CAUGHT ON TAPE: ROMNEY DECLARES HALF OF AMERICANS TO BE PARASITES

From Mother Jones, courtesy of some five or six friends on facebook:

During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don't assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them. Fielding a question from a donor about how he could triumph in November, Romney replied:

"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. 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 went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

And

Here was Romney raw and unplugged—sort of unscripted. With this crowd of fellow millionaires, he apparently felt free to utter what he really believes and would never dare say out in the open. He displayed a high degree of disgust for nearly half of his fellow citizens, lumping all Obama voters into a mass of shiftless moochers who don't contribute much, if anything, to society, and he indicated that he viewed the election as a battle between strivers (such as himself and the donors before him) and parasitic free-riders who lack character, fortitude, and initiative. Yet Romney explained to his patrons that he could not speak such harsh words about Obama in public, lest he insult those independent voters who sided with Obama in 2008 and whom he desperately needs in this election. These were sentiments not to be shared with the voters; it was inside information, available only to the select few who had paid for the privilege of experiencing the real Romney.

More here, with video.

Wow.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I already assume this is what Romney and his ilk think. But I am surprised: indeed, I'm personally offended. The head of the Republican Party just called me, and tens of millions of other Americans just like me, a parasite. And it's got me wondering if this is what all Republicans think of me, and, if they don't, why on earth are they supporting human scum like Romney?

Opinion-types in the press have been saying for several days now, after his notable gaffes at the Republican National Convention and the crass political opportunism he displayed after the embassy attack in Libya, that the Romney campaign is in total disarray. But today, some mainstream media pundits have even gone so far as to say that this video leak heralds the absolute end of his presidential run. I certainly hope so. It remains to be seen how much media play these damning words are going to get. If voters don't understand just how utterly depraved this man is, he might still have a chance. And then what happens when a hateful, clueless, piece of human excrement who hates half of the American people becomes their leader?

Romney was using exactly the kind of language the French aristocracy was using right before the revolution. If there were any justice in the universe, he would share their fate. Sadly, that's probably not going to happen.

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