Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Thu May 3, 2012, 06:01 PM May 2012

Mitt Romney, who thinks government workers are unfairly overpaid, meets firemen who work two jobs

Mitt Romney, who thinks government workers are unfairly overpaid, meets firemen who work two jobs

by Laura Clawson

Boy, if you listen to him some of the time, Mitt Romney just wants everyone to live really well. At a northern Virginia fundraiser, showing that he feels for the middle class, Romney cited a firefighter struggling to make ends meet:

"I spoke with a fireman yesterday, and he has a one-bedroom apartment, and his wife is pregnant, and he can't afford a second bedroom," he said, referring to a visit to New York City. "I asked the firefighters I was meeting with, about 15 or them, how many had had to take another job to make ends meet, and almost every one of them had."

You'd think, to read that, that Romney was suggesting he thinks that's a less than ideal situation, firefighters having to work two jobs or unable to afford a two-bedroom apartment. But while that may have been his implication in that moment, Jonathan Chait flags a quote from Romney's stump speech that reflects his policy positions on how many bedrooms firemen should be able to afford: that "we will stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits than the taxpayers they serve."

The unfairness he's talking about, of course, isn't the unfairness of a quarter of workers earning less than two-thirds of the median income, or low-wage workers becoming an older and more educated group. He's certainly not talking about the unfairness of taxpayers paying a higher tax rate than he does on less annual income than he earns in a day. These are all unfair—and all things Mitt Romney's policies would increase. No, the thing that's unfair to him is that the public sector has lagged somewhat in the race to the bottom. Stories about firefighters with pregnant wives are just a lame attempt at window-dressing on his real position, the one all his policy proposals promote.

I wonder if he told those firefighters how unfairly overpaid he thinks they are.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/03/1088538/-Mitt-Romney-who-thinks-government-workers-are-unfairly-overpaid-meets-firemen-who-work-two-jobs

Mitt Romney clearly doesn't listen to himself speak. Clueless!

Romney "has a record of laying off firefighters"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002640347
7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Mitt Romney, who thinks government workers are unfairly overpaid, meets firemen who work two jobs (Original Post) ProSense May 2012 OP
I know there's a psych term for it... Wait Wut May 2012 #1
The term is ProSense May 2012 #2
LOL! Wait Wut May 2012 #4
LOL! n/t ProSense May 2012 #6
He will still get some of their vote Risen Demon May 2012 #3
That is the sad thing. A large percentage of union people listen to Fox news and vote bluestate10 May 2012 #7
K & R Scurrilous May 2012 #5

bluestate10

(10,942 posts)
7. That is the sad thing. A large percentage of union people listen to Fox news and vote
Fri May 4, 2012, 12:52 AM
May 2012

republican. That to me is akin to cutting their own throats. If their unions are wiped out, their own wages will plummet as businesses squeeze them for every penny. Republicans are working to wipe out unions. Republicans claim that they want union members to decide how their dues are spent instead of union leaders, but their goal is to eliminate the influence of unions on states labor policies, and bring about uniform right to work laws across the country when workers can't organize and are paid whatever owners feel is appropriate.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Mitt Romney, who thinks g...