Has Romney bobbed it? A question to Americans.

[Mr Mystery]

How do!

So there's rather candid videos of Romney doing the rounds, showing some rather robust opinions he may have rather kept private.

But just how much damage have they done? I mean, US Political support for Israel is hardly a secret, nor to my knowledge limited to the right wing. And indeed, his opinions about the unemployed aren't exactly revelatory. I ask because I want honest bias, rather than the more....invested bias of political commentators.

So what is your experience and opinion on this dudes? Do try to keep it clean!

[Wildeybeast]

He's already insulted half the world, why not half of America? Besides, the other 53% will probably agree with him, so he's onto a winner.

[Sean_OBrien]

May well actually help him in the end.

I know that there is a healthy portion of the tax paying population who actually feels the same way, and many of them have been waiting for someone to say as much. While it is a generally controversial subject (and one which is not very well understood) the majority of Federal and State programs are paid for by a small portion. Those who tend to receive the most, pay little or nothing into the system. He fairly well stated that it will be hard to sell himself to those who are not paying in by trying to get everyone into the tax base to some degree (the proverbial skin in the game statement) - so he has to work on the 6% or so in the middle who are paying taxes but are not yet fed up with the other 47% who are getting their stuff paid for.

If I could, I would fire them all and not replace anyone. However, my libertarian positions put me at odds with both sides of the US political spectrum. I could care less if you want to marry a guy, girl, four guys, three girls, a goat...and do it all while stoned on some good Jamaican Red Hair tripping on shrooms. However, I also don't want you to come with your hand out for a damned thing. Have kids...pay for them yourself. Drive on roads...use tax or toll roads. Got fired...find a new job, or start your own (which would be a heck of a lot easier were it not for the road blocks set up by the G-men).

As it is, Romney is likely the lesser of two evils.

[Kirsten]

well we all know Romney is a practicing moron. A republican victory would be pretty catastrophic for the US and the rest of the world, his 'values' would see significant repression at home, and violence abroad with his shoot first, then shoot some more ideology.

[ElectricPaladin]

I suppose it depends on how much charity and decency is left in the American population.

Look, I don't want to get into a fight with, say, Sean_OBrien above, but the point of view that America is a place where anyone can "get a job" is completely wrong-headed. It just doesn't work that way. If you have the misfortune to be born poor, Black, Latino, or the wrong kind of Asian, female, Native American, or any of the other permanent underclasses that have sharply limited access to education, are forced out of certain careers by social pressure - and sometimes violence - and are regularly paid less for the same work. The idea that people are poor because they don't want a job, because they want to wander around with their hands out, is insane.

I'm a middle school science teacher in Oakland, CA. I work in one of America's poorest communities, if you compare income to cost of living, and I know these people, this 47%. First of all, I know that living on handouts - or partly on handouts - is incredibly stressful. There isn't a single family I work with that wouldn't pay their own way if they could. You never know when some government cutback or bureaucratic screw-up is going to delay or possibly even obliterate a portion of your livelihood. And, to be honest, living on handouts isn't exactly comfortable. We're talking about families that struggle to make ends meet.

There's also this perception that America's poor don't work. This is completely incorrect. In most of the families I work with, each adult either works several jobs or has some compelling reason - physical injury, physical or mental illness - that they can't. Of course, because they never had access to education or the money for education, the jobs they can get are often hard in one of many ways and pay very little.

So, in reality you've got people working several jobs to keep their families afloat and still not making ends meet, people who don't have the credentials to land the high-paying jobs that could extract them from this situation because of institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism. And then this multibillionaire who was born with a Sterling silver spoon in his smug mouth - this man who has never known real fear about where his next meal will come from, how he's going to pay the rent, what he's going to do if that lump is cancer, how he's going to send his kids to college - he comes along and derides them, mocks their struggles and their sacrifices?

It's enough to make me sick.

So, yes, I hope this costs him the election, because if it doesn't then America isn't a place that I want to live in anymore. Romney isn't the lesser evil - he is the evil. If he believes in what he says, then he hasn't got the compassion that God gave a walnut. If he doesn't, then he's a pandering, spineless worm with no principles except the need for power.

If you want to hear someone talk about this with more patience than I can muster, read [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremiah-goulka/ex-republican_b_1870534.html"]this[/URL]. As for me, I'm done. I have nothing more to say about this execrable husk of a human being.

[Iyandagar]

He's only a practicing moron? I thought he was way beyond the practicing stage....

[Mr Mystery]

Careful on the hyperbole! I'm not looking to start a political mud slinging thread!

Sean. I'm guessing you're American, so in extension to your post, do you feel that the statement in question has cost Romney voters as much as it has likely gained him support? On a personal note, I find his off-the-record comments abhorrent, but I do see where he's coming from. If I was a US floating voter, I'd not being marking him on my ballot!

[lattd]

Not an American but i feel it is a rather costly comment, i do agree that some people on benefits may be on it due to laziness but maybe 3% not 47%, it really doesn't help when that 47% he discusses is probably the minorities that are already victimized enough, but hey this is the man that came to England and said we couldn't do the Olympics and people are saying how brilliant they were.

[Sean_OBrien]

Careful on the hyperbole! I'm not looking to start a political mud slinging thread!

Sean. I'm guessing you're American, so in extension to your post, do you feel that the statement in question has cost Romney voters as much as it has likely gained him support? On a personal note, I find his off-the-record comments abhorrent, but I do see where he's coming from. If I was a US floating voter, I'd not being marking him on my ballot!

I am.

I would guess that it has definitely made the left of our political spectrum dislike him more and the right like him more. The ones who are remaining in the middle it will largely depend on whether or not they feel it is a personal attack against them or if they tend to agree with the general sentiment. In light of things like the continuing Teacher's strike in Chicago where you have well paid teachers not working and parents who are footing the bill continuing to pay them while they are on strike and having to pick up extra day care costs (or otherwise dealing with the issue) - there isn't a lot of good sentiment towards the takers in our country.

While there has been a definite shift over my lifetime from the "pick yourself up" mentality to where we are now - it isn't the same as it is over in Europe (or even our neighbors in the Great White North...though they maintain a strong independent streak that is more common in the colonies). When someone says something like he said - there is an audible outrage, but there are a lot of people who are nodding in silent agreement to avoid being demonized or depending on their background ostracized.

You can well see some of that sentiment here. I will avoid going further down that path though.

If he believes in what he says, then he hasn't got the compassion that God gave a walnut. If he doesn't, then he's a pandering, spineless worm with no principles except the need for power.

One thing which a lot of people miss is that while I don't want the government involved in anything which I do - I have no problem giving back. I just prefer to do so directly. I work with a local no kill animal shelter. I provide roughly half of their annual food expenses and pay for a vet to drive up and do onsite care twice a year. I also have a scholarship fund set up for workers in my company which gives $10K a year to any child who goes to a 4 year school for a BS degree (no BAs allowed). I work with the local DAV, helping to provide guidance and direction for veterans who are looking to start their own businesses and are having trouble navigating the process. 5 years ago, when one of my employees lost their house in Katrina and their insurance didn't cover it - we bought them a new house and furnished it for them. I don't want to get into a measuring contest of who cares more...but there is a big difference between thinking that the government doesn't do crap all that is useful and actually giving back.

[Mr Mystery]

Sorry Sean, wasn't meaning yourself with the hyperbole thing! More a general thing for the thread.