Posted on 09/18/2012 5:19:31 PM PDT by zencycler
Based on initial reports of the leaked Romney fundraiser video, many have gotten, or are giving, two false impressions:
1) Romney referred to 47% of our country as having ALL of the negative attributes which he listed. (A note here - based on the early reports, I had concluded this also, and was disappointed with this - I should have known better).
2) Romney's comment that he does not "worry" about this group means he doesn't "care" about this group.
Both of these are (naturally) gross misrepresentations, as is clearly demonstrated when the full context is considered. So I'm going to take some time to clearly dispel these fallacies, both as an aide to any discussions we may have with any on-the-fence voters, but also to aviod any discouragement in our ranks.
In both cases, Romney was responding to questions about his chances of winning the election, and that's important to consider when reading each quote.
Quote 1:
"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…These are people who pay no income tax."
From the full quote, in context, it is clear that his reference to the 47% is what he sees as a group that definitely be voting for Obama, no matter what (I myself would put that in the 40-45% range), and that he then lists the examples of the SEGMENTS of voters who make up this group. Clearly, he wasn't trying to say that everything in that list applies to everyone in that 47% group of unmoveable Obama voters.
Okay, onto quote two:
"And 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. So 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. What I have to convince the five to ten percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not."
Again, it's clear that he's commenting on his election chances, so when he says "my job is not to worry", this has nothing to do with caring about these folks (as we all knew), it has to do with how he should be focusing his efforts to persuade people to vote for him. So naturally, if he views this group as locked-in Obama voters then he should not "worry" about trying to change their minds.
Goldwater proposed that there was NO MIDDLE and LBJ proved it as he neatly crushed Goldwater like an overripe banana.
Nixon later demonstrated the new approach could work for both sides if there were cause for defection (See Southern Strategy)
Ronald Reagan used it and won.
The old approach hasn't won an election since JFK and even then the more Conservative candidate was the winner.
Nobody knows what the idiot means.
Half of FR responds to him as if he is saying “the” 47% who draw a check from the government.
Half of FR responds to him as if he is saying “the” 47% who do not owe income tax in a given year.
He didn’t simply mean 47% of the total electorate.
The $200,000 and above earners voted for Obama by 52% to 46% for McCain.
Social security Americans age 65 and older – were the ONLY age group to support the losing candidate, Sen. John McCann. And, it was by a sizable margin – 53% for McCain and only 45% for the winner, Sen. Barack Obama.
I’m frankly surprised they released this video so early. That tells me the regime’s internal polling is making them panic.
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