romney understands the dynamic perfectly, but that his supporters, who are the ones being spit upon, do not.

  • schtick on September 18, 2012 12:11 PM:

    The people with low IQ, (they listen to Rush and watch Faux), and have low comprehension levels, (also listen to Rush and watch Faux, but LOVE the teapubs), just don't get they are included in that group of "those people" to Willard.
    They don't get it just like they didn't get it when he said he wouldn't have used "those" words about Sandra Fluke that Rush did. That told me he thought the same thing as Rush. Guess he did anyway this time, but then, I doubt he thought he would be taped saying them either.
    I love it when the teapubs let the truth slip out. I get disappointed when their ignorant 'base' doesn't see the truth.

  • Ron Byers on September 18, 2012 12:40 PM:

    The ignorant base doesn't see the truth, because they are never told the truth by Fox News.

    A lot of members of the base have pretty valid concerns about the direction of the national debt. They just don't understand it. The media does nothing to explain it and Fox News does everything to exploit their concerns.

    Maybe if the media did a better job explaining the Republican party would disintergrate. In my opinion the media's investment in the horse race is the only reason the Republicans continue to exist as a major party.

  • Dredger on September 18, 2012 2:48 PM:

    It seems a lot of Red Staters are in the 47%:

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability

    As an aside most of these states are Right to Work states.

    United We Bargain, Divided We Beg--Work Union!

  • Dredger on September 18, 2012 2:51 PM:

    It seems a lot of Red Staters are in the 47%:

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability

    As an aside most of these states are Right to Work states.

    United We Bargain, Divided We Beg--Work Union!

  • Dredger on September 18, 2012 2:53 PM:

    It seems a lot of Red Staters are in the 47%:

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability

    As an aside most of these states are Right to Work states.

    United We Bargain, Divided We Beg--Work Union!

  • Dredger on September 18, 2012 3:02 PM:

    It seems a lot of the 47% are Red Staters:

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability

    As an aside most of these states are Right to Work states

    UNITED WE BARGAIN DIVIDED WE BEG---WORK UNION!

  • Dredger on September 18, 2012 3:05 PM:

    It seems a lot of the 47% are Red Staters:

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/states-vary-widely-number-tax-filers-no-income-tax-liability

    As an aside most of these states are Right to Work states

    UNITED WE BARGAIN DIVIDED WE BEG---WORK UNION!