Are You One of the 47%?

Dear Madame L,

What do you think about presidential candidate Mitt Romney's remarks made to a group of rich people a few months ago, in which he said that 47% of the American people aren't worth his time because they're leeches who don't even pay taxes?

Sincerely,

Not One of Them

Dear Not One of Them,

Madame L is not aware of ANYONE in this country who doesn't pay any taxes at all. Even those who don't pay federal income tax (which is apparently the 47% Mitt Romney was referring to) pay local and state taxes, property taxes, taxes on gasoline, and so on. 

And it appears that those 47% include many Republicans and many people who DO intend to vote for Mitt Romney this year. They include, for example, many who are on Social Security, receiving benefits they have earned by paying into them for the many years they were working hard to make a living. And they include people who are making so little money that they aren't required to pay income taxes; again, many of these non-tax-payers are planning to vote for Mitt Romney and aren't even aware that they fit into his 47%.

Madame L is amused by this attempt to explain that Mitt Romney was "begging for money," not "baring his soul," when he made those statements. The blogger writes:

"Romney is a clean-living Mormon talking to a man who hosts parties wherein sex acts are performed poolside. These aren’t guys who would choose to commune under other circumstances. He is at this event to tell people who can afford to drop $50,000 on dinner exactly what they want to hear... That Romney made these remarks on that night tells us only that this is the sort of bedtime story Marc Leder and his friends ask to hear over and over again. It is perfectly likely that Romney believes 47 percent of Americans sit around being entitled, this being standard Republican fodder, but if we don't buy what Romney says in his convention speech I'm not sure why we'd believe what he says to people he needs even more immediately than he needs voters."

Does the contrast between Mitt Romney's clean-living Mormonism and the decadent lifestyle of Marc Leder et al. resonate with you, Dear Not One of Them?

If you were a candidate for president, from whom would you beg for money?

And whom would you accuse of not being good enough for you to care about?

Sincerely,

Madame L

P.S. There are 49 days left, 7 weeks, until the election. Are you getting tired of reading about the candidates and the made-up-by-pundits-and-rabble-rousers issues? Have you decided yet for whom you will vote? Please let Madame L know what you're thinking about all this!