Home > Perspective

The Agitprop Against Romney -- It Isn't Working.

by Conservativity Staff,
Originally Posted: 9/18/2012 1:07:19 PM

Mitt Romney made a private speech to GOP donors, in which he said that: (i) There are 47 percent of the country that will vote for President Obama because they pay no taxes; and (ii) They will vote for President Obama because they believe that they are entitled to a living from the government. The video was surreptitiously taped, and then published by Mother Jones, a left-wing magazine, on its website. The Left immediately pounced on Romney as a heartless poor-hating plutocrat, which is a load of bunkum. The Obama campaign echoed the press by stating that Mr. Romney had “disdainfully written off half the nation.”

A less courageous politician would have timidly apologized and prayed that the uproar would die down. Mitt Romney, however, did not back down, and in so doing, showed for the second time in the last two weeks that he will never be ashamed of his positions. Even more, Mitt Romney has finally showed the conservatives among us that he truly is conservative. While the press, long in the tank for the Left, attempts to proffer a Goebbels-like “Big Lie” that the Romney campaign is in “disarray” because Mr. Romney spoke these conservative truths, Mr. Romney shows that he has integrity, by not backing down from his principles when the press acts as if those principles are somehow wrong.

To recap what Mitt Romney said,

“All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.”

Mitt Romney was correct that 47 percent of the people who are federal tax filers pay no taxes or pay negative taxes (receiving refunds in excess of all withholding). Mr. Romney was also correct that there are people who believe that they are entitled to government-paid healthcare, food, housing and other things. Are all 47 percent Mr. Obama’s supporters? Probably not. Is all of Mr. Obama’s support centered among those who want the government to pay their way through life? No. But the entitlement class, and the public employee union types are likely to vote in highly disproportionate numbers in favor of Mr. Obama.

The press realizes that Mr. Obama has placed its beloved socialist/statist agenda on the line. The electorate soundly pounded on the socialist agenda that Mr. Obama exemplifies in 2010; the early indication (from polls with reliable internals) is that the wave was starting to crash into the statist mechanism in 2010, and the full force of it will be felt on November 6.

Mr. Romney could have ruined it all. He could have stated that he was “wrong,” or “sorry,” or worse, he could have lied and attempted to deny responsibility for his words. Instead, Mr. Romney stood his ground. He told reporters that “those who are reliant on government are not as attracted to my message of slimming down government.” An understatement to be sure, but it is honest and it is entirely consistent with Mr. Romney’s previous statements. I cannot help but think that Mr. Romney is going to benefit from honesty and integrity, as the people resent being treated as if they are morons when Mr. Obama tries to convince them that a three month old YouTube video that allegedly insulted Islam caused a random raid on Benghazi, Libya on September 11.

The citizens of the United States of America are not idiots! To succeed, the “big lie” requires either a stupid populace, or a populace that has been beaten down into submission. We are neither. And, as Mr. Obama’s henchmen in the press and at 1600 Pennsylvania try to push the “big lie,” it falls flat.

Rush Limbaugh has rightly stated that, given Mr. Obama’s advertising assault, which has placed his campaign into heavy debt, and the coordinated “stories” from his willing accomplices in the media, Mitt Romney should be more than 20 points down, and Mr. Obama should be on his way to a landslide similar to what Mr. Reagan accomplished in 1984. However, the micro-bounce that came from the media’s fawning coverage of the Democrat convention is gone.

As of September 18, an average of Gallup and Rasmussen’s tracking polls shows Romney +0.5. We average Gallup and Rasmussen, and ignore the others, because only Gallup and Rasmussen actually try to be neutral. Gallup’s poll is Obama+1 on 3050 registered voters, while Rasmussen is Romney+2 on 1500 likely voters. Therefore, I believe that Rasmussen is more accurate. But I digress slightly. The point is that Mr. Obama is losing this election.

Therefore, the left realizes that the entire ideology is in danger. If the people reject Mr. Obama and give the Senate to the GOP, the result will be a dramatic rightward shift. Government will shrink, and fairly rapidly, as President Romney and Vice President Ryan move decisively to stave off federal ruin by locking in growth with a lower flatter tax and regulatory rollbacks. They will also work to balance the budget by locking in lower expenses with reform of every Federal outlay program. Once the prosperity kicks in, the Left will be in for 20 years of marginalization.

The Left is all about government command and control of our lives. Therefore, its press arm, which Rush on September 18, 2012 accurately referred to as “Democrats with bylines,” jumps on everything that Mr. Romney might say that could be spun into something that might sound offensive. The goal? Smear Mr. Romney and/or make Mr. Obama look good.

Therefore, Mr. Romney’s comments above are alleged to be his statement that he “does not care” about 47 percent of the country (again Mr. Romney spoke of 47 percent of those who file federal tax returns), which he absolutely did not say. Instead Mr. Romney said that he cannot win their votes. Such a statement is accurate; Mr. Romney believes that government dependence is fundamentally wrong, a position with which Conservativity strongly agrees.

The left and its operatives that constitute the majority of the media are desperately trying to keep Barack Obama as President of the United States. Lying about Mitt Romney’s comments is certainly not below them. Our only consolation is that the electorate seems to be wise to these outbursts of agitprop.