Mitt Romney Sincerely Hates You

[phantom power]

The Republican Party: a big ball of racism, class anger, and projection.

I think the reason these videos are so compelling is that this is the first time we’ve gotten a full earful of what Romney sounds like when he’s being sincere. What’s amazing about these videos is that he expresses conviction that we almost never hear from him. His anger at people who feel “entitled to food” was so much more sincere than, say, his nostalgia at remembering his father giving roses to his mother. It’s so startling that Jonathan Chait, who was, by his own measure, eager to give Romney the benefit of the doubt, is now reeling at what a hateful bastard the man turned out to be.

...

It’s always entertaining when a centrist white male Democrat gets exposed to the real asshole lurking underneath the genial exteriors of the handful of Republicans who have managed to get centrist white male Democrats to think they’re not so bad. Alas, for the queers, the ladies, and the people of color, imagining that there’s a Republican politician left standing who means well but is just a tad conservative is a luxury we cannot afford. “He isn’t so bad” isn’t something that makes sense when contemplating someone who would veto your right to marry, force you to have a baby against your will, and enact spending cuts that are only popular with Republicans because they disproportionately hurt people that look like you. From our vantage point, it’s easy to see that if you’re a white dude who means well but is a little conservative, you should just be a Democrat. Much to our dismay, there’s plenty of room for you in the party.

Not that I think the lesson will stick or anything. We went through this process with John McCain, who was applauded as a reasonable conservative, and then exposed to be a seething mass of anger and resentment against ordinary Americans just trying to get by. And we’ll probably go through it again in 2016. But I just want to be clear: Beyond learning this about Romney (or McCain or whoever), we need to realize this attitude of obsessive sneering at the lower classes is what being a Republican is about. And it’s a problem that actually echoes through the classes. Wealthy Republicans sneer at everyone. Upper middle class Republicans (and sadly, some Democrats) sneer at the lower middle classes, and see them as crass and wonder why they don’t just get a little better. Middle class Republicans generally obsess over why service sector employees aren’t more docile and cheery. White working class Republicans obsess over what the poor are doing, especially if they’re poor people of color. There aren’t really poor Republicans, so I think I can finish up with that. If there’s any doubt that this is their favorited form of discourse, I invite you to go to Facebook and look at what the Republicans you know are talking about.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/20/mitt-romney-sincerely-hates-you/

[a geek named Bob]

1. I so distraught!

and here my wife and I were going to invite him to this saturday's BBQ and jam session...

[hfojvt]

2. I doubt if that is true

For one thing, he does not know me from Adama.

And should people feel "entitled" to food? I wrote this quote down from "Education of a Radical" by Scott Nearing

"The 'you work - I eat' principle lies at the basis of all class divided communities. It separates people instead of bringing them together. It is the antithesis of cooperation. Running rampant in the United States it is today one of the greatest threats to the future of a healthy republic." p. 198

People who feel entitled to food would seem to be those who think they should get it even if they don't work.

Some people, probably all people at some point in their lives, need help. Some people need lots of help, but they should not feel entitled to help. They should get help if they need it, but they should also be trying to move to the day when they won't need it. To be looking ahead to a day when they can pay it back and pay it forward.

[phantom power]

3. Are you especially worried about people abusing the social safety net?

[Arugula Latte]

5. And you really think this is a major "problem" in this country?

You're buying into Mitt's lying b.s. about millions of able-bodied-but-loafing Americans waiting for handouts. What utter nonsense.

And you put yourself out there as a big "Christian."

[hfojvt]

8. I think it is not a good thing

If somebody else thinks it is bad, well I certainly agree with that. Whether it is one person or a hundred or a million, and I personally have seen more than one.

Is it a major problem? Well, it tends to undermine any effort to help the poor, and again I think that is a bad thing. I want to help people who really need help, I don't think we do any good by denying that it exists or by attacking people who have concerns about it. I share those concerns, but feel it is better to help three scammers for every seven truly needy people than to not help those seven, and am willing to work for ways to reduce the scamming.

But the scamming runs beyond that. I see it on the job, people who apparently think they should be paid for just sitting around and talking. They feel perfectly happy to get paid (or eat) while other people do the work. And that tends to drag us all down. The more people see of that, the more they feel like "everybody is doing it, so why shouldn't I do it too?"

As for being a Christian, or a big Christian, usually that includes - renouncing evil. Well what is evil? The classic seven deadly sins were - envy, anger, pride, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. Sloth is one of them.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. then the feeling is mutual. n/t

[Spazito]

6. Not so long ago I would have said this is overreaching hyperbole but...

after hearing Romney say the following:

All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement.

More than the words themselves, the vitriolic loathing with which Romney spits out the word "entitled" prefacing the healthcare, food, housing part is jaw-dropping and vomit-inducing. It IS filled with hate, imo.

[lunatica]

7. Just knowing someone is a Republican is enough for me to know they're hateful

And I mean that as in full of hate. They hate women, blacks, Latinos, foreigners, Muslims and all, and I mean all poor people.