“Everyone, it seems, is agreed that Mitt Romney has thrown away the election with his 47 per cent gaffe, where he was caught on a hidden camera dismissing half the US electorate as welfare-dependent spongers.
This, pundits of all stripes decreed, was an utter disaster (Bloomberg) for team Romney. It was politically devastating according to Times Mark Halperin and it wasnt just liberals lining up to bash the former Bain Capital boss, Conservatives took plenty of swipes too.
But Im not so sure that this is quite as devastating as some are making out and for two reasons.
First, as Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan aide and Republican party historian told me today, the remarks on welfare-dependency would strike a chord with many of Americas hard-pressed middle classes, just as Ronald Reagan did with his talk of benefit-cheating welfare queens back in the 1980s.
Its still unclear to me what impact this will have, he said A lot of the middle class who pay their taxes are going to listen to Romney and say yeah, damn right.
This is a sensitive subject in US politics, but this is the way the middle class feels, and have done for decades. It really does resonate with people. The Democrats are going to have to be careful, in case piling onto Romney is seen as piling on the middle class........................
>> But Im not so sure that this is quite as devastating as some are making out
Agreed, it’s likely not as bad.
— “Mitt Romney has thrown away the election with his 47 per cent gaffe”
When gaffes trump terrorism and diminution of the 1st Amendment, there should be no question about the Media’s agenda.