"The 'free stuff' comment is a mantra Romney uses often."

[ProSense]

Romney On NAACP Booers: They’re Freeloaders

By Aviva Shen

Mitt Romney has found a new spin for the resounding chorus of boos he triggered at the NAACP on Wednesday. At a fundraiser in Montana that night, Romney boasted about the boos to a very different crowd, saying: “If they want more stuff from the government, tell them to go vote for the other guy–more free stuff. But don’t forget nothing is really free.”

Given Romney’s fraught history with the organization–Mother Jones reported yesterday on his antagonistic relationship with the Boston NAACP while governor–invoking the “welfare queen” stereotype against NAACP members who support Obamacare is tone deaf, if not a deliberate attempt to stoke conservative resentment against so-called government freeloaders.

The “free stuff” comment is a mantra Romney uses often. Just last month, in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), Romney scoffed, “Everybody likes free stuff, but there is no free stuff.”

The Rachel Maddow Blog cites several more examples:

A few months ago, for example, the GOP presidential hopeful responded to questions about contraception access by saying, “If you’re looking for free stuff you don’t have to pay for, vote for the other guy.” Soon after, Romney complained that Obama is trying to buy students’ political support by offering them “free stuff.”

There is a pattern to this. If you’re a woman who wants access to preventive care you might not otherwise be able to afford, Romney sees you as wanting “free stuff.” If you’re a young student who can’t afford higher-ed tuition, Romney assumes you expect “free stuff.”

And if you’re an African American supporter of the NAACP who wants your family to have access to affordable health care, Romney suspects you’re just looking for “free stuff.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/12/515297/romney-on-naacp-booers-theyre-freeloaders/

[treestar]

1. They need to be pounded with the fact that

When doing well, we all pay into the system. The right invariably tries to create two sets of Americans, those who pay taxes and those who get benefits. They are not distinctly separate groups. People over their lifetimes do both. They need to be called out on this over and over.

[Kingofalldems]

2. K and R

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. When I read about ...

romney using the "Free stuff" line, I thought where have I heard that before? ...

Didn't r. santorium get taken to task for saying the exact same thing?

Yep, romney used the NAACP speech to play to his base.

[Junkdrawer]

4. Well Mitt, what do you call you inheritance?

How hard did YOU work for that money?

[BumRushDaShow]

5. And if you are a rich dork who hides $ to avoid taxes, you want "free stuff".

Pot meet kettle.

[Cestode]

6. Inheritances are also "free stuff"

I'm sure Mr. Romney and all of his constituents have all taken their fair share of "free stuff".

Nobody chooses which socio-economic class they are born into.
The ignorance of this simple fact is mind-boggling.

n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

7. Splinter, meet mote - n/t

[wandy]

8. "Free Stuff" is something of a Teabagger mantra. It is normally used to describe....

Food stamps, unemployment comp, disability comp, tuition loans, and of course ACA.
It is never use to describe home loan tax deductions, veterans benefits, retirement Social Security, retirement Medicare and so on and so forth.

It's just that "free stuff" people expect that they haven't earned.

[ProSense]

9. He's going after the

imbecile vote: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002914362