David A. Rice feels like Mitt Romney wrote him off.
The 61-year-old has always been a values-based voter, generally votes Republican and could be a key vote in the swing state of Florida. But he's also among the 47% of Americans that Mitt Romney said don't pay income tax and rely on government support.
"There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney says in a clip from a secretly filmed private donor meeting in May, which was first posted on Monday afternoon. "There are 47% who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing."
Romney's '47%' – Washington's tax-break obsession to blame
Rice says he is working part-time and doesn't pay taxes because he can't find a good job. And the fact that Romney wrote him off in those comments is frustrating.
"I am insulted. I support you and you just wrote me off with the 47% who pay no taxes. In that group are those who cry every time they use food stamps; people who would trade them in a minute for a real job. In that group are Christians who shudder at the thought of voting for abortion and gay rights," he wrote in an iReport. "You have strengths that appeal to the demographic you just wrote off ... use it! In the middle of rich supporters you cannot afford to write off a huge group with a careless word."
The 61-year-old said that he has been forced once or twice to take food stamps - and unlike what Romney contends in his comments - he maintains it was not something he was proud of or hopes to ever have to do again.
"It really hurt me," the iReporter told CNN. "It was not something that I wanted to do, I did it because I didn't have a job."
Rice says he didn't think it was right for Romney to lump every low-income person into the same group.
"Not everyone who takes food stamps is a food stamps junkie," Rice told CNN. "There are people who think the government owes them a living and that the government ought to take care of them and be their momma and daddy all their life. That doesn't apply to everyone."
It all left Rice a bit uneasy.
Which leads to the big questions swirling around the Romney campaign: How much damage will Romney's comments do to his chances for winning the election? Were his comments a big enough gaffe, combined with previous missteps, to really dent his campaign? Were his comments just the brutal truth others don't want to hear? Will it sway the votes of Republicans, independents or the undecided?
Rice says he'll still be voting for Romney because of the candidate's social views. But he knows it may not be the same for others.
"I think it was a mistake on his part because he insulted a lot of people who he needs to vote for him," he said.
CNN asked our readers on Facebook what they thought about the remarks and more than 71% said Romney was wrong and should apologize. Twenty-four percent of readers who answered our unscientific poll said he was right, and it was something someone needed to say. Just about 4.5% felt that Romney was right but shouldn't have phrased the remarks the way he did.
Nevin Sanli, from Los Angeles, California, said he is in the 47% and Romney's recent remarks, as well as other gaffes, have sealed his decision to vote for Obama.
"I never took a penny in help or government assistance money or otherwise. I own two businesses, and all I have been doing, along with my business partners, is creating jobs. I am not a victim," Sanli said in response to the CNN poll on Facebook. "I worked hard and built it all from scratch and I pay a lot of taxes. I am not as rich as Romney, but I sure pay a much bigger percentage of my income in taxes than he does. I find his remarks to be un-American, shocking and insulting."
And definitely unbecoming a president, he added.
"Elitism, silver-spoon arrogance and outright divisive statements, with undertones of racism, cannot be attributes of an American president," Sanli wrote.
For his part, Romney has stood behind the comments from the secretly recorded video. They were an honest reflection of his campaign's message, he said.
"This is a message I'm carrying day in and day out and will carry over the coming months," Romney said on Fox News. "This is a decision about the course of America, where we're going to head. We've seen the president's policies play out over the last four years."
Kristopher Daughtrey agreed with those tough words and took them to show that Romney won't shy away from the truth and will stick to his convictions.
"I applaud Romney for his remarks. He's the only one willing to not sugarcoat it. I'm not a huge supporter of either party, but at least Romney has the guts to speak out frankly about it, instead of Obama, Congress, and other politicians trying to justify their actions constantly or running away with their tail between their legs," Daughtrey said. "If you're going to be president then you need to have the backbone to walk the walk and not just talk about it."
Jason Asselin, an iReporter from Iron Mountain, Michigan, is an independent who says that he generally votes for the best candidate, despite their affiliation, though he likes the ideas and stances of the tea party.
While Asselin is normally a critic of Obama, he said Romney's comments really angered him because he doesn't pay taxes, but it isn't because he doesn't want to.
"I try paying taxes each year and every year they say we don't make enough, it isn't that I don't want to pay my taxes - they won't take them," he says. "Our government put rules and regulations in place for the lower class of people. It isn't our fault for falling under that. I don't like being called the 47%, I'd like to be called American."
Asselin said he is frustrated that Romney makes assumptions about how he will vote. And he is not alone.
Jeff Zicker, 21, might have been a candidate for the 47% category. He's college-aged, but left college because he landed a job performing with a national Broadway tour. He worked two jobs all through college, and these days he pays all his taxes, which puts him in the 53% category.
“For (Romney) to say his plan only appeals to those who don’t victimize themselves just further proves how out of touch he is with the rest of the American public,” he said.
Zicker is a moderate Democrat who will be voting for Obama this fall.
“I honestly believe that somebody that would say that a large of a portion of Americans, that this group victimizes themselves and tries to appeal to voters in that way, I don’t think that shows that they would be fit in any way to be president," he said.
But others say that Romney is merely beginning a dialogue that many Americans refuse to have. Steven Evans said that he thinks the discussion is an important one as the country moves forward.
"It is time to start a national dialogue on whether we are creating a major dependency class," he said on Facebook. "I am glad to see him tell the truth. Let's decide whether we are going the way of Greece or the traditional USA."
But some believe that having that conversation with only half of the country is problematic.
“It’s not in touch with what America’s values are and what we should be in a country," Zicker said of Romney's comments. "At the end of the day, we’re all connected. What I do affects you economically and socially. We shouldn’t see it as an one-for-all system.”
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Mitt exhibits an case of Reps beginning to believe their own lies. They are the divisive party constantly saying 'those people' and 'they' meaning minorities who they characterize as lazy shiftless and now Mitt shows just how out of touch most of the party is.
...until Romney can coherently state what he would have done differently over the past 4 years how can he have any credibility going forward?
short of that
the obvious issue is that he's a White Republican male
I think we all heard his comment about the %47 of voters he cannot get so he would not be worried about it BUT,
what's the deal with the comment about Whoopie Goldberg? She mentions to him that she might just vote for him after his appearance on the view and he says "I must have said something wrong" as if her vote is not one he wants???!!
47% of Americans do not pay taxes. That is a fact. Question really is whether or not we're allowed to say that out loud nowadays. Apparently it is not PC in "progressive" circles.
No, the question is, who are the 47%? And the answer is elderly, and people who DO WORK but they're income is so low that they don't pay taxes. Oh, and combat veterans. Leaving about 5% or less OF THAT 47% who are the "freeloaders" and "dependents" that Romney and conservatives are suggesting characterizes them all.
And his solution to "help them become less dependent" is to remove all safety net programs and raise their taxes (so that we can afford the huge tax break for the rich, of course, gotta be responsible). By raising taxes on the poor and gutting medicare, SS, food stamps, unemployment, and welfare, that'll "help" those lazy poor people to work harder to find a job, right? Better put grandpa back to work so he can afford to pay for his own medical bills.
Try exploring context Marc.
@Mark42: yet again, you are full of crap. Combat veterans (I am one, times 3 wars) pay federal income taxes.
Fact: the richest five percent of Americans pays fifty four percent of the entire national tax burden. Thats true social "injustice"
So your solution is to make the middle and lower classes pay more?
"True social injustice".
I'm just crying a river over a guy who makes 20 million dollars a year having by playing with money on Wall Street and deciding whose business to destroy, having to shoulder a higher burden in numbers of the nations tax roll.
Are you being serious?
More importantly, the underlying message you are trying to propagate is that the lower and middle classes- the 47% we are speaking of- are universally composed of lazy people who want a 'handout'. Yes indeed there are people who operate that way, there always have been and always will be. They are hardly the cause of this country's fiscal problems. Those problems were caused largely by the corruption and graft of a number of people in the TOP 5% who are going out of their way to DESTROY opportunities for the middle class.
It depends on whether you are pulling the cart (paying taxes), or are you riding in the cart (collecting from the gov't).
Mitt Romney is the Democrates gift that keeps on giving. The man is a bumbling idiot.
Hey... CNN, waht happen to my post? I posted yesterday and there was a great exchange of left and right about ideas, no name calling, no abuse. We had one of the longest strings of replies on this subject and now the entire post and replies are gone.
CNN, do you not like an actual exchange of ideas in a proper non name calling way? Instead you prefer to leave the far right comments so the right looks like a bunch of racist fools?
Or was it that I acctually got Obama Momma to agree that Pelosi and Reid are insider trading cheats? (her wordsnot mine)
By removing a great exchange of ideas and thoughts, you have just proved to me that those on the far right who say CNN is partisan are correct, I thought differently, but have now been proven wrong.
We pay federal income tax, social security, and medicare through payroll deductions. We are a dual income household earning below $100,000. Our tax rate is generally around 28% a year, over double what Romeny's is, and if we have enough deductions, we may get a refund of around $250, or we end up paying in another $200 or so. We do our share and he refers to us as one of "those people" the 47% because we are at the age where we do receive social security and medicare, but we paid in to those systems since we were old enough to work. He won't be seeing my vote.
Romney's not proposing a 'flat tax', he's proposing a tax break for the rich and a tax increase on the middle class. So that the rich can 'create' more jobs for the lowly folks (the lazy).
Oh, and what's this 'we" stuff? You just said you were 3x combat vet (thanks, by the way). How exactly are you part of the top tier financially? Military wages aren't that good, and the stock market hasn't allowed anyone who wasn't already rich to get there in some time now.
just fyi mafn, my post above was in response to a post by someone else which seems to have been deleted...not directly at you.
The 47% is the truth. We do not tell the truth in this country anymore because there is so much fear of offending someone. So instead, we sugar coat and lie about the truth. If any politician were to tell the truth about almost anything, they would be committing political suicide. They would rather keep their job than fix the issue.
How truthful is it, exactly, for Romney to imply that all 47% are comprised of lazy freeloaders who don't work? When the "TRUTH" is that the 47% is composed of the elderly (medicare, ss), the working poor (meaning, the people who DOwork but whose income bracket results in no Fed Income tax paid), and students on government loans. Romney would rather be elected than tell the truth. Did you watch his press conference the day after the tape came out? Watch his expression on his face, he looks so uncomfortable, his eyes tell the whole story of someone who knew he really really screwed up. But the funny thing is now he's trying to double down on it.
True story. I was traveling and had stopped at a gas station to get some snacks. The group in front of me loaded up on every donut they could find in the display, a bunch of candy and some other junk food. They paid for it all with a food stamp card. Immediately following that purchase they made a $30 cash purchase of cigarettes and lottery tickets. If you were looking to define the problem with our social programs, I just did it for you.
Hey Andy,
Instead of complaining to people on here, maybe you should have followed them home and confronted them about their choices in life. Demanded to see their paycheck stubs, credit card statements, done and inventory in their house to make sure they weren't spending beyond their means.
I suppose if they were using their week's supply of food stamps at Whole Foods Market to buy one bottle of Kombucha and a healthy sandwich, that would be ok.
The lottery tickets? Sounds like desperation. I'll bet living on food stamps in desperate. I'm sure you've walked a mile in their shoes, sounds like you learned all you need to know about them in 3 minutes of watching them at a convenience store, so I'm sure if things ever went bad for you and you ended up on food stamps you'd spend your days dumpster diving in between beating the streets for a job before you'd ever buy a lottery ticket or use your tax payer funded food stamp to buy a lowly donut.
I didn't learn anything about them in 3 minutes but I can certainly tell you there was a time when I had very little money. I was barely able to pay the bills. I cut back on EVERYTHING. No TV, no snacks, no junk food, no unnecessary driving, no luxuries and definitely no lottery tickets or cigarettes. I did odd jobs on the side for some extra cash. I did whatever I had to do to get by and I did it without asking anyone for help. Now that I am fortunate enough to not have to worry about that kind of thing, I don't look back and think "Boy I should have just given up, gotten on welfare and used the extra money leftover from not having to buy groceries to go out and buy cigarettes and lotto tickets!". What I think is "Why do we have a system that rewards being irresponsible at the expense of those who aren't?". Its about personal responsibility and not making excuses. I don't blame those people for being irresponsible. I blame the program for failing to encourage them to be the opposite.
Should have read, "And yet, I don't blame those people for being irresponsible."
Makes a little more sense that way. Hopefully I made my point. I don't have any more time for arguing. Later.
Nothing but pandering. His inability to be truthful and admit mistakes, demonstrates weakness. Not strength.
Yeah Romney is a slow learner and short bus rider. He has a low I.Q. I told ya.
TRUTH!!!! Maybe not the elderly, retired and those disabled and not able to work but certainly those working the system so they don't have to work. Need more money, have a kid, what need more money, have another kid. Free food, health care, money who would want to work with all these handouts. Dems would love government to control everything and government is the one handing out the money.
well that wouldnt be the truth, if you exclude the elderly, disabled, young adults, and veterans then it is not 47%. thats like saying a honda civic is a fast car if it was a bugatti veyron.
At the democratic convention they said republicans had problems with math. 8% of money goes to welfare, food stamps, snap. What Romney said was not paying income tax totally different. A small portion in the scheme of the budget. Tough times call for an inflation in the number.
Tom,
Which do you think is a greater drain on our national budget: less than 5% of the population gaming the system by taking the 'handouts' you describe (and last I checked, welfare doesn't pay people exorbitant checks). Or, trillion dollar military budgets couple with huge tax breaks and top marginal bracket tax rates at about 1/4 of what they were during WW2?
Bottom feeders have existed in every society, this one included, always have always will. They are not the source of our problems financially. The people causing the real problems want us to believe it's the homeless and unemployed who are bleeding the country. Last I checked jobs are not there for the taking and being ignored by the lazy poor; the jobs are over in India and China because the rich in this country place profit ahead of people and country. Why pay Americans a living wage when you can pay someone overseas a fraction of that amount and increase your own profit margin. That's our moral dilemma here, not someone trying to scoot by on food stamps. I pity the latter far more than I worry about any damage they are doing- because they aren't damaging anything other than their own sense of pride and worth.
SOme people truly need it and that is fine. I would agree, WE have a very high number of freeloaders; maybe 47%, maybe more maybe less.
Romney is the worst person to run this country. He is absolutely not authentic. etch -a -sketch 47% to 100%
Nope just got back from lunch. I am not changing my name for you or anyone else. I am usually Scottish Mama, but in an election year I change to Obama Mama. Republicans are paranoid like that. Veteran, admit it, I am growin' on ya.lol