Oh, my.
This will be twisted, contorted, taken out of context and otherwise used against him.
In a CNN interview with Soledad O'Brien, Mr. Romney said he was not concerned about the very poor. He hurriedly went on to say there is a social safety net for the very poor and, if it has holes in it, he will fix them as President.
Mr. Romney went on to say he was not concerned about the very rich. They are doing fine, Mitt says, just fine, and he should know because he lunches with them daily. Mr. Romney says he is interested in the 90 to 95% of Americans who are anxious and scared and want someone they can have confidence in to help them.
Guess what is being reported?
No, not that Mr. Romney is concerned about the vanishing middle class or that he wants to do a really good job for America. The media outlets I checked after his interview went with some version of "Mitt Romney does not care for the very poor."
On this basis, Jesus would have been severly criticized for saying, "The poor you have with you always."
Oh, wait a minute. He was criticized for His statement.
There are a lot of reasons not to like Mitt Romney. I personally dislike him for all of them. Still, he deserves a fair chance to mis-state for himself. He did not say he would let the poor starve or die under a bridge. He was making an odd, "oops" kind of statement about caring for the vast middle of Americans who have no social safety net.
If you dislike Mr. Romney because he is uber-wealthy, has a shark-like PAC that he denies leading but staffs with people who sleep in his vest, is a complete hypocrite on health care issues, has waffled more than IHOP and only released his tax reports when forced, well and good. But if you are going to dislike him because someone lifts eight words completely out of context, shame on you, Gomer Pyle, shame on you.
Opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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