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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I am an immigrant from Asia and was a republican, I never thought Mr Obama was qualified for the job, but the more I see the republican party and their behavior, the more I dislike it. Obama has done a good job more or less. Obama wants to distribute the wealth, at least he has a plan, what is the Republican plan, none whatsoever.
republicans do have a plan, its failry detailed and seems to make sense. you just havent looked for it. look at romneys website, there is a boatload of info there.
It really irritates me to hear the phrase "wealth distribution" – I worked myself through school, college and worked my rear end off all my life to make me eligible to pay taxes. And now some "purist" says that because I worked and saved, that I should give it to others? Nuts. It makes me think that I should stop working and demand that others support me! Never.
love that Romney spoke the truth!!!!
TRUE!!! I'm an independent voter, never have I seen such a dependent nation. Folks need to wake up, America is 16 trillion in the hole, there is not enough money to sustain this path. The Fed is pumping $ 40, 000,000,000 a month into the system. Does anyone really think this is a good idea? The word austerity is a word the Gov. needs to start using. 50 million of Food stamps? We need a administration that will help, not keep spending. America is in deep water.
well romney just got my vote
took guts!
something the white house never had the last 4 years!
LeBron James, Denzel Washington, Jessie Jackson are all VERY "RICH"..........so they must all be racist? Bill Gates has given MILLIONS away to help aid suffering in Africa....is he racist? And by the way...... aren't you RACIST for assuming that Romney meant "all minorities are in the 47%"?? Not sure I heard him say that one............
He is telling the truth like it or not.
Like if any of these people were going to vote for Romney. The one that should be apologizing is Obama for taking this country into the toilet. So I'm thinking these people have no problem with Obama's wealth distribution. This is the reason why so many people are worse off today.
Romneys opinions of the poor, middleclass, and the wealthy are exactly the ones of Herbert Hoover, and every other Republican President before him, probably. FDR threw them into a fury with his New Deal, and other Democrats who helped Unions, and started SS to give the poor and middleclass a chance for hope. They are here again, and have found the religious right's help to take away everything that has helped my gradmothers generation, my fathers generation , and now all of us in the retired column. All of these people were working people, no handouts. Some of us had college degrees, all at least H.S. This is the America I grew up in. I was privy to many wealthy people in growing up and never heard the kind of talk Romney has by any of them. I like the America my relatives gave to me, and that would have to be Democrats. I would not like this kind and softer country to morph into the one Romney and Ryan invision.
President Obama has sustained an entire country through the worst economic collapse in a hundred years.
A collapse that was brought on by GOP deregulation, GOP wars and through fraud and greed on Wall Street.
4 more for 44
Obama | Biden 2012 4+ Million Jobs and still growing
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Boo hoo David Rice. I don't think Romney is speaking about you but rather a portion of our society that has continually been on the government dole and not ever worked a day in their life. There are lost of people like that and are quite happy with their status quo, period, and to think otherwise is just foolish.
If we hate politicians it is because we reward them for telling us the lies we love and rebuke them for telling truths we don't want to hear.
I don’t really understand why everyone is so upset about this statement.
It’s simple…Romney stated that the 47% of people that pay no taxes and receive some form of government assistance will vote for Obama. Why…because it is in their self-interest.
Their alternative is to vote for a Romney-Ryan ticket that wants to cut government spending, reducing the amount of assistance available.
What is false about that statement? The majority of the 47% will vote for Obama and they were before the Romney comments. To say they weren't is dishonest.
I think it doesn’t really matter. With a +16 trillion dollar public debt and + 120 trillion in unfunded liabilities, it doesn’t matter who is president. This ship is sinking fast.
What short-sighted people don't see is if major government reform doesn't happen soon, with a reduction of spending and increase in taxes (and yes I think the wealthy should pay much more) then there will be no more assistance for anyone. The whole system will collapse under the weight of so much debt.
What made his statement so memorable is when he finished off by saying " It's not my job to be worried about that 47 %."
Exactly!!
What is wrong with the statement is that in one fell swoop he described the 47% as a single bloc – government-dependent malcontents, rather than as a diverse group of people who pay no income tax for a variety of reasons – elderly, intermittently employed, unemployed, and yes some government-dependent malcontents. He basically just p-ed all over the whole lot.
Just to be clear – I was commenting on the original post. He was right, he shouldn't worry about the 475 – the mojrity of them will vote straight D like they always do to keep the money from the rest flowing to them.
The problem is that the comment implies that all Obama voters are moochers, while, in reality, the red states have the largest percentage of people on government assistance. The associations of Democrat = lazy, Republicans = hard working are just not true, as much as the GOP wants to make believe.
EVERYONE PAYS TAXES who lives in the U S ! !
Those who have have low incomes typically pay taxes at near an INFINITE rate (TOTAL Taxes/Disposable Income =Zero), where Disposable Income is that left over after all NON-OPTIONABLES have been paid for.
Conservatives can not handle math ! ! ! . Or, optionally, they are NUTZ ! ! !
I agree jake, and notice the brilliant use of the english language by Zicker....he should have stayed in school.
You articulated that very well. The problem is that Romeny did not want to say that in the campaign stomp!
Don't be fooled. Romney will reward companies that outsource jobs to raise profits. This has to stop. It has been happening since 2001.
What a lede! It's this kind of writing that has moved CNN from its lofty position atop cable news to little more than a Hollywood tabloid.
The evidence has been clearly spelled out in numerous outlets that Mr. Romney is not only wrong, but is himself one of the "freeloading" 47%.
So why the headline?
The only "plain truth" revealed here is the amateurism of CNN.
Romeny paid 14% of his income to taxes last year. I think somewhere i saw he made 25 mil, or maybe it was 250 mil. so he eaither paid 2.5mil in taxes, or 25 mil in taxes. Still think you pay mor in taxes than romeny?
Mitt's words are an insult to Americans who work hard but are low income. There was a time that I din't pay federal taxes. I was a full-time student, worked 30 hours a week, no student loans, no government help. I didn't make enough to pay taxes. I would have been happy to pay taxes if only I could have had a higher income. Now with an household income of over 150K, my husband and I paid twice as much tax as Romney did!
so randy you paid over 2 million in taxes? Becasue you dems seem to be saying you paid more than he did, and i say you missed math class
Percentage wise I paid a lot more than he did. And when you pay out 20% of your income that's a lot no matter how you look at it