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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Sometimes the truth hurts. That doesnt make his statement less true. The fact that he is honest and not afraid to address the facts head on makes me more likely to support him.
Mitt Romney's parents were on welfare for 4 years when they arrived here from Mexico. OMG. It doesn't get any weirder than this, folks.
I am one voter. Hispanic female. I watched/listened to the entire video (except for the mysteriously edited out or 'missing 2 minutes – where is that?) In context, there was nothing offensive. Did any of the drama creators actually listen? So, I liked what I heard and it did make a difference to me. I am now leaning Romney. We cannot even begin to fix the problems if we are unwilling to admit them.
Support him all you want,Jasony,you will receive little support from him in return.
The thing is, what he said is only sort of true. Perhaps you should actually look up who makes up that 47% but we both know you won't, so I'll do it for you. 28.3% pay Payroll Tax instead (Small Business owners, Corporations aka: Job Creators), 10.3% are Retired and Elderly who worked their entire life for their Social Security. 6.8% have income under $20,000 and are exempt and >1% are other (meaning homeless and unemployed). So there you go. Republicans, manipulating the "Truth" since 1854.
I don't think he meant that those 47% are all freeloaders, just that the number shouldn't be 47%, but something far less, given the fact that a portion of those are able bodied people of working age.
However, he should have said that, and clarified. People who are retired and living on SS and pensions and savings don't pay taxes, but they aren't dependent on government, beyond what they were promised from SS. It would be useful to know what portion of the 47% that is.
The tragic thing is that a lot of baby boomers will retire in the next 15 years with inadequate savings, a possibly inadequate SS benefit – if the money is there to pay for it – and loads of disabled people who receive SS benefits, whether or not they ever worked.
I have no problem paying SS to retirees or to the (truly) disabled, but I think Romney's point was valid. No country can support 47% of it's citizens, and 47% is too big a number.
We need to know how that 47% breaks down, but we might find it quite scary.....if only 10% of those paying no taxes are able bodied people under 65, then we have a real crisis on our hands. Or rather, on the hands of our children.
Yeah the truth does hurt, considering the GOP is taking a 2 month vacation until after the election! It's ok for Republicans to take government money for not working, and get government benefits too for NOT WORKING, that's just wrong. You can change the label, call it something else, explain and clarify all you want, but truth is truth, and it's hurting us working Americans who do pay.
I like his true words, i will vote for him.
mitt's campaign is a joke. Where are his taxes cnn. The gop ran on jobs in 10 cnn. Hold the gop accountable and stop taking a dive for the gop wolf.
Exactly! How dare he bring up taxes, when he won't produce and hides his? Romney is out of line, and out of my vote!
Just pay your, don't worry about other. So this country will be better....
Bottom line: the OVERWHELMING majority that are too poor to pay income tax, by far, come from deep red Republican states.
This show how much republicans really don't know what they are talking about, and if said republican didn't know that, this how much they really care to check out the facts. No wonder propaganda shows flourish on that side of the p[political spectrum.
Red states = moocher states that are carried by blue states. The end.
Shows* .
This shows how much I care to check my own grammar. Not cool man, not cool.
I didn't need to rely on the government till they (Congress, not the President) let Wall Street (1%) rob me blind.
The problem with Romney is that he no longer understands what is true, an exaggeration, a little fib, wishful thinking or a flagrant lie! If he was saving his tax exposition for an emergency this is it!
Romney has a golden opportunity to demolish Harry Reid. All he has to do is show his hand like any honest player. It will be a hell of a dramatic event if he can show he paid a fair amount of Federal taxes. Why would he not want to collect all the votes he would get from rubbing the Dem noses in their claims? He could force Reid to resign. Why won't he jump at this opportunity?
i love the fact. Right after he said 47%, he was just like. I dont care about them i care about the rich. He said he cared about the rich.
No he did not say he didn't care about them. He knows they are voting for Obama because he can maintain their not paying taxes yet getting the benefits. Who wouldn't vote for the one that will give them free stuff and not make them work ? Don't be stupid and try to twist what is said.
Tell those poor to go to work, and pay tax, don't complain too much, remember that, you too OK.....
The race is over.
Obama, 4 more years. Not like Mittens had a snowball's chance in hell anyways.
Where you here that from?
Remember good show come at last.
Good will always win over bad.
Evil will always die at the end.
The truth is Wall Street and industry threw the middle working class under the bus with all those trade agreements starting during the Clinton administration. The BS that "we can compete" meant we'll have to lower our standard of living while the rest of the world raises theirs. Now some poor person somewhere else can afford to buy a bowl of rice for a days work and we can't even get a job as a result.
Wall Street simply pushed us over the cliff of poverty that would eventually reach this level devastation in job creation.
Politics has very little to do with it because they simply work for Wall Street and industry.
We are mere serfs that can only be victims - too bad.
My mother is 92yrs old, lives alone, cooks, pays all her bills, but pays no federal taxes. She prides herself at handling her small income from S S, and will barely ever let us even buy her lunch. She always takes responsibility for herself. Romney insults her. I will vote for Obama.
We're all victims of a federal government that wastes our hard earned money because they think THEY know how to spend our money better than we do and if Barack Obama gets reelected...............we're doomed. Redistribution of wealth KNOWS NO BOUNDS!!!
Mistake? Yes.
Truth? Well, it's what I would call a "conservative truth", which is different from the truth that the rest of the world encounters.
The gop are parasites for the wealthy and corporations redistributing our money to them and failed occupations.
The true message...I didnt have a Job. Where is the work, Mr. Prez
Go work on your skills, perhaps there will be a need for you as well. Stop blaming the Prez for the fact that your skills are currently not in demand.
I lost my job in march 2010 (worked for 35 years), retrained April 2010 – June 2011, became full time employed again July 2011 and still working after being eligible for Obama's stimulous act through unemployment – you retrain, and get a job – you can't meet todays challenges and needs with yesterdays skills. It's a hard lesson but once you resign yourself to know that the worlds' changed/economy and industry has evolved you retrain in an area where there's demand and put food on the table.
Many unfortunate people truly need the safety net. But the reality is, a lot of people are perfectly willing to game the system if the opportunities are presented to them. To pretend that doesn't happen is burying your head in the sand.
Yes, some people do play the system, but not bloody 47%! That's an insane claim!
My family and I are part of that '47%' Romney doesn't give a fig about. We had never a day without paying taxes somewhere (including Income and SS), other than our minimal tax refunds we have never gotten a single red cent from ANY Government.
No Mr. Romney, we will NOT be supporting your and the GOP's desire to become a Benevolent Dictator.