How to lose an American election

Written By: - Date published: 6:04 pm, September 18th, 2012 - 61 comments
Categories: us politics - Tags: ,

How to lose an American election. Tell America that you don’t care about 47% of them:

[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

Plenty of other gaffes in this “hidden camera” footage. Talk about going viral.

[Bunji: added first clip below]

61 comments on “How to lose an American election ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    18 September 2012 at 6:11 pm

    Haha.

    I can imagine a new campaign line …

    “We are the 47 %”! 

  2. Colonial Viper 2
    18 September 2012 at 6:22 pm

    Plutocracy, not democracy.

    People who don’t believe in the central importance of government, running for government.

    A ‘choice’ between the Banksters Party, and the other Banksters Party.

    • Ben 2.1
      19 September 2012 at 4:48 pm

      The fact that anyone still talks about the “choice” between Romney and Obama is both laughable and sad.

      They’re two sides of the same coin. The two-party system has proven to be a remarkably effective way of framing what should be a wide and varied debate in a very narrow way.

      “Of course you have choice! You can choose between Obama and Romney! This is a democracy!!”

      300 million people are expected to express their political leanings by selecting from two ever-so-slightly different candidates.

      That isn’t choice.

  3. Policy Parrot 3
    18 September 2012 at 6:33 pm

    That 47% against is looking pretty good now, me thinks. I’d say it would be more like 70% now. Hopefully the Dems can use this down ticket and take back the House.

  4. QoT 4
    18 September 2012 at 6:37 pm

    I don’t know, r0b. One of the many multi-levelled fucked-up things about the American electoral system is that you can happily write off half (or more than half) the population and as long as you hold your elections on a Tuesday, pass laws to disenfranchise groups which predominantly vote for the other guy, and jimmy together enough votes in the Electoral College through legal shenanigans in the aftermath, you still win.

    • Rusty Hellback 4.1
      18 September 2012 at 7:05 pm

      jaded much ?

      • ad 4.1.1
        18 September 2012 at 7:34 pm

        Bush vs Gore. Not jaded. Real.

        • AmaKiwi 4.1.1.1
          18 September 2012 at 11:45 pm

          AND Bush versus Kerry. Bush stole that election, too.

          • muzza 4.1.1.1.1
            19 September 2012 at 7:29 am

            It was bonesman on bonesman, so I would say that those with the real power stole that election too..

            Same winners as last time, and will be the same winners this time, and next time too I expect.

      • QoT 4.1.2
        18 September 2012 at 8:01 pm

        Rusty, you are welcome to explain how any system – but especially the US Electoral College – in which it is possible for a party to take power despite getting <50% of the vote is fair.

        And then you can address why I shouldn't be "jaded" about the various other factors which result in abysmal turnout – and those who turn out sometimes getting denied their democratic rights.

    • rosy 4.2
      18 September 2012 at 7:40 pm

      True. The best hope is that a fair percentage of Republicans are so disgusted they simply don’t vote because they have nothing to vote for.

      • bbfloyd 4.2.1
        19 September 2012 at 10:16 am

        underestimating the stupidity, and bigotry of republicans can be a fatal error…. just ask any Afghani, Iraqi, Iranian, Pakistani, and any South American, from any country you care to name…To name but a few of the places their interference has buggered things up…

  5. joe90 5
    18 September 2012 at 6:39 pm

    Here’s his clean up press conference. Desperate.

    edit: A grandson of Jimmy Carter is credited with finding the video.

    http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/09/james-carter-iv-helped-spread-secret-romney-video.html

    • mike 5.1
      18 September 2012 at 8:30 pm

      Wow. Never seen him look so pale and shakey. Hey Mitt, your second face is showing; or at least the “we shouldn’t have to pay to keep poor people alive” one he pulls out for private elitist fundraisers.

      Go the US Green party now is your chance!

  6. Steve Wrathall 6
    18 September 2012 at 6:49 pm

    What exactly did he say that is untrue?

      • Steve Wrathall 6.1.1
        18 September 2012 at 7:09 pm

        So what he was pointing out-that almost 1/2 of people don’t pay income tax- is actually true? Are we in agreement?

        • mike e 6.1.1.1
          18 September 2012 at 7:25 pm

          Most of the tax dodgers were in republican states and the rest were the rich like Romney who pay fuck all tax! those earning over 2.8 million a year.
          Which just goes to show what conservative economics is all about is making more people poor and blaming them for their predicament.
          BBC world mews did a survey of all US states about a year ago and all those states with republican control had decline no economic growth while those with democratic control and left wing policy actually grew!

        • mike e 6.1.1.2
          18 September 2012 at 7:57 pm

          Absolute BS SW NBC pointed out that most tax dodgers were republican supporters from republican states!

    • Dr Terry 6.2
      18 September 2012 at 7:11 pm

      Now you tell me SW, what exactly did he say?

    • mike e 6.3
      18 September 2012 at 7:13 pm

      Just about everything poor we steve!
      Own goal tax dodging and not paying any tax !
      Get it Steve!
      Then when you deciminate those who don’t pay any tax most of them are Republicans and pensioners who are more likely to vote Republican.

    • Dr Terry 6.4
      18 September 2012 at 7:14 pm

      Now you tell me, SW, what exactly DID he say?

    • Dr Terry 6.5
      18 September 2012 at 7:16 pm

      Now you tell me, SW, what exactly DID he say? (This comment is not in the correct place. Please refer Steve Wrathall, above).

    • rosy 6.6
      18 September 2012 at 7:18 pm

      He said ALL of the 47% of people who vote Democrat and are not floating voters don’t pay tax. That is untrue. He implied that ALL Republicans pay tax. That is untrue.

      • Steve Wrathall 6.6.1
        18 September 2012 at 7:54 pm

        He did not say ALL Democrats pay no tax. That is absurd. He correctly pointed out there is a huge constituency that believes it can live off other’s productivity, and are unconcerned that others earn but don’t recieve.

        • mike e 6.6.1.1
          18 September 2012 at 8:10 pm

          Silly Wanker the msnbc TV broadcast pointed out where these people who don’t pay taxes live and low and behold republican states!
          Romney has been dodging taxes himself Bain Capital is under investigation Romney won’t declare his returns what’s he got to hide hypocrisy!

        • rosy 6.6.1.2
          18 September 2012 at 9:57 pm

          It is absurd isn’t it?

          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.

          (my bold) So go listen again… he said the 47% who will vote for the president no matter what, therefore excluding only the floating voters who voted Democrat.

        • lurgee 6.6.1.3
          19 September 2012 at 7:49 pm

          He said that 47% pay no income tax and these people are scrounging parasites who will never vote for him. The first part is statistical bullshit as many people in the USA pay no income tax for short periods – but have done so in the past and will do so in the future. So he’s wrong. As for the second part of his claim, he’s likely ensured that bit is true. So he’s wrong and stupid.

          Even if he was correct about the 47% being inveterate bludgers, his suggestion that he’s got no message for them is one of despair. He could say he has a dream of getting them into work b creating jobs. But nope, he’s saying 47% of the US population aren’t worth bothering about. So he’s toast, wrong, and stupid. And since that 47% must include all those stay at home moms conservatives are so admiring of, he’s a hypocrite, toast, wrong, and stupid.

          He only speaks for the super wealthy. And as of now, I suspect, only the super wealthy will be listening to him.

    • Blue 6.7
      18 September 2012 at 9:10 pm

      Mittens said that 47% of Americans don’t pay income tax, that he doesn’t care about them because they will vote for Obama anyway, and that they are dependent on the state and won’t take personal responsibility for their lives (i.e. they are lazy moochers, a view you seem to share).

      Most rational people have a problem with this as follows:

      1. A Presidential candidate shouldn’t really say that he doesn’t care about 47% of the population that he is campaigning to represent.

      2. The reasons why 47% of Americans don’t pay income tax are many and varied. The elderly, veterans, disabled, people who don’t earn enough to be required to pay income tax etc. Being a lazy moocher is not sufficient explanation to cover all of those 47%.

      3. Those 47% in many cases may not pay income tax, but pay other taxes depending on what state they live in.

      4. The 47% includes wealthy tax-dodgers like Mitt Romney himself, who refuses to release his own tax returns going back more than two years.

      5. Those 47% do not all vote for Obama. The elderly, veterans, and poor whites in the Southern states are all key Republican voting groups, as are wealthy tax dodgers.

      6. The sheer absurdity of a Republican politician who advocates as little tax as possible for the rich judging people by how much tax they pay.

  7. Jokerman 7
    18 September 2012 at 6:49 pm

    wotta Dick!

  8. Te Reo Putake 8
    18 September 2012 at 6:51 pm

    I gather that the 47% includes a lot of seniors and veterans. Not groups you’d normally expect a Republican candidate to insult, I would have thought. 

  9. joe90 9
    18 September 2012 at 6:54 pm

    It gets better.

    Ok, ok, HERE is tonight’s Twitter Special Comment on Romney’s Tape and his Fundraiser Who Stages Sex Parties

  10. joe90 10
    18 September 2012 at 7:17 pm

    NYT conservative columnist David Brooks puts the slipper in.

    Thurston Howell Romney

    Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people “who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

    This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

    It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.

    It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.

    The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.

    Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that

  11. Dr Terry 11
    18 September 2012 at 7:18 pm

    Only an ass like this could manage to make John Key look (well, slightly) good!

    • Matt 11.1
      19 September 2012 at 5:58 pm

      How does he make Key look good? Key is a two bit douchebag who is no less contemptuous of the electorate than RMoney.

  12. Jokerman 12
    18 September 2012 at 7:40 pm

    now we have to concede that Obama is a cold-blooded Commander-in-Chief
    yet
    the lesser of…

  13. gobsmacked 13
    18 September 2012 at 8:02 pm

    I refuse to listen to what Romney said because it was secretly recorded. I’m sure our Prime Minister will condemn these “News of the World” tactics, and speak out in defence of Mitt Romney. Because that’s the real issue, right?

    Hello? John? Come on, your famous “principles” were worth going to court for, so they must be more important than your next date with Obama. Speak up, man. Can’t hear you.

  14. redfred 14
    18 September 2012 at 8:13 pm

    Actually if you squint at the video and transpose a kiwi accent on to the Romney transcript I can hear John Key saying those exact words.

  15. BernyD 15
    18 September 2012 at 8:16 pm

    This’ll shock yas, …
    Its unfair to compare John Key to this man, John Key is at least trying not to be evil.

    • bbfloyd 15.1
      19 September 2012 at 10:34 am

      i think you may be giving johnny sparkles too much credit for brains…..From here, it doesn’t look like he knows the difference between one or the other…

  16. higherstandard 16
    18 September 2012 at 9:10 pm

    Vote Kodos !

  17. AmaKiwi 17
    19 September 2012 at 2:48 am

    Romney didn’t criticize the U.S. corporations that pay little or no tax. I forgot, they are funding his campaign.

    • mike e 17.1
      19 September 2012 at 9:29 am

      95 out of a hundred electoral college votes that Romney gets ie republican supporters come from moocher states

  20. Southern Limits 20
    19 September 2012 at 10:37 am

    The funny thing about this and Armstrong’s article in the weekend is that Mother Jones is an internet based, independent, non-profit news service. They just broke the story that could potentially cripple Romney’s campaign and all done by a bunch of people who aren’t “real journalists.”

  21. mike 21
    19 September 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Ha Rush Limbaugh reckons he should just go with it.

    “This is such a golden opportunity,” Limbaugh said on his radio program Tuesday, according to a show transcript. “This could be the opportunity for Romney and for that campaign to finally take the gloves off and take the fear off and just start explaining conservatism, start explaining liberty to people and what it means, and explain that they don’t have to be in that 47 percent.”

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81343.html?hp=l1_b1

    • lurgee 21.1
      19 September 2012 at 7:52 pm

      Even Limbaugh is sounding slightly saner than Romney. At least he’s advocating a positive message, rather than just saying, “Nah, stuff ’em”.

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