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… 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…. America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth.… It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture…. [T]rust in government has declined….
The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are… Republicans… senior citizens… white men with high school degrees… middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.
Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact… shifted… from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers….
[A]s a description of America today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney….
[W]hen will the incompetence stop?
