Conservatives Do Massive Facepalm Over Romney’s ‘Very Poor’ Gaffe

[zipplewrath]

26. It's him

As much fun as these "gaffes" are, the bottom line is that they aren't "gaffes" at all. Some talking head one time said the modern definition of a "gaffe" in politics is when someone gets "caught" telling the truth.

I wish there was an effective way to make the larger point. Look, even if you take in the whole comment in full context, the larger point he is making is just plain wrong, especially for someone who is running for president. Clinton made the point that one of the harder parts of being president is that EVERYTHING is your problem. And as has been pointed out frequenctly, under any president, only the really HARD problems make it to your desk. You have to be president of ALL the people. You get elected because you advocate a certain set of policies, and you end up working a boat load of other problems instead.

In the larger context, he was trying to say that his primary focus will be on the middle class. He'll work to improve the middle class, and do maintainance on the "safety net", and ignore the upper classes. But as president there is literally no way to do that. You not only have to "pay attention" to everyone, but you have to actively work to address issues that come up with all of them.

The Kennedys were raised with an understanding that they were privileged and that this meant they had a larger responsibility to those who were not (well, politically anyway). They weren't taught to "look down" upon them and believe they had to "lift them up". They were taught to look upon them as peers, who deserved their attentions.

Romney believes he is priviliged because he "deserves" to be. He believes those that are not are primarily there because they deserve to be. He's concerned about making sure that everyone "gets" what they "deserve", and he wants to be the person that decides what they deserve.

It's the dog on the roof syndrome. The dog didn't deserve to be in the car, he only deserved to be ON the car, and only because of his "social safety net" attitude. He wouldn't abandon all responsibility for the dog, so he did basically the minimum he felt the dog deserved.

One of those "funny" short hand descriptions of the two parties I heard once was not all that far from the truth.

Democrats live in constant fear that somewhere, someone isn't getting something they need.
Republicans live in constant fear that somewhere, someone is getting something they don't deserve.

Democrats will give too much to too many to ensure that no one goes without.
Republicans will give too little to too few to ensure that no one gets too much.


Romney wants to make sure the middle class gets what it deserves. The rest belongs to the 1%.