Mitt Romney's Gaffe-seekers and Their Success
The paradox of writing critically about the consistent “Gotcha” strategy of President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is that to write about it is to accede to the effort to create distractions from his destructive economic policies (and to a lesser extent his disastrous superintending of the “lead from behind” foreign policy that has eviscerated American influence).
The far-left Mother Jones magazine released a video of Gov. Romney at a fundraiser for large donors in which he said, as quoted by The Baltimore Sun, “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…they will vote for this president no matter what…these are people who pay no income tax...[M]y job is not to worry about these people…I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Some points of refutation of the Democrat’ spin that these quotes mean that Gov. Romney has “disdainfully” voiced his contempt for half the population.
1. Any candidate among donors tends to inflate his rhetoric, but it is a legitimate point that America through increasing entitlements has become a more dependent nation and this influences voting habits to reduce individual initiative. It does not literally mean that Gov. Romney believes that 47% of the nation is looking for handouts.
2. This is yet another attempt of Democratic sympathizers to control the campaign agenda to substitute Gov. Romney’s tin ear, unpublished taxes, riding his dog atop a van and allegedly premature criticism of the president’s Middle East and North Africa policies to replace discussions of the aforementioned economy and lack of any semblance of an effective foreign policy.
3. That 47% of the public pays no federal income tax would be a telling surprise to the public; if polled, according to my Towson students, the general public would have guessed it to be around 10%. There is little beyond the horserace and Romney gaffes and general rhetorical clumsiness which is covered by NBC, ABC and MSNBC.
I naïvely told some students that no national rhetorician could control the national agenda for four or more months leading up to a presidential election.
I may have been incorrect.
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Red Maryland: The Premier blog of conservative and Republican politics and ideas in the Free State, named one of Maryland's best political blogs by the Washington Post.
Professor Vatz teaches Persuasion at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion(Kendall Hunt, 2012, 2013)
Steve
5:16 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
That 47% number is Bogus. It's just a Neocon talking point. It's not based in fact.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2012/09/17/memo-to-mitt-romney-the-47-pay-taxes-too/?commentId=comment_blogAndPostId/blog/comment/960-6155-3239
Jennifer Tanko
5:34 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Fantastic article, Steve, thanks for sharing! I'm a 20-something, run my own small business and pay a (rather large) tax proportion in a lump sum every year and I'm very proud to do so. I wish less (read: none) of my taxes went to the development of weaponry, war, etc, (I'm not against the military but I think we've made enough bombs) but I'm proud that some my earnings go to social programs to help out those who didn't get some of the opportunities I got. Sure, some people abuse the system, but that's not a representative population of those who take advantage of our nation's safety net. I would love to see Mr. Romney comment more on this, perhaps after he releases his tax info?
RARE MARYLAND INDEPENDENT
6:38 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
President Obama has not shown an interest in the job. He likes the perks, likes tooling around the country, but working to get things done is not something he wants to do. President Bush was just as bad, but he is not the issue. But Gov. Romney just comes across as a rich guy who looks down on people. It is not what he said, it is how he said it. He is running for the greatest office in the world. Somehow, a president must find a way in this media culture to show high levels or integrity and keep a positive direction about self and country. He must find a way to pull people up, people of all colors and income levels. This was the great promise of Pres. Obama. If you were looking for someone to do work for you for anything, would having the person you are talking with constantly talk down about their competition sell you, or would having someone tell you, here is what I am about, these are my skills and how I can help you.
Neither party seems to care about our kids coming home from fighting in the desert without jobs, and major physical and mental problems.
Hopefully that leader we need can emerge in 2016, if we can make it that long.
Dori
3:23 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Independent, I would respectfully point out that from day one of his administration, Mr. Obama has dealt with a Congress that has pointedly opposed everything he pushed for. The Senate Minority Leader said that his primary goal was to make sure that he was a one-term president. Yes, both houses of Congress were Democratic for his first two years, but not veto-proof, and made it nearly impossible to pass anything unless there was an overwhelming consensus. Some members of the current Congress were publicly outspoken about their desire to see the government go into default. Their idea of compromise seems to be, their way, or no way. If you honestly believe that Mr. Obama has been a "do nothing" president, consider the Congress he's been trying to work with.
I would also suggest that you look into the work that this administration has done to support the armed forces, not only those who are still fighting, but those who return wounded, and those who have been discharged. This is from the White House's website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/veterans. Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Biden work extensively with military families. This is from today's Washington Post. Note that the article clearly says that a number of amendments offered by Republicans were added-- but look at who is opposing the bill now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/veterans-job-corps-bill-faces-procedural-vote/2012/09/18/c680b6f2-01e3-11e2-b257-e1c2b3548a4a_blog.html.
Steve
7:24 am on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
"Gaffe Seekers" don't have to try very hard. This Buffoon provides tons of ammo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l2J61379sEs#!
JDStuts
11:29 am on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
My God, Vatz is a train wreck. Dick, Romney is talking about you!
Don't you get it? You leech off the state taxpayers for salary, medical and pension. You are the person dependent on government.
Once again, feel free to join the rest of us in the private sector anytime you want to exercise your individual initiative.
Adam
12:00 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Vatz's employer, Towson U., and its history department, provided me a wonderful undergraduate education. Within that education was training in how to spot a straw man argument. Here, there's no question Romney created a straw man argument based on misconstrued conclusions where he mistakenly combined taxation statistics and political party voting patterns. Then, he proceeded to beat that straw man to the ground in his speech. As Vatz suggests, entitlement policy would be a good discussion, but taking the subtleties of entitlement spending into account might also be beneficial, or recognizing that Republicans and Democrats alike increased entitlements would also help.
It seems Vatz is suggesting we overlook a major Romney campaign gaffe, and perhaps instead develop more reasonable discussions from information we - independently – research and parse out of Romney's illogical conclusions and comments. It's not a bad idea if you're willing to wade deep into his unsound logic.
I too am taken aback by the public outrage over Mitt Romney’s comments, but in my case it’s only because political pundits deliver these types of misconstrued conclusions to their viewers and listeners all the time, with no national outrage. It becomes disconcerting when logical fallacies like the one Romney made leap from political punditry onto the presidential campaign stage.
By the way… I love the title of the new book, The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion. Clever! :-)
FIFA_archived
2:46 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Dr. Vatz, I believe your title may be incorrect as Professor of Miscommunication would be much more accurate. As an educator I would expect a more unbiased view, your red color shows through, your conclusions are opinion, not authentic research or resembling all facts.
JDStuts
3:10 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Your tax dollars hard at work!
Though Vatz seems to be the only one who misses that.
In his mind, he is one of the independent, self sufficient, initiative takers standing on his own in the free market while the rest of you engage in collectivist mind think.
The man is a taxpayer supported $93,000+ a year welfare queen.