Fallout From Republican Nominee Mitt Romney's Video Comment Continues

Sept. 18, 2012 - PRLog -- Voters throughout the northeast, from cities and towns across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, are up in arms over recent videotaped comments by Republican nominee Mitt Romney, in which the presidential candidate secretly referred to 47 percent of Americans as “dependent upon government.”  

The comments – which Mr. Romney later described as off-the-cuff during a hastily-called press conference – have ignited a firestorm of criticisms only a few weeks before the US presidential election, effectively sealing his fate.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what.  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, “Romney told a roomful gathering of conservative millionaires during a recent fundraising event.
“And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax.”

Romney has repeatedly been described as anti-middle class by Obama supporters, but the tape’s content has now galvanized support for the incumbent president, who’s been under a barrage of attack ads linking him to what supporters say was an unavoidable increase in the number of food stamp applicants – an increase due mostly to the economy, which president Obama inherited from the previous Republican administration of George W. Bush.  

In the videotaped, released by a source to Mother Jones, an upbeat and energized Romney could be seen addressing what appeared to be an indoor gathering of affluent donors, telling them at one point, “My job is not to worry about those people.  I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Reaction was swift: “The man who spoke these words -- who demonstrates such disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans -- is the other side's choice for president of the United States,” Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, shot back in a statement released to the media.  
“He wants to lead our country.”

Ordinary Americans, like Georges Edward, a school teacher, are outraged.  “For the first time, we’ve got a front row seat in front of the man who wants to lead this country.  And this is what we’re hearing.  It’s a shame,” he fumed.  
“He’s made clear he will not be the president of all Americans, if he’s elected…I mean, how insulting to the country he wants to lead.”

Rudy Chase, a democrat running for a New York City Council seat in Brooklyn, was more direct: “This is a man who enjoys zero support from the African-American community,” and yet, “He wants to be the President of all of us.  That’s a practical impossibility.”

As the fallout continues, average Americans are beginning to see Mr. Romney under a totally different light, citing among other things, his nakedly persistent refusal to release his tax returns for the past 5 to 10 years, as clamored by the public.  “I knew something had to be wrong,” Albert Johnson, a construction worker from New Haven, Connecticut, said of Romney's refusal.  
“He wants to be president and has presented his tax proposals, but he’s refused to release his own taxes to the public.  That doesn’t make any sense.”