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filkertomIn case you have somehow been trapped in a cave-in with no WiFi the past day and a half, let me briefly summarize the latest disclosure of a WUT I DONT EVEN thing Mitt Romney said.
And then, at a 10:30 p.m. press conference called to attempt damage control, Mitt basically said that he had been speaking off the cuff, that his sentiment was not elegantly stated... but, yeah. That.
There has already been a massive amount of commentary, most of it effectively verbal flensing, at all the usual hot spots. But I wanted to throw in a note or two myself.
The first note is the Preamble to the Constitution (everybody sing along):
Second thing: He's wrong.
When Mitt says that people feel they are "entitled to health care, to FOOD, to HOUSING"... fuck, yes, they think that. You want a country of people living on the street in boxes from coast to coast or somethin', Mitt?
For my own part, I'm sick to the teeth of the misuse of the word "entitlement". The right wing uses it to lambast people, to imply that they feel "entitled" to something-for-nothing. The TRUTH, dammit, is that the entitlements are things like unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security retirement funds, and other programs that people have paid into with their taxes, and thus ARE "entitled to" when times go bad.
And that leads to the next thing. A guy who's primarily made his money on bankrupting companies, closing them down, and moving their jobs overseas has a hell of a lot of nerve implying that people on unemployment don't have any sense of personal responsibility.
Let's see, who else is on that no-personal-responsiblity list? Oh yeah. Retired people. Children, especially children in poverty. Disabled and retired veterans. People who are physically disabled and not really able to hold a regular job. Students getting loans and grants. Small business owners doing the same. All of those people and more get government aid in one form or another, and -- because of that -- Mitt, and the Republican party, classifies them as "people with no personal responsibility."
It's not really surprising that many of the reactions from the blogosphere add up to a big Fuck You Mittster. Heck, we even got a brand-new Special Comment by Teh Keith.
And then there's the other part I bolded: "my job is not to worry about those people."
Yes, it is, Mitt. Yes, it is.
If you want to be President Of These United States, you have to be President of all of them. All the people. We The People. Not just the ones who support you.
One of the themes that I've touched on again and again -- especially when pointing out disagreements with my Republican friends on this LJ -- is that the vast majority of us, conservative, liberal, whatever, actually really do want to make things better for everybody. The whole country. Rich, poor, white, black, whatever. We primarily differ on method and underlying philosophy, but... we do care about each other. The friendship and affection and camaraderie we share transcends the partisan bickering. On those occasions when it doesn't, we stop whacking each other with it. The friendship is more important. At least, I think so.
Yet Mitt casually writes off almost half the country, because "our message of low taxes doesn't connect" and "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
His entire contention is spurious to begin with -- the implication that everyone getting government aid is unwilling to care for themselves -- and then he uses it to say it's not his job to worry about them, not even with an attempt to change their minds. When the entire point of the job he's trying to get is to worry about them.
Kinda sad, really, that this guy's ambition to be President Of These United States can be timelined by him opening his mouth and letting forth the stupidest, most offensive, illogical, how-can-you-even-think-this crap that ever disqualified anyone for public office. I mean, it's bad enough that his desire to be President is apparently based on him wanting the title on his resumé.
Anyway. If you want further commentary on this development, you can check out all the usual hot spots -- dKos, Media Matters, Washington Journal, the Maddow Blog, etc. (If my conservative friends want to recommend alternate viewpoints from right-wing sites in comments, go right ahead; just please clearly label them.)
Me? I'm gonna keep trying to save the world. The whole world. 'Cause it's kinda selfish to do otherwise.
Thoughts?
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. 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.[Emphasis added.]
And then, at a 10:30 p.m. press conference called to attempt damage control, Mitt basically said that he had been speaking off the cuff, that his sentiment was not elegantly stated... but, yeah. That.
There has already been a massive amount of commentary, most of it effectively verbal flensing, at all the usual hot spots. But I wanted to throw in a note or two myself.
The first note is the Preamble to the Constitution (everybody sing along):
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.See that? That's the foundation of why we have a country in the first place. Doing together what we can not do individually. And it's only the FIRST FUCKING SENTENCE of the basic documentation of our laws.
Second thing: He's wrong.
When Mitt says that people feel they are "entitled to health care, to FOOD, to HOUSING"... fuck, yes, they think that. You want a country of people living on the street in boxes from coast to coast or somethin', Mitt?
For my own part, I'm sick to the teeth of the misuse of the word "entitlement". The right wing uses it to lambast people, to imply that they feel "entitled" to something-for-nothing. The TRUTH, dammit, is that the entitlements are things like unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security retirement funds, and other programs that people have paid into with their taxes, and thus ARE "entitled to" when times go bad.
And that leads to the next thing. A guy who's primarily made his money on bankrupting companies, closing them down, and moving their jobs overseas has a hell of a lot of nerve implying that people on unemployment don't have any sense of personal responsibility.
Let's see, who else is on that no-personal-responsiblity list? Oh yeah. Retired people. Children, especially children in poverty. Disabled and retired veterans. People who are physically disabled and not really able to hold a regular job. Students getting loans and grants. Small business owners doing the same. All of those people and more get government aid in one form or another, and -- because of that -- Mitt, and the Republican party, classifies them as "people with no personal responsibility."
It's not really surprising that many of the reactions from the blogosphere add up to a big Fuck You Mittster. Heck, we even got a brand-new Special Comment by Teh Keith.
And then there's the other part I bolded: "my job is not to worry about those people."
Yes, it is, Mitt. Yes, it is.
If you want to be President Of These United States, you have to be President of all of them. All the people. We The People. Not just the ones who support you.
One of the themes that I've touched on again and again -- especially when pointing out disagreements with my Republican friends on this LJ -- is that the vast majority of us, conservative, liberal, whatever, actually really do want to make things better for everybody. The whole country. Rich, poor, white, black, whatever. We primarily differ on method and underlying philosophy, but... we do care about each other. The friendship and affection and camaraderie we share transcends the partisan bickering. On those occasions when it doesn't, we stop whacking each other with it. The friendship is more important. At least, I think so.
Yet Mitt casually writes off almost half the country, because "our message of low taxes doesn't connect" and "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
His entire contention is spurious to begin with -- the implication that everyone getting government aid is unwilling to care for themselves -- and then he uses it to say it's not his job to worry about them, not even with an attempt to change their minds. When the entire point of the job he's trying to get is to worry about them.
Kinda sad, really, that this guy's ambition to be President Of These United States can be timelined by him opening his mouth and letting forth the stupidest, most offensive, illogical, how-can-you-even-think-this crap that ever disqualified anyone for public office. I mean, it's bad enough that his desire to be President is apparently based on him wanting the title on his resumé.
Anyway. If you want further commentary on this development, you can check out all the usual hot spots -- dKos, Media Matters, Washington Journal, the Maddow Blog, etc. (If my conservative friends want to recommend alternate viewpoints from right-wing sites in comments, go right ahead; just please clearly label them.)
Me? I'm gonna keep trying to save the world. The whole world. 'Cause it's kinda selfish to do otherwise.
Thoughts?
