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President Obama Drives the 47% Nail Into Mitt Romney’s Debate Coffin
President Obama’s closing remarks at the debate last night were pitch perfect. He made the case for another four years after a debate full of specific policies versus Romney’s anecdotal avoidance tactics. The President also got in a poignant and not cheap shot at Romney’s 47% comments. Obama said, “But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims, who refused personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about… I want to fight for them.”
The President’s closing: “I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims, who refused personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. Folks on Social Security who have worked all their lives, veterans who have sacrificed for this country, students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams but also this country’s dreams, soldiers who are overseas fighting for us right now. People who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don’t make enough income, and I want to fight for them. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last four years because if they succeed, I believe the country succeeds. And when my grandfather fought in World War II and he came back and he got a GI bill and that allowed him to go to college, that wasn’t a handout. That was something that advanced the entire country. And I want to make sure that the next generation has those same opportunities. That’s why I’m asking for your vote and that’s why I’m asking for another four years.”
Romney’s 47% comment were taped without his knowledge at a $50,000 a plate fundraiser. The exchange:
MALE VOICE: For the past three years, all everybody’s been told is, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.’ How are we gonna do it, in two months before the elections, to convince everybody you’ve gotta take care of yourself?
ROMNEY: Well, there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right? There are 47% who are with him. Who are dependent upon government, who believe that– that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they’re entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it. But that’s– it’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And– and– I mean the president starts off with 48%, 49%, 40– or he– he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. 47% of Americans pay no income taxes. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect. And he’ll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that’s what they sell every– every four years. And– and so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for for their lives. [Romney Fundraiser, Boca Raton, FL, 5/17/12]
Before he took it back later, Romney doubled down on his disdain for half of the country, saying his comments were a message he was carrying:
Mitt Romney said in an interview Tuesday that remarks he made at a fund-raiser in May casting supporters of President Barack Obama as dependent on government were an honest reflection of his campaign’s message.
“This is a message I’m carrying day and day out and will carry over the coming months,” Romney said on Fox News. “This is a decision about the course of America, where we’re going to head. We’ve seen the president’s policies play out over the last four years.”
It’s high time Romney was called to task for his outrageous remarks about half the country. Even Bill Kristol noted that his comments indicated that he had contempt for his own supporters, “It’s worth recalling that a good chunk of the 47 percent who don’t pay income taxes are Romney supporters—especially of course seniors (who might well ‘believe they are entitled to heath care,’ a position Romney agrees with), as well as many lower-income Americans (including men and women serving in the military) who think conservative policies are better for the country even if they’re not getting a tax cut under the Romney plan. So Romney seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him.”
“I want to fight for them” was Obama’s Commander in Chief closing, after Romney already got skewered on Libya and gave bad answers on George W Bush, equal pay for women, taxes and guns. Using the 47% on top of Romney’s total foreign policy and fact fail on Libya when there was no chance for a rebuttal was brutal but necessary. They were Romney’s words, after all.
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10 Responses to President Obama Drives the 47% Nail Into Mitt Romney’s Debate Coffin
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Paws
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 9:20 am
The President sounded like a President last night. He was strong, forceful without being disrespectful, and he drove his points home over and over again. President Obama handed Romney his ass on a silver platter. The Fright Wing will be freaking out today over this.
JT
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 9:40 am
We can ony hope that the 47% actually understands the disdain Romney has for them and vote accordingly. I’m encouraged, but still not convinced that voters will not vote against themselves.
Sandra
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Unfortunately JT, those that will vote Republican, no matter what, the believers as Romney referred to them early in his campaign, will never think of themselves as part of the 47%, ie the victims, the takers(Ryan) and will still vote for them. They don’t have the intelligence or the capacity to think things through and critique Romney and Ryan’s contempt for them. Ryan referred to them as takers(30%) in his own video that went viral.
President Obama did a fantastic job of focussing some sunlight onto Romney’s numerous lies, and that’s a good thing.
BO/JB on November 6th, 2012
stormskies
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Obama destroyed buffoon, pathological liar, and the corporate automaton called Romney. It’s fucking fascinating to watch parts of the corporate media who ejaculated on themselves declaring Romney the ‘winner’ of the last debate even though he lied 27 times in 38 minutes.
And many of those same ejaculating corporate props called ‘pundits’ could hardly bring themselves to accept/ acknowledge that Obama cleared the deck with Romney last night. Case in point: the sniveling response by the corporate prop called Wolf Blizter: “It was tie”.
Sure sniveling one, sure ……..
clarence swinney
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 9:51 am
ROMNEY SCARE YOU
Wants to cut taxes—35% to 28%–eliminate Estate Tax– where one family owns as much Wealth as 90% of families—keep capital gains at 15%–where 25 Hedge Fund Managers made 22 Billion in 2010
and paid the low 15% and less than 1% or zero in Payroll tax—offset revenue loss by closing loopholes
Ha. Each loophole has proponents to fight for them—Increase military spending biggest waster of all—Our armies in 800 bases worldwide. We pursue bad trade agreements that allow unrestricted access to our markets. We cannot compete with $1 labor so watch our factories closing. 58,000 closed in last decade.
We must demand better self serving policies. Tariffs on imports. High tax rate to pay down that horrid debt like 1945-1980 tax rates and tax on estates. The Middle Class has been hurt badly with loss of good paying jobs with benefits. Protect our safety nets which have served us well for over half a Century.
Mitt is a rich mans candidate no spin can deny it. He will cut taxes for his rich pals and shred safety nets.
This Man scares me very much. I do no trust his motives
j
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 10:27 am
I would like to make one point (maybe a couple). President Obama was handed a broken country, a broken economy, the country was going into bankruptcy. He has spent 4 years repairing the damage (I can say for a fact that our European allies are praying for him to be re-elected)He i8s respected in the world, the jobs are slowly coming back, housing and manufacturing are coming back, we should all fight to the death attempts by Romney to steal it, he will take credit for everything Obama has fixed and blame Obama for everything else.Romney’s years would be a piece of cake after what Obama has gone through, with obstruction in congress and their plan to stop jobs growth.He has suffered racism, insults and obstruction with dignity and grace. Please work for him!
Did anyone else notice the un-committed? voter
after the debate who came up and kissed Anne Romney (as if they were friends)?
Greta Kirby
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 11:04 am
I think that Obama threw the first debate in order to let Romney run on and on because Obama knew that Romney was a consummate liar with no plan to fix the economy. In the south it’s called, “Give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself”. And that is exactly what has happened. Obama & the Democrats are brilliant in this strategy. The more Romney talks and lies the deeper the hole he digs for himself. I think the hole became sufficiently deep last night that he can no longer dig out. At this point Romney has NO CREDITABILITY. Smart voters are beginning to see. FINALLY!
David Hinson
Oct. 17th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
my only complaint, and this is critical, is President Obama’s ill informed response to the KEYSTONE pipeline
1] TAR SANDS OIL = unusually high concentrates of poisons; sinks, does not float = near impossible to clean up after spill
2]disclosure tells us pipe ruptures are a certainty = poisoning our shrinking water supplies
3]as the oil travels west, our domestic oil surplus will be drained, refined in california and sent to china. the only oil we will get from this pipeline is what poisons our water. AND WHY ARE WE SENDING DOMESTIC RESOURCES TO CHINA?
4] keystone pipeline will hand over our sovereignty to a foreign company.
5] CANADA outlawed building this pipeline across canada because of the detrimental nature of TAR SANDS OIL, and the fact, there are NO safe pipelines.
please somebody, inform whoever can stop this
Anne
Oct. 18th, 2012 at 1:08 am
I love the way that the president brought up the 47% remarks at the end, in a way that Willard was completely unable to refute or explain away. These remarks, which show the depth of his contempt for a large segment of Americans, are inextricably linked to him for the rest of his life. He will never be able to remove that taint. His attempts to disassociate himself from them after doubling down at first have been an exercise in futility. Not even explaining them does anything to make them less egregious. It’s because so many people despise him and see him for what he is, along with rejecting the policies he espouses, that he is resorting to attempts to win by cheating.
bghmsh
Oct. 18th, 2012 at 1:26 am
Ah yes the same elpresidente that holds “people who cling to their guns and bibles” Ah those bitter fucking clingers
Or how about BO|P we are going to keep the boot on it’s neck until blah blah fucking blah
Or how about those wascally wabbit solyndra guys that defrauded the taxpayers of $500m Oh wait they are supported to fucking bad taxpayers I lived this nightmare in the UK in the 70′s What a fucking joke $6b more in debt piling debt on our children and grandchildren