FOOD. That's the one word I just can't get past. FOOD.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

It's so damnably heartless. Food is not an entitlement. It is necessary to life itself.

But I guess it would add more jobs to the economy - I imagined there would be a lot of lifeless, starved, unsheltered bodies to pick up and destroy in Mitt's insane worldview.

Food. I just can't get past that one single word.

Food.

[MoonRiver]

1. It really is almost unbelievable.

I bet even his $50,000 a plate audience was shocked by that one.

[roguevalley]

14. include babies being hungry and its worse

Plus google

[6502]

36. Shocked... no...

Last edited Tue Sep 18, 2012, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)

... they are true believers all of them. That's why they paid the $50,000 per plate.

The are the 7 Deadly Sins in flesh.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021369526

[Arugula Latte]

2. The way he spit it out -- "They think they're entitled to food"

So contemptuous. Just dripping with loathing for peasants who expect food.

Unreal. He kicked my loathing of him into high gear.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

17. The peasants think they're entitled to food? Let them eat cake.

He's done.

[The Wielding Truth]

57. OMG! I thought that Bush was the worst, but Romney is soulless.

[Blue_Tires]

63. +1000

[freshwest]

79. Standard Repuke, though. They complain that it makes the poor breed like animals. And that hunger is

Good for school children. I'm not making that up.

[jillan]

3. I'm with you - that is the one comment that burns my butt over everything else he said.

[bongbong]

76. A tough competition

> the one comment that burns my butt over everything else he said

Flip-Flopper has said SO MANY wretched things it's actually hard to rank them. Don't forget that just in the excerpt du jour, he also said he could get elected if he was "Mexican".

America can't get much lower than it is right now from this assault by Tax-Evader Rmoney & the rest of the repigs.

[Shrike47]

4. And they hate school lunch programs.

I'll never understand why they think starving children is good.

[slampoet]

16. School lunch is more of a hand out to Agri-biz than any child.

It really is a Red State beneficial program.

[justice1]

71. That's where most of my meals came from as a kid.

[slampoet]

78. and I am smart enough to know that a real lunch cost more than 85 cents

when i was in school.

Even the kids that think they paid really don't recall that even that full price was subsidized for EVERYONE even visitors.

[awoke_in_2003]

22. And I would gladly pay...

higher property taxes so ALL school meals are free. I was on the luch program growing up, and there is a bit of a stigma about. If all were fed for free the stigma would be gone.

[ncgrits]

31. When I was in elementary school (1966 onward) the lunch tickets were little cards that got punched

every day and you bought a new one each week. And one day, in first grade, I noticed that my friend Esther's ticket was a different color than mine and those of my friends. She and I both wondered about that--we were 6 years old and didn't have a clue. Later that day, at dinner, I mentioned that to my mother and she "wondered" about it too. . . .

Years later (when I was in college) my mother and I were talking about Esther who had gone on to be a P.A. and had cared for my dad in a recent hospitalization. . . . And Mama remembered the lunch tickets. She told me she had gone in to see the principal and asked him why Esther's free lunch card had to be a different color. He didn't have an answer and changed it that very day--all the lunch tickets were the same from then on.

God bless my sweet mother. She passed away in 1992. I miss her still.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

40. What a great mother you had

For her to take action like that so the free lunch cards were not different, that shows a very caring soul.

[justice1]

72. That's cool, even as a kid I was embarrassed, but appreciative of the free meal.

[awoke_in_2003]

91. They used lists...

that the cashier kept. Only us on the free meal plan were on the list. Everyone knew it. I only ate lunch half the time.

[Patiod]

39. They were life-saving for my friend's family

Her father was a drunk, and in jail at one point, and wouldn't allow her mom to work. She said that school breakfast and lunch were the only meals she and her 5 brothers got all week.

Thanks to public schools, public colleges and these lunch programs, she and her brothers are now solid, tax-paying citizens.

And of course she's a Republican. She was a hard-working person who "pulled herself out of poverty" and "scrimped and saved" to get where she is, but unlike her, other people are just spendthrifts who don't deserve any help (and neither do their kids). I have never had the guts to say "a lot of people probably thought that about your family because your dad brought all that trouble on himself with his own bad decisions, so they probably thought your family probably didn't "deserve" help either".

[Moostache]

80. If she is really a card carrying Republican/TEA Bagger you should slap her in the face with facts...

I have ZERO patience for people who benefited from the benevolence of government programs themselves turn their backs on it as if once THEIR needs were met then everyone else can go pound sand. FUCK HER and her warped priorities and self-talk portrait of herself as the "self-made man". Without FOOD programs it sounds like she would have been lucky to survive adolescence...to then have such low regard for others suffering the same or worse fate is EVIL.

Give me her address/phone number/e-mail address and I will GLADLY set her straight with ZERO issue or worry about hurting her feelings...what you describe, if accurate, is a sub-human scumbag that deserves to relive a little horror from her life to slap her out of this self-worshiping delusion that she did it all by her own hard work...

[awoke_in_2003]

92. We always had breakfast and dinner...

at home. The freebie lunch people (where I went) were kept on a list. Only free lunch people were on it. I skipped lunch half the time, because I didn't like standing out.

[AnneD]

61. Many people do not realize this....

but the lunch program has it's roots in the depression and WWII. Soldiers that were drafted were found to be suffering the diseases of malnutrition. In part, in order to have a physically fit pool of soldiers and regulate crop prices, the school lunch program was born. It was a win-win.

With the current economic crisis and food shortage, this program is so critical. Just ask the local food banks about the summer months and hunger in children.

[Poll_Blind]

5. I know. You know, when I watched that video for the first time I had the transcript open and...

...my eyes were moving over the words and I heard him speak them. Food. Food. IIRC, it's not like he glosses over it either, when he's saying it. Food.

Seriously, you must check out this article just posted by WillPitt from NYMag. The short article is titled "The Real Romney Captured on Tape Turns Out to Be a Sneering Plutocrat" and so worth the time to read.

PB

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. Oliver Twist wants MORE!!

It's really an insight into the world they want to create. They want to go back to the 19th century.

[Avalux]

7. I was thinking about that, and his comment about the factory in China.

He told how young Chinese girls worked there, for pennies, and lived in dormitories. These young women work to save money to get married then eventually leave. The factory was surrounded by a fence and barbed wire and when Mitt asked why, the factory owner said it's to keep people out, not people in. He said that people by the hundreds line up wanting a job.

Mittens was exciteded about this, and said that Americans would never do that....and in my head, I am convinced that's how he and his rich buddies want all of us to be - poor, desperate, and begging to work for pennies just so we can eat.

The rich and the rest of us, who mean nothing.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

20. I know this has been posted before, but it rings true.

[AzDar]

23. Mitt's vision for America, no doubt.

He's vile.

[KurtNYC]

30. the bits about the Chinese factory were among the most disturbing

real fascist stuff. His creepy lust to control and exploit young women. Mitt's admiration for their prison labor system.

And then to say in effect that veterans including those who lost limbs in service of this country with all its abundance, are not "entitled to food" !

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. Empires were built on slave labor.

The more of an empire we are becoming, the more need for slave labor to hold onto it.
Mitt understands that very well.
It is hard to be high and mighty if you have no one to look down upon.

[woodsprite]

58. Yertle the Turtle

[fasttense]

75. Yeah and he believed that crap that the guards were to keep people out.

I don't buy it for a minute. Those guards were there to make sure those girls worked and did nothing else while they were locked away in dorms stacked 3 high.

Yeah Romney would love to do that to Americans.

[treestar]

85. I thought that was absurd

The fences are to keep people out? Please. That is how they want us to be - begging them to work for practically nothing.

He was using that to underscore his claim that anyone born in the US has it made. Well he did, but that doesn't mean everybody. And when some of us were working for him for as little as possible, then he moved the factory to China, so why does that prove his point? It doesn't.

[ananda]

8. Shelter. Clothing. Healthcare. Education.

nt

[lonestarnot]

9. So is shelter.

[DonRedwood]

10. I agree. It is what we should be talking about. What grandma can vote for a guy who thinks

food is not something all Americans should have.

[randome]

11. I don't think you can make much of that one comment.

Die-hard Republicans will just point out that he meant everyone should PAY for food. Completely overlooking the poor, of course, but logic is not in fashion for Republicans.

[MoonRiver]

15. Oh, I think it can be used.

I used to volunteer at a food pantry and got lots of donations from wealthy, conservative individuals and organizations, especially churches. Nobody thinks starvation and malnutrition are ok if one can't afford food. Now, right wingers may prefer the poor to hit the pantries rather than get food stamps, but regardless they don't want kids and seniors going hungry.

[kestrel91316]

43. They sure as hell do if those seniors or those kids' parents are

Obama supporters.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: THEY WANT US DEAD.

[MoonRiver]

48. But they don't know that and in my experience don't ask about politics when they give food

or volunteer in a Meals on Wheels facility. And the truth is that a lot of the desperately poor vote against their best interests due to social issues.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. Die hard Republicans are die hard Republicans. Operative word 'hard' but also 'die'

because apparently they'd be willing to be witness to the slow death by starvation of their fellow Americans if those Americans were out of cash. That's hard hearted.
Romeny's own Dad grew up living on 'refugee benefits' provided by the taxpayers of America. We, the People, did not question their need for food, we just fed the Romeny family and clothed them and housed them because they were unable to do those things for themselves.

[randome]

49. I'm sure not trying to justify what Romney said.

I can just see how they will spin it by saying he meant 'People want food without having to PAY for it.'

Again, completely overlooking the plight of poor, including children. The most damning part of his 'conversation' with the rich is that he has shown how completely inadequate as a politician he is. A good politician would know better how to hide the truth.

[JDPriestly]

50. Completely overlooking the mentally disabled, the mentally ill as well as the physically disabled

and ill.

I have friends in their 50s with debilitating cancers. They have to take medicines that disable them to the point that they cannot work. No employer would want to risk having them at work.

I also have friends with serious mental illness -- not all of them from poor families. They cannot work. They cannot get jobs.

[randome]

62. I just overlooked them, too. My bad.

Romney has shown himself to be completely tone deaf when it comes to politics.

[LanternWaste]

54. I do think that much can be made of it for those sitting on the fence.

His base won't be swayed regardless. However, I do think that much can be made of it for those sitting on the fence. And it makes for great negative branding too.

[NYC Liberal]

66. Yes that is what he meant and that IS the whole problem.

He's saying the poor should just starve.

[librechik]

12. Yes--"Obama lovers" are lying about needing a job food and healthcare.

If you ignore all facts about the economy and who the recession is affecting and how.

It's racist, it's moronic, and it follows very closely the elaborate hateful philosophy the RW encourages in its followers.

[Bobbie Jo]

13. That hit me the same way

Entitled to food? WTF?

What a soulless bastard.

[gollygee]

18. "They think they're entitled to not starve to death"

is how that read to me. Another Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake" moment, except he isn't even suggesting cake.

[Chorophyll]

19. I know. "They think they're entitled to food."

I mean, the entire spew was beyond repugnant. But FOOD. This is someone who can look at a starving infant and not feel anything. Unreal.

[VWolf]

21. Trust me, if he could find a way to charge citizens for air, he would. n/t

[KurtNYC]

32. He will put factories on the moon. To outsource where no man has outsourced before....

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. A civilization can't be measured only by how well the top 1% live, but must account for bottom 10%.

[silvershadow]

25. I am on disability. I used to get $200 a month in food stamps. But...

I got a raise of $40 or something last year on my disability. Just enough to push me over the limit on eligibility...They reduced my monthly food stamps from $200 down to $16. That's right, $16. Hardly worth the hassle of the constant hassle of paperwork and phone calls necessary to make sure that $16 keeps coming (which is what they want). Yes, food. Tell me about it.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

26. Oh my God, I am so sorry

WTF is going on in this country?

[silvershadow]

41. Thank you. I will survive. My parents (divorced, both retired and living on their own)

are able to squeeze out some to help me, thank God. I also am still able to garden. Last year it was to help me out, this year I gardened out of necessity. Next year I will have to plant a fall garden as well for the first time. But I am making it. Thanks again.

[PatSeg]

35. I have heard similar stories

from other people on disability. It appears to be a common problem. Crazy.

[silvershadow]

51. My "raise" was actually a net loss of about $140 a month. I have to make that

money up somewhere. In March or April I hit the donut hole, and had to start paying on medical bills too. It has been a rough year for me.

[PatSeg]

64. Your story is almost identical

to what a few people have told me, right down to the about $16 in food stamps. Actually I know of at least one person whose food stamps were reduced to exactly $16 and the math just didn't make any sense.

[hamsterjill]

27. That's what got me, too!

I just posted a similar comment in another thread. It was simply chilling to me that he thinks people are not entitled to food.

Cold bastard.

[BOG PERSON]

28. impoverishment creates jobs in 3 easy steps

(step 1) increases competition in the labor market

(step 2) thereby putting downward pressure on remuneration

(step 3) thereby putting more people back to work (for less!)

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

33. How anybody can vote for such a man is just a mystery to me

I think he just might be insane.

[TheKentuckian]

34. Less soul than a pocket calculator and lacking the heart displayed by a piece of stone.

I wouldn't vote for that piece of shit for Toilet Scrubber, Third Class.

[MissNostalgia]

37. I share the same sentiment

There is so much that I have taken from Romney's comments. Absolutely this man thinks no one is entitled to food, but not only just that but CLEAN food, water, and air.In Romney's & overall Republican's minds the middle class,females, poor, sick, disabled and/or those with melanin are expendable in the worst way.

[kestrel91316]

42. We think we are entitled to food in exactly the same way we think we are entitled to

breathable air and drinkable water.

Nervy, entitled little folk, aren't we?

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

44. Truthfully, it was so shockingly awful and horrifying

That it makes me a bit teary even thinking that there are people who think this way.

[PatSeg]

45. Jumped out at me as well

When is it alright to begrudge anyone FOOD? I guess those 47-48% think they are actually entitled to live as well. Such nerve!

[frylock]

46. that really stood out for me as well

[neeksgeek]

47. The whole thing leaves me much angrier than I was before the video broke

But food? FOOD is an entitlement? So what is his plan for the starving?

I think I know. Let them starve, maybe let them go get a bowl of gruel, if they attend a faith-based program... All this is very bad.

Or is he planning to outsource the soup kitchens too?

[MadrasT]

52. That one really stuck in my craw, too.

The fucking audacity of that arrogant buffoon.

He wants to be president of a country and doesn't care if its citizens starve.

What the everloving fucking kind of bullshittery is that?

It is astounding to me.

[Arugula Latte]

53. How far this country has fallen, that that is a very common belief among rich Republicans.

"Let them starve; I've got mine."

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

55. Dark Souls

'At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, 'it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.'

'Are there no prisons?"

'Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
'And the Union workhouses.' demanded Scrooge. 'Are they still in operation?'


'Both very busy, sir.'

'Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,' said Scrooge. 'I'm very glad to hear it.'

[Cleita]

56. Also, those who benefit from food stamps and other food aid are the elderly and

children. Neither demography are able to be responsible for themselves. I'm beginning to think this guy is stupid. It makes you wonder how those who have those degrees from Harvard get them. I'm beginning to think that a Harvard degree is worth no more than one from a diploma mill. I mean Bush and now Romney?

[rwsanders]

59. Didn't someone once say that LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were unalienable rights...

Why does the Repugnant party hate America so much?
Its too bad that more isn't taught in schools about FDR and how he proposed a second bill of rights that would have guaranteed those things for everyone.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

60. And why do they hate the Bible?

Jesus preached to HELP the poor, not to show arrogance and disdain and disgust to the poor.

[valerief]

65. The French said, "Fuck this," and whipped out the guillotines. And now the rich French pay

high taxes and shut their traps.

[jeff47]

67. Here's the truly insane thing about it

People don't starve to death peacefully.

The guillotines came out in Paris because the people were starving. And it wasn't the poor people getting their heads lopped off. Similar things happened in revolutions all around the world.

You'd think the rich would be smart enough to realize that feeding the poor isn't just the right thing to do, it also keeps the rich alive.

[TwilightGardener]

69. Yes. Food is basic survival, it's not a choice. People will do what they have to do

to survive.

[sad sally]

68. Is this whay he learned from his religious upbringing and practicing faith? I think not.

[WestWisconsinDem]

70. exactly...

If you don't agree with Mittens, you don't even deserve to live. With every massing day, the Evil that is Mitt Romney becomes more apparent.

[rbnyc]

73. Let them eat cake... (nt)

[Odin2005]

74. The 1% is out of touch and out of their minds.

[RoccoR5955]

77. Me either.

Heartless bastard!
Food is not an entitlement.
People in the US can starve before Willard the Rat will help them.
He can go pound salt into a rat hole.

[kentuck]

81. That's pretty cold...

NO, you cant have any more gruel !!

[Blue Owl]

82. Just shows ya what a giant POS that fuckstain is

n/t

[RevStPatrick]

83. It never ceases to amaze me how these religious fuck-wits...

...and remember, Mr. Romney is a BISHOP in his church... these uber-religious Jesusy and Brighamy types are so much more Darwinist "survival of the fittest" than any "evolutionist" has ever been.

People like Mr. Romney, seriously and without any doubt what-so-ever, want those who haven't successfully played the "survival of the fittest" game to FUCKING DIE ALREADY!!! They want the planet to themselves, and in their minds it's the little green pieces of paper and metal coins and positive numbers on the spreadsheets that represent "survival of the fittest." In my experience, people who are "evolutionists" tend to be much more empathetic.

I really didn't think that I could possibly get any more disgusted by Mr. Romney's behavior than after what happened last week when he "shot first and aimed later." But this latest episode is just... so... yuck... I don't even know what to call it. I do know, that if this disgusting creature were to somehow end up in the Oval, I and so many others would take to the streets and shut this whole fucker down...

[Major Hogwash]

84. It was so 15th century, it reminded me of fuedal kings and peons.

And guess which part we play in that scenario!

[subterranean]

86. He could have just said it like this:

He could have said something like "45 percent of voters are going to support President Obama no matter what. And about 45 percent will vote Republican no matter what. My job is not to worry about those people. My job is to convince the 10 percent in the middle." and left it at that. That's what a smart politician would have said. That would have been understandable. But no, he had to go and insult Obama supporters and say that they're all irresponsible parasites who don't pay taxes and think they're entitled to free food, housing and health care and refuse to take personal responsibility for their lives.

My question is, did he say this because it's what he really thinks, or just because he thought it would go over well with this small audience of wealthy donors? I'm not sure which is worse.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

87. I'm not surprised.

After Katrina the Bush Administration was astonished to discover they were obligated BY LAW to evacuate and take care of disaster victims for FREE.

Remember when the Right Wing was claiming anyone who didn't comply with the evacuation order should be arrested? It doesn't work that way.

[demwing]

88. It's the type of comment that would have perforated some necks during the French Revolution

Romney Antoinette, as it were

[PA Democrat]

89. Food stamps are not merely the right thing to do MORALLY,

food stamps are one of the most stimulative forms of government spending.

The industry research firm Moody's Economy.com tracked the potential impact of each stimulus dollar, looking at tax rebates, tax incentives for business, food stamps and expanding unemployment benefits.

The report found that "some provide a lot of bang for the buck to the economy. Others ... don't," said economist Mark Zandi.

In findings echoed by other economists and studies, he said the study shows the fastest way to infuse money into the economy is through expanding the food-stamp program. For every dollar spent on that program $1.73 is generated throughout the economy, he said.

"If someone who is literally living paycheck to paycheck gets an extra dollar, it's very likely that they will spend that dollar immediately on whatever they need - groceries, to pay the telephone bill, to pay the electric bill," he said.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/29/news/economy/stimulus_analysis/index.htm

[Matariki]

90. I don't like the use of the word 'entitlement' either

I think it's a deliberate equating of 'taking from the government' with the entitlement programs of Social Security and Medicare. A big pile of money (we've all paid in to) that Romney and his pals would just love to raid.