No really, I do. I live and work in the inner DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax County--combined those four jurisdictions, which have well over one million people, gave President Hopey-Changey nearly two-thirds of their votes in 2008. So presumably, they are part of the 47% the Mitt the Twit was deriding by saying they are looking for handouts and don't pay taxes.
Only one little problem with that assertion, namely that Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax County are also among the richest addresses in the nation in terms of per capita income. There are more McMansions, Lexuses, boutique luxury shops and high end restaurants around here than you can shake your gold-plated walking stick at. I mean, this place is literally CRAWLING with liberal upper middle class nitwits...who, and I guess this does actually need to be pointed out, pay a shitload of fucking taxes. Not only are many of them in the highest income tax bracket, but the property taxes around here will take a bite out your ass as well. We even have the odious Virginia state personal property tax on vehicles, which stings all those Lexus drivers pretty good.
What's more, this is not the only wealthy liberal enclave by a LONG shot. My sister-in-law resides in a similar community in suburban Boston, my brother-in-law in another such area just outside New York and my own father and brother in the affluent college town of Charlottesville, Virginia. To say that all Obama supporters are looking for handouts and don't pay taxes is just plain daffy.
Of course, then there is the other little problem that according to the polls, Romney's most steadfast voting block is white people over the age of 65, in other words "welfare queens" who as a group suck down far more in Social Security and Medicare benefits than they've ever paid into the system. And don't get me started about a fucking filthy rich asshole who pays a tax rate on his endless array of investments that is less than HALF of what people pay who actually have to work for a fucking living.
I've stated on this blog that the only two ways Willard can win this thing is if the market melts down before election day or the Middle East completely blows up (or both). This first scenario is looking highly unlikely, and even the protests against the inflammatory The Innocence of Muslims movie have died back a bit. Obama was already looking really good for reelection before Romney's dumbass 47% comments came to light. Now, much to the chagrin of those of us who would love to see his fucking sellout ass humiliated, he looks like a virtual lock.
Bonus: "Damn these hard times, damn the coal mine, damn the good dreams gone cold...and while I'm at it, damn this crooked road"
Republicans need to emulate Pol Pot, who also wanted to "RESTART CIVILIZATION" (his exact term.)
ReplyDeletePaul Ryan's dogeared copy of Atlas Shrugged will be the glorious revolution's simple 2-step guide:
1. Dehumanize people first. ("Sweep aside those parasites..." ~Ayn Rand, in Galt's radio speech, Atlas Shrugged)
2. Deliberately empty the 47%'er cities and turn out the lights. ("Looking down, they could see the last convulsions...the lights of New York had gone out. Dagny gasped. "Don't look down!" Galt ordered sharply. ~Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged)
Willard doesn't even have a shot of winning his "home state," my own Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteIn another irony that shouldn't surprise anyone, the highest numbers of "47%ers" per capita reside in the deep south plus Idaho, all hardcore red states.
As much a fraud as is B.O., I'll take him over this corporate pirate (thanks, Matt Taibbi). Although calling Willard a pirate is undue praise, as real pirates at least put their own asses on the line and generally didn't pretend they were anything other than cutthroats and thieves.
The funny part is that Romney (unless one takes Ron Paul seriously) was the best candidate in the GOP nomination race. But the best candidate is so out of touch with the daily reality of the majority of Americans that he can't help but put his foot in his mouth every two weeks. He's a completely uninspiring candidate.
ReplyDeleteI was leaning the opposite way on my prediction. I didn't see how Obama could win. The Hope and Change mantra won't fly this time, many of those who voted for him in 2008 are demoralized, the GOP has been effective at mudslinging for four years and will be highly motivated to show up on election day, and incumbents simply don't get re-elected in this sort of economy. Add to that the simply incredible amounts of funding going into the 2012 races:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/78005.html
Plus, if Florida in 2000 was bad, things are getting much worse in the potential for rigging elections:
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4693
But it's looking increasingly like your view is more accurate.
The debates might change things if Obama slips up and Romney is stellar, but both of those scenarios are unlikely.
Romney complaining about people not paying taxes is rich beyond words. "Rich" in the stickey sweet meaning, like eating a bag of orange Circus Peanuts ...
ReplyDeleteAs grim as the future looks for the 99% after 30 years of bipartisan neoliberal economic policies, humor abounds watching Randian ideologues self-destruct under the weight of their own anti-social arrogance.
ReplyDeleteRandians were the corporate elites' most obvious dupes over the last 3 decades. Think of Greenspan, that intellectually vacuous Maestro, whose only claim to fame was crashing the American economy and further concentrating Wall Street's power. The stupid twit didn't see the flaws in Randian ideology? And Mitt's finger prints are all over the crime scene and threaten to expose too many of Wall Street's real looters and moochers. Randians served their purpose and it resulted in financial disaster. Now Romney and his sidekick are being thrown under the bus.
Elite factions appear to be picking sides. They don't all embrace Social Darwinism. Those who have a few brains are smart enough to remember where it leads.