Mitt steps in it again. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. They have a safety net."

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Last edited Wed Feb 1, 2012, 09:34 AM - Edit history (2)

Just now on CNN.

Wow, is this guy ever out of touch.

Update: Link:

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/01/mitt-romney-middle-income-americans-are-focus-not-very-poor/

[xmas74]

1. What safety net is that?

I haven't noticed one.

[hlthe2b]

5. I guess he's referring to the bridges like the Golden Gate that help prevent jumpers....

and the nice underpasses we've provided them to sleep.

[xmas74]

15. Nice to know my options.

I might need them someday.

[mulsh]

51. Do you mean the GG bridge net thats still in planning stages?

n/t

[hlthe2b]

53. All the same to Mitt....

[Fumesucker]

6. 99%ers know it as "the gutter". n/t

[xmas74]

12. I know where that's at!

Now I know where to go if there are any further budget cuts at work.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Except in many places "the gutter"

has become a sink hole due to lack of infrastructure investment, so then they end up in the sewer underground.

[roguevalley]

55. what a fucker mitt romney is. total complete

fucker.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. That would be the safety net that the GOP desperately wants to cut lots of holes in. nt

[xmas74]

20. Oh, that safety net.

I knew I hadn't found one yet.

[Life Long Dem]

52. Yeah, the ten dollars a month in food stamps - safety net.

[ehrnst]

90. The curb, apparently. (nt)

[ingac70]

2. mitt...

writes Obama's commercials for him.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. +1

[JHB]

11. Let's hope they use it. n/t

[Found in Yonkers]

14. Yea verily!

Right on!

[tallahasseedem]

41. +1

I would love to be a fly on the wall in Axelrod's Chicago office. I bet he's laughing his ass off!

[uponit7771]

58. +1

[MisterP]

71. President Bowles-Simpson? he can't run on this

[Glimmer of Hope]

4. No way! He is an asshole.

[HipChick]

7. He has had to never deal with being poor...I wouldn't expect anything less..

Rich guys look for themselves and other rich guys...

If you are poor,blame yourself..

[karynnj]

23. It is more than that - it is a complete lack of empathy for people not like him

- and very few people are not like him.

Very few politicians ever were so poor that the safety net caught them as they fell. There are many who grew up middle class or lower middle class - like Gephardt, the son of a milkman, or Edwards, the son of a mill foreman. But, all of them succeeded early - getting good educations and almost immediately becoming upwardly mobile - even if they sought used furniture to furnish their first apartment. (The two politicians that were genuinely in impoverished families that I can think of are Bill Clinton and Scott Brown - and Brown has voted against the very programs that allowed him to go to college and get ahead.

On the other hand, consider the words and actions of politicians from very comfortable or wealthy families - like FDR, who started Social Security, LBJ, who started Medicare, Kennedy, who had a hand in every social welfare program for 4 decades and who (with Hatch and Kerry - 2 more wealthy Senators) wrote the SCHIP program.

I was young when George Romney ran, but form memory he was a far more compassionate person than his son.

[rurallib]

30. Wonder if he has ever even seen a poor person in real life?

I am not trying to be funny, either.
I doubt that this man has ever seen anything but maybe a picture of a poor person.

[PhoenixAbove]

8. This heartless ass wouldn't know a poor person if he fell over him/her. n/t

[Firebrand Gary]

9. He's on MJ in a minute.

Ugh....This guy is like chalk. Stale.

[Odin2005]

10. Fuck you, Mitt.

[Firebrand Gary]

13. He is coming across so arrogant.

He's even acting like a dick on MJ.

[Bolo Boffin]

17. "Are there no prisons? No workhouses?" n/t

[Firebrand Gary]

18. OMG, Mitt Romney just said that HE DOES NOT CHANGE HIS POSITIONS for his own party.

I swear to god I heard Joe Scarborough laughing in the background and a few fake coughing sounds. I think Romney just gave us the best ad of all.

This dude keeps digging the hole even deeper. I feel like this is a dream, he cannot really be the front runner and be this bad. Its insane! No wonder his staff went to the NYT and stated that they are the reason his campaign is on a new track.

Crazy town!

[limpyhobbler]

19. I appreciate his honesty about that.

Anybody got a link for this?

[Firebrand Gary]

21. The segment just ended on Morning Joe.

I guarantee it will not be long before it gets cut and uploaded to the web.

[hobbit709]

22. The things I want to call this clown of dubious parentage would get deleted and probably mirted.

[IDemo]

25. The prison industrial system?

Hey, food, lodging and jobs!

[HughBeaumont]

26. Someone should make a collection of his giftastic quotes!

It's as if President Obama should just look RMoney in the eye, open the debate with "Holy shit, you couldn't be a more perfect feast if it were delivered to me. You literally are too deluded to waste my time on, but the American people need entertainment after listening to you assholes go back and forth like a dysfunctional pack of apes for the past year. Get a helmet."

[hifiguy]

67. "A dysfunctional pack of apes" indeed.

Apes that are zonked to the gills on nitrous and ibogaine.

[LetTimmySmoke]

27. There's enough combined Youtube footage of Romney's gaffes and flip-flops...

...to make a 3-part epic trilogy a la the Lord of the Rings movies. There's gotta be several hours worth of video by now.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

39. ................

[Javaman]

28. he's not out of touch...

he's a sociopath.

[JaneQPublic]

29. Unlike his main concern, the Very Rich, who are totally defenseless

[GusFring]

31. This should worry all of you. Now I see where the lies are shifting. He's with the 99%? WTF. He's

really going to try to latch on to that. He even talked about Social Security like his side doesn't want to gut the hell out of it. Now I see why so many people hate him. The way he changes positions and it's acceptable is infuriating.

[erpowers]

65. Feared the 99%

Didn't he say, at one point, that he feared the 99%?

[JDPriestly]

75. And for those who diss Occupier, please note that even Romney

is talking Occupy-talk.i

That is great.

I wonder what income range qualifies as "poor" and as "middle class" to Romney. I wonder what he will do for people on Social Security. He referred to us. Probably wants to "enable" us to play the stock market instead of getting our monthly checks. Oh! I can just picture that. All these 80-year-olds trying to figure out the charts and the symbols.

Finally, are there any videos of Romney speaking of the Democratic Party as the "Democratic Party" and not the "Democrat Party"? He is well educated and knows better.

I had a sense he was going out of his way to remember to say "Democrat" instead of "Democratic." Makes him sound ignorant.

Romney is a college graduate -- Harvard I believe. Surely he knows the difference between a noun and an adjective. Is he just talking down to his voters because he knows they are stupid?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

32. What an idiot.

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. Rmoney's Two Americas.....

One with obscene bloated off shore accounts and One with social safety nets happily being gutted by elitist monied pols like himself.

[barbtries]

34. the safety net that is stretched to breaking

because of greedy fucks such as yourself mitt.

i'm so glad he will never be president.i'm so glad he will never be president.i'm so glad he will never be president.i'm so glad he will never be president.i'm so glad he will never be president.

[CAPHAVOC]

35. Romney is guided.

By the Angel Moroni from another Planet. He has the Diamond Encrusted special glasses. He has the White Top Hat. Moroni sent him the code that no safety net is needed.

[LynneSin]

36. Most poor would like to be able to survive on their own without a safety net

They would like to be able to wake up each day and have a job to go to that pays well and provides enough money to put food on the table. The would like to know that if someone is sick they could go to a doctor and be able to afford the bill. And most parents would like to save so they could send their children to college.

It's nice that we have the safety net there for those who are struggling but it should not be a way of life. Unfortunately with the destructive cuts that the GOP favor - they are making that safety net a permament part of life and unfortunately with it's overuse, the net is weakening and about ready to rip wide open.

[Arkansas Granny]

37. It's hard to believe that he can be so clueless and unsympathetic.

He has absolutely no idea what being poor means, much less very poor. Do his people not warn him about making remarks like this?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

40. He's probably so flush with victory after last night

that he is just saying anything and everything that pops into his mind. Good for us!

[Arkansas Granny]

45. Yes, good for us! I don't mind if the only reason he opens his mouth is to trade feet.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

38. Does Mitt realize what his party wants to do?

What HE wants to do if elected POTUS? He does remember that he is (now) backing the Ryan plan? The safety net won't be there if he and the rest of the Republicans have their way and keep hacking away at it!

[marmar]

42. Oh yeah, here it is......

[Tommy_Carcetti]

43. The sad thing about Mitt is...

Compared to him, almost all of us are "very poor."

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. Rmoney...

Of the one percent
By the one percent
For the one percent.


And not very worried about the 99 percent.

He's a perfect candidate for Corporate America.

And 49 percent of the 99 percent will vote for him, if he get the repug nom.

[Raffi Ella]

56. Nice!

perfect slogan for the Obama campaign to use.

Of the one percent
By the one percent
For the one percent.



Coupled with all the damning evidence to back it up, that is golden.

[FailureToCommunicate]

44. Sure, Mitt, safety nets of last resort like these?

[Atypical Liberal]

61. What is this a picture of?

Don't tell me they are actually putting up netting to keep people from killing themselves by jumping off the roof...

[xxqqqzme]

63. That is exactly

what that picture is showing.

[Atypical Liberal]

78. That's just wonderful.

We don't spend money making better working conditions, but instead make sure the workers can't off themselves.

[FailureToCommunicate]

83. The story is more complicated but

if you are interested, I recommend hearing this piece about Foxconn in China that makes parts for almost every high tech (but cheap) gadget on your desk or pocket:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory

[Motown_Johnny]

47. and I'm not concerned about the very rich

they don't need a safety net.


How can the (R)s nominate this idiot? Holy shit that party is screwed up.

[AlinPA]

48. After mentioning the poor as she should have, the CNN airhead agreed with him, nodding her head

in agreement saying something like "I get it". Where does CNN get these jerks?

[stubtoe]

59. Tone deaf, or tin ear? You decide.

[Raffi Ella]

49. Yet another soundbite

for the President to use to demonstrate that Mitt Romney is the epitome of the 1%.

For those that say there is no difference between him and President Obama? Yeah, you're gonna be a dog on the roof of his car if he gets elected. Unless of course you, too, are the 1%.

[Rozlee]

50. Does he know how many millions of the 99% are on food stamps...

and other safety net programs? I mean tens of millions? He must think in his little beady brain that there are only a few thousand, but they like to call Obama the "food stamp president." It was their fearless leader, Bush, that created the recession the 99% are struggling in and he's so clueless, that he doesn't realize that TENS OF MILLIONS are hanging on to the tattered threads of the safety net, trying to keep from falling into the abyss below. This guy doesn't need Newt around to keep throwing firebombs at him. Everytime he opens his patrician mouth, he practically says: "Let them eat cake."

[CAPHAVOC]

57. Dole

A minimum survival Dole should be given to all Citizens and cancel all these wasteful programs.

[Rozlee]

74. I notice you have only 8 posts.

We have a sarcasm button, which I hope you're being sarcastic and not a troll. If you're not a troll, welcome to DU.

[CAPHAVOC]

76. Just activated today not too up on computers yet.

[Rozlee]

77. Welcome to DU!

[Iliyah]

54. And the goppers

want to eliminate the last remaining safety nets there are because the 1% don't want to pay any taxes nor care about anyone but their pockets, power, and total control. If more of these goppers get into office we will be become more of a third party country. I can't believe the religious right is on board for this. This is totally against God's teachings.

[DefenseLawyer]

60. "Let me ask you a question sir, what is this country doing for the doomed?"

"...they're doomed, they're lost, they're helpless, they're somebody else's meal, they're like pigs in the wilderness."

"Fuck the doomed!"

[Vinca]

62. Mitt needs to visit with the veterans living under bridges.

[erpowers]

64. Ridiculous, Out of Touch, and Stupid

It is possible that if this comment does not go down in history as the stupidest comment by a politician it will go down as one of the stupidest comments by a politician. There are currently 45 million Americans living on food stamps. I understand that all the people living on food stamps are not poor and that everyone on food stamps may not have the right to vote. However, I would imagine at least 10 million of the people living on food stamps are poor and have the right to vote. Romney just told at least 10 million people he did not care about them. It is not a good idea to hand your opponent an additional 10 million votes before the election actually starts.

On another note Romney should be concerned about the poor. How about providing poor people with a way to move into the middle class? I quess someone could ask is Romney saying poor people do not have the right to move into the middle class. Reducing the number of poor people in the United States would help the American economy in that putting more people in the middle class would put more money into the economy.

[fishwax]

66. yeesh. He's completely clueless. -- but remember, he's lived on the real streets of America

[hifiguy]

68. When I asked my dad why he was voting for LBJ

back in 1964, he told me "Son, if you get your paycheck from another man you had better vote for Democrats. The rich can take care of themselves." And so they do, at the expense of all of the rest of us.

[Quantess]

69. A cozy place to sleep under the bridge on an old couch,

and soup kitchens for a couple of free meals a week.
Some "safety net".

[ecstatic]

70. And he has the nerve to accuse Pres. Obama of class warfare?!

His statement is the perfect way to stir up negative feelings towards the poor. At the end of the day, his main goal is to protect the .06%.

[Prophet 451]

94. Stirring up class resentment against the poor...

...is something Republicans have been doing for months, if not years. And it's easier to do that in the US than most countries in the first place.

[yellowcanine]

72. "We will hear from the Democrat party, the plight of the poor.... You can focus on the very poor,

that's not my focus...." Wow, this is his answer when he was given a chance to back up on the earlier statement. So he is conceding that Democrats are more concerned about poor people than he is? Not sure this is the impression he wanted to leave but this cannot be a good thing for Mitt.

[yellowcanine]

73. Let them eat food stamps!

[craigmatic]

79. Now I hate republicans and romney in particular

but if you look past this stupid statement there is a point here. The government doesn't do enough for working class people. The old have social security and medicare. The poor have their programs like medicaid, public housing, and food stamps. But when it comes to the working poor it seems like the government isn't doing enough. Tax cuts go mainly to the rich. Maybe we need universal healthcare in this country.

[Prophet 451]

93. You're needed universal healthcare for years

I live under it here (England) and while it's a long way from perfect, it's a bazillion times better than your system of triage-by-wallet.

[DCBob]

80. This is why I think Romney is such a horrible weak candidate.

This guy will continue saying stuff like this from now until November. The Obama campaign and SNL will have a field day with all this juicy material.

[steve2470]

81. Romney claims his comment was taken out of context, link here:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/way-florida-romney-signals-won-t-let-gingrich-185925558.html

SOMEWHERE IN THE AIR BETWEEN FLORIDA AND MINNESOTA—A day after trouncing Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary, Mitt Romney sought to downplay a comment he made during an interview on CNN on Wednesday, in which he said he's "not concerned about the very poor"—a quote that has been seized upon by President Obama's re-election campaign as a sign that Romney is out of touch.

Speaking to reporters on his plane, Romney said his remark had been taken out of context. "No no no no no no no no," Romney said, when asked about the quote. "You've got to take the whole sentence, all right, as opposed to saying, and then change it just a little bit, because then it sounds very different."

Romney's full comment to CNN was: "I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling, and I'll continue to take that message across the nation."

His meaning, he explained on the plane, is that he's focused on the middle class.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

82. Romney only cares about being elected

The poor don't vote is great numbers and Romney knows that. Romney is a professional candidate who would do anything, flip flop in any conceivable way, read whatever his teleprompter tells him is expedient to say in order to get elected. Romney accuses Newt of saying whatever his audience wants to hear, like his plan to go to the moon to help revive Florida's space industry. Romney is of the same mindset, times one thousand. Romney is the ultimate political prostitute.

[Prophet 451]

91. The middle class are not 90,95% of Americans

If you just ask them, sure, most Americans say they're middle class but on any objective scale, poverty is way higher than four percent.

[mick063]

84. I didn't write this but:

The historian Crane Brinton in his book “Anatomy of a Revolution” laid out the common route to revolution. The preconditions for successful revolution, Brinton argued, are discontent that affects nearly all social classes, widespread feelings of entrapment and despair, unfulfilled expectations, a unified solidarity in opposition to a tiny power elite, a refusal by scholars and thinkers to continue to defend the actions of the ruling class, an inability of government to respond to the basic needs of citizens, a steady loss of will within the power elite itself and defections from the inner circle, a crippling isolation that leaves the power elite without any allies or outside support and, finally, a financial crisis. Our corporate elite, as far as Brinton was concerned, has amply fulfilled these preconditions. But it is Brinton’s next observation that is most worth remembering. Revolutions always begin, he wrote, by making impossible demands that if the government met would mean the end of the old configurations of power. The second stage, the one we have entered now, is the unsuccessful attempt by the power elite to quell the unrest and discontent through physical acts of repression.

[DallasNE]

85. We Understand

Romney when he says "I'm not concerned about the very poor". His policy positions make this very clear. I take extreme exception to his statement "I'm not concerned about the rich". Say that again, please. Your tax policy proposals will shovel hundreds of billions into the hands of the super wealth, like yourself, so you have a great deal of explaining to do on this part of your statement too.

If that wasn't bad enough, we now learn that you gave each of your 5 sons $100 million, tax free. That makes the Romney wealth in the range of $700-$750 million -- not bad for 15 years of work at Bain Capital. You're looking more and more like Richard Nixon with each passing day.

[Bonobo]

86. That's not "stepping in it".

That's picking it up and smearing it all over your face, working it deep into your hair and scalp and then finally brushing your teeth with it.

[joshcryer]

87. He's talking about the safety nets that Foxconn installed.

[DCBob]

88. I hopes this gives comfort to those who thought Gingrich would be the preferred nominee.

Romney is a disaster. We can count on him to "step in it" at least once a week... guaranteed!

[marias23]

89. Lets not have an election and say we did

The Republican are going to loose no matter who they run. Let's take the campaign money and help...... lets see...... THE POOR.

[Prophet 451]

92. They have a woefully inadequete, borderline pitiful safety net

And Mittens and the GOP are hellbent on removing even the minimal support that exists. Like the corporate class they take their orders from (and, in many cases, belong to), the dream of the GOP is for a workforce that they owe absolutely nothing to, that can be hired and fired at will and that are so desperate that they'll work for pennies. The only reason the corporate class and the GOP aren't agitating for the return of slavery is that wage slavery is cheaper since they no longer have to feed and clothe their serfs.