Romney demands that seniors take 'personal responsibility'

by Armando

[font color="black" size="2" face="face"] Romney promises tough choices for you, but not for him and his rich friends.[/font]

Most of today's seniors, who worked hard, played by the rules and paid their taxes, have retired. Most seniors do not pay federal income taxes.

Mitt Romney says about them:

My job is not to worry about those people <...>’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

In his press conference last night, Romney said:

I recognize that among those that pay no tax, approximately 47 percent of Americans, I’m not likely to be highly successful with the message of lowering taxes.

Romney's message is that in order to lower taxes for his wealthy friends he will demand that retirees who worked hard, played by the rules, saved for retirement and counted on the promise of Social Security and Medicare, "take personal responsibility" and pay higher taxes, receive less in Social Security and trade in the promise of Medicare for Ryan's Vouchercare, ending Medicare as we know it.

Tax cuts for the rich. Tax hikes and benefits cuts for seniors and the undeserving rest of us.

That's the Romney promise. That's Romney's idea of personal responsibility.

Class warfare, anyone?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/18/1133240/-Romney-demands-that-seniors-take-personal-responsibility

Mitt Romney: I was right

by Jed Lewison

<...>

Romney said that his remarks were "not elegantly stated," but added that he won't back down from them. "It’s a message which I’m going to carry and continue to carry," he said.

I don't know if there's anything else he could have said in his response, but let's be clear: Romney's position is as false as it is heartless. He's not just disparaging and writing off half of Americans, he's accusing them of paying "no taxes." That's just not true.

The reality is that most of Mitt's alleged moochers actually do pay federal taxes (see below for details), and virtually all of those who don't still pay state and local taxes. Moreover, many of the people he accuses of being moochers are actually part of his coalition—most of the people who pay neither federal income nor payroll tax are elderly voters, who represent Romney's strongest age demographic. And in 2011, 7,000 millionaires paid no income tax. Surely, Romney could squeeze a few votes from that group.

What this comes down to is that Mitt Romney said something that was not only demonstrably untrue, not only wildly offensive, but also made no sense as political analysis. It was the worst of conservatism jam-packed into a 60 second soundbite: an insulting argument completely disconnected from reality that wouldn't even achieve the stated goals of conservatism were it allowed to prevail. And presented with the opportunity to divorce himself from his statement, Romney decided it would be better to double down than to admit he was wrong. It was simultaneously ignorant, obnoxious, and counterproductive. And Romney's response: no apology.

* [font color="black" size="2" face="face"]The fact is that more than 80 percent of Americans pay federal taxes. 46.4 percent don't pay federal income taxes, but 61 percent of those people do pay federal payroll taxes. Those who don't pay payroll taxes are primarily elderly retirees, many of whom support Romney. Also in that group: the poor and disabled.[/font]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/18/1133265/-Mitt-Romney-I-was-right

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