With news leaking about disarray within the campaign staff, as well as the increasing pressure from without for some details of the plan, any plan . . . taxes reform, immigration reform, tax loopholes to close, the budget . . . something other than: "We have a plan but we won't tell you the details."
It was already seeming like a campaign, not only in crisis, but in freefall. Then the latest hit today. Bloomberg News' Josh Barro writes:
You can mark my prediction now: A secret recording from a closed-door Mitt Romney fundraiser, released today by David Corn at Mother Jones, has killed Mitt Romney's campaign for president.You know what? This is totally unsurprising. It is completely in character with the 17 year old Romney who led a mob force to cut off another prep school boy's long hair because he wasn't conforming to the dress code.
On the tape, Romney explains that his electoral strategy involves writing off nearly half the country as unmovable Obama voters. As Romney explains, 47 percent of Americans "believe that they are victims." He laments: "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
". . . My job is not to worry about those people. . . . These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax."
This is an utter disaster for Romney . . . [who] already has trouble relating to the public and convincing people he cares about them. Now, he's been caught on video saying that nearly half the country consists of hopeless losers. . . .
It's not an answer that wins elections.
Ralph
At least the campaign recognized what a disaster they had, so Romney held a press conference tonight to address it. He says that he said it inelegantly, but he stands behind the main point, which he says is: his tax plan is not appealing to this big segment of Obama supporters because they do not pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fallacy that the Repubs keep trotting out: that all these people don't pay taxes. They do not owe income taxes because because of their low incomes; but they do pay the Social Security and other withholding taxes.
But the main problem is that he spoke candidly and revealed his disdain, dismissing "these people" as deadbeats, lazy, and entitled. Tell that so a hard working factory worker or school teacher who has been laid off from a job.