A video of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaking to a group of wealthy GOP donors during a private reception in May is generating heat, according to an article in The New York Times Tuesday.
In the video, Romney describes to the donors how 47 percent of Americans are “people who pay no income tax” and are “dependent upon government,” according to the Times article. He goes on to say that the same 47 percent will vote for President Barack Obama over him.
Mother Jones, a politically liberal magazine, posted portions of the video online Monday afternoon.
Shortly after the video went viral, Americans shared their reactions on popular social networking sites and in the comments sections of major online news sites.
Romney responded to the video, telling reporters that he was “speaking off the cuff in response to a question,” according to the Times article.
First, this incident should serve as a reminder to politicians (and anyone else in the spotlight), to choose their words wisely, even when those words are exchanged behind closed doors.
That being said, should Romney’s speech be generating this much heat? No.
Yes, his choice of words was poor. Yes, he made sweeping generalizations about the 47 percent.
But the heart of Romney’s message isn’t all that shocking.
Our country’s welfare system is incredibly disorganized. People can and do manipulate the system, and yet, they continue to receive check after check after check.
Romney is tapping into an idea that a lot of people probably agree with.
Looking forward, it will be interesting to see what impact this video will have on the rest of Romney’s campaign. For what it’s worth, a number of the news websites that have reposted the video contain a sensationalized headline. The people visiting those sites should ignore those headlines, actually view the video and decide for themselves what Romney meant.