The Starting Point

So here’s an edited-together email exchange I had with a friend:

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Him:

From the tape:

Mr. Romney said that “my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

Then... he added a moment later: “I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be, uh, Latino.”

This is over, dude. Over.

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Me:

I hope so. But I worry that half the nation is nodding their heads and going "yup, guy has a point..."

Remember how the GOP thought they had it locked up in 08 w/ "cling to god and their guns."

Plus, look at Missouri and see how little Todd "Mr. Rapey" Aikin's numbers have fallen. People will still vote for this douche because he’s NOT Claire McCaskill. Reminds me of that Pennsylvania Rep in 2006 who nearly got elected after he admitted to cheating on his wife AND trying to strangle his friggin’ mistress. Dude STILL got 47% of the vote. So nearly half the people in his district were either totally OK with cheating and attempted murder, or hate people the Dems THAT much. [NOTE: The Choking Man was Fightin' Mike Sherwood -- I looked it up.]

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Him:

Yeah, I hear that. But seems that at this point, in a tight national election, this comment could kill him with the 5 percent of "independent" voters, whoever the hell they really are.

We will see. Obama's people in Chicago are rubbing their eyes this morning, surprised to see it's already Christmas.

Perhaps most telling: FoxNews.com still hasn't displayed the story ...

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Him:

Well, here you go:

 Looks like they're going to play it straight – “I totally meant to say that”.

I think this is a smart approach -- the people this comment is likely to piss off are Obama supporters who were lost to him anyway. I really do think the other half of the country is going to nod their head and say "yup, he's got a point." The only people this might affect are the few last, true undecideds who, let's face it, are basically bllithering idiots who are watching "Honey Boo Boo" instead of the news, and will likely vote Romney anyway because, well, they're blithering idiots.

Because here's the thing -- and I hate to say this -- but he kind of does have a point. The 47% thing also has a grain of truth. I don't get as mad about the phrase 'entitlement society' as, say, Uncle Steve, but I recognize it exists, and that the Dems have basically kept themselves in office by pandering to this segment of the nation. I sort of view it as a dark bargain, in the same way the pro-business GOPers view their association with the evangelicals. By keeping this segment of society afloat, the Dems assure themselves of a solid base of unquestioning voters who will keep putting them in office so they can pursue their agenda. Again, it's a purely cynical calculation. Like gay marriage. I don't think anyone in Washington really gave a second thought to gay marriage until Karl Rove pulled it out of his ass in 2004 and turned it into an issue because, he rightly figured, it would rile up a lot of likely GOP voters. The Dems were basically forced to adopt the opposite position (which they also didn't care about) because, frankly, at that point where were the gays going to go?

This is the same kind of thing.

All these ignorant Teabillies, may of whom are on welfare or some other support program, aren't going to get offended by this because they don't self-identify as being on government support. They delusionally cling to the notion that they're one chinchilla farm away from having a rotating car elevator in the carport on their trailer.

I think this whole thing feels like tempest in a teapot, less like people are really outraged than Huffpost WANTS them to be outraged.

Of course, I could be wrong.

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Him:

I hear you. And also you need to post this to a blog of some kind -- Among the Teabillies, or something you could call it. [So, here you go. -D.]

I am telling you -- I will bet $5 that this does register in the polls. The guy just dismissed half the country as being Welfare Queens. I think the entitlement society issue just CAN'T apply to that many people ...

We will see

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Me:

I will actually take that bet -- if only in the hopes that I lose.

If it turns up, we should see it on 538, (which, if you aren't following you should be) in a couple of days.

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Him:

Done. And to me, that's a lot of money.

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Me:

William Saletan writes a deeply thoughtful, highly nuanced piece comparing Obama's 'God 'n' Guns' gaffe to Romney's '47%' gaffe -- and he totally supports your position about which is worse (hint, rhymes w/ Bomny's).

I, however, will bitterly cling to my position that this will go unnoticed because most of the people in this country are not deeply thoughtful and highly nuanced.

Case in point -- 15% of Republicans in Ohio think Ronmey killed Osama.

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Him:

Hahaha. I just fucking love that.