Zeke Miller/Buzzfeed
If you look at the for-public-consumption version of this event, you'll see Mitt Romney surrounded by what appears to be an enormous crowd of supporters in South Carolina yesterday.
But look at the picture posted by Buzzfeed's Zeke Miller, above, and you'll see an awful lot of empty space. Zeke writes:
"Only 100 supporters attended the event, billed as a "Grassroots Rally and Discusses Jobs and the Economy with Supporters" by the campaign. Staffers removed the tall ladder at the side of the room to prevent photographers from capturing the vast empty space between the press file and the crowd."
A candidate who spends so much time identifying with the one percent can hardly expect the cheers of the other 99.
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LOL that's what happens when you dont give free bus rides and hoover rounds as door prizes.
maybe he should have had some chips/dips and such.
Mitts Staffers had to come up with some created camera angles.
I keep looking forwards to this moment in the debates.
Newt: "Do you accept that religion is the basis of morality?"
Mitt: "Definitely."
Newt: "Then at what point after your endorsement of abortion and gay rights did you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"
The Mitt-bot would then short out of course. (Good thing that nobody in the GOP primaries is willing to hit all of Mitt's little problems in one question. This leaves it available for the general election.)
It doesn't matter anymore. Mitt is the only one with the infrastructure and money to go beyond Florida primary. He is all but the nominee.
It looks about right; 1% showing up to support the 1%'s choice of candidate.
I think this is a great example of how POWERFUL the visual imagery is when created on Television. This can not be understated.
Having been to many such rallies where later it was covered on the news and the crowd of no more than forty people suddenly appeared like a full house with hundreds of spectators (merely the same footage shot from several opportunistic angles).
I find it ironic that the one time we get an unexpected look at Romney from the vantage of "behind the curtain," we see just how much of an hollow man, a stuffed man, Romney truly is.
Looks like Mitt needed to serve some punch and pie.
Shoulda advertised free pitchforks and torches!
You know, I have come to the conclusion that Romney sees himself as the father, Joe Kennedy, trying to buy an election. Now that worked for the Kennedy's because they really did understand the lives of every day people--as most Democrats do. They also received the backing of everyday people. Mitt appeals to the corporations and big money. He has enough money to buy an election alone--let alone with corporate backing.
While not necessarily important to this message---we need to get money OUT OF ELECTIONS!
What I really do NOT understand is people I KNOW, people I am RELATED TO--we are all 'regular people'--none of us have massive amounts of money agreeing with many Rethugs (not the OLD Republicans). We have all worked hard for what we have. But some of them are for the concepts that these candidates are touting! I truly do not comprehend that at all!
PamL S, I could have written your last paragraph, myself. The friends and relatives you refer to, have been sold the idea that they are part of the 1%. Mind-boggling!
The very same brain mechanism that creates faith in an invisible and unprovable God, in spite of the phenomenal double-think necessary to sutstain it, is used by the Republican machine to keep their supporters blindly marching on. "Knowledge is dangerous - don't trust an intelligent person," "Trickle-down economics," "Job-creators," "Socialists," "Muslim president." Tie it all to "Christian morality" and they just line up and sign on. Nothing short of some serious education can possibly help.
The picture is misleading - there were thousands of corporations there!!! Don't you see all their shoes and clothes and jewelry? Wait, what? You mean corporations aren't people? But Mitt said they are...
Great post. Trouble is they are there lurking in the shadows ready to pounce. Soon the voter ID will be used to record who voted how and those not voting their way will be blacklisted(secretly at first)
It is showtime,tax loopholes allow all to do what he does,how many jobs does he create with this prop,not overseas jobs but american? GOP feed the wealthy tax the middle cut the poor.
Rachell is wrong he is not Mr 22% or Mr 15% he is:
Mr 1%
Name any candidate that represents the 1% better in anyway.
He is genetically, socially and economically the perfect representation of the 1%. His parents , his boarding school, his work career and the overall arc of his life defines the 1%. As Rachell pointed out he only needs the actual pointy mustache to twirl.
Mr 1%
Maybe the large amount of 'supporters' photo is doctored by Faux News, Just like they've done so often in past.
In every debate Romney is condescending to his opponents and he will do the same to Obama. Romney thinks his business experience and wealth makes him better and smarter than Obama. That attitude will ooze out in every debate with Obama. His gaffes and lack of humility are going to lose him votes. I predict he will self destruct just like every Republican opponent has done. Except this will happen when he is in the national campaign.
The condescending attitude toward President Obama may turn off Independents (which could prove unfortunate for Romney) but it will thrill the racist base. In a debate, Obama could wipe the floor with Romney, who doesn't easily think on his feet and is gaffe prone. I don't believe that will change any Republican minds though. They will immediately discount it as if it never happened, just as they do with anything else they don't want to hear.
If Romney talks down to Obama, it will really turn off voters.
I hope during the debate tonight he's asked about that steel plant in South Carolina that Bain bankrupted after raiding its pension fund, causing the federal government to have to bail out that pension fund. Of course Bain walked away with millions, now explain how you'll apply solid business principles like that to fixing the economy.
Now if each of those people represents one corporation...
Romney isn't the one percent. He's the one in a million.
Are there really a thousand Americans more wealthy than he is?
Many of us are more weatlhy that Mitt. I don't have as much money, but I am far richer. I have my husband of 29 years (next month) who loves me. My 5 Tibetan Spaniels adore me. My mother loves me. I have many friends. While poor, my spouse and I have always had enough to help others. I have no idea how many people have stayed with us and that we've supported while they get their lives together. We don't own as much, but we have paid for everything. We have no mortgage on our home. Our cars are paid for. We have a little debt, but nothing we can't pay off eventually. As long as Jerry has his job, we will survive. Not everyone needs to be a millionaire to be happy. I have a great life without millions of dollars and I wouldn't trade if for all of Mitts millions. People with that much money worry all the time about how to keep it and get more. When you don't have it, you don't worry about losing it. I think I am a far richer person than he. I know that when I die, I can honestly say I have never hurt anyone purposfully nor have I ever made other's lives harder. I respect my fellow humans and try to be at peace with all people. Can Mitt say any of this?
I hope your dogs are allowed to ride inside the car, not on top. Now I'm curious, I'll have to look up Tibetan spaniel to see what they look like.
I wonder how Mitt plans to make 1% of the vote out count the other 99%. He seems to think that 1% of the population can have more votes that the rest of us. What dirty tricks will he pull to make that happen or will he just try to buy the Electoral College?
Does anyone remember the 2002 Olympic bribery scandal that Mitt was majorly involved in? That was just to get the Olympics to Salt Lake City (to make him and the mormon church a bunch of money) ... now imagine what he (and his mormon church) will do to gain one of the most powerful positions on earth! It's kind of horrifying to think about!!!
It may be also related to Mr. Romney's hesitancy with releasing his tax records because it may show how much he has given to his church and that might be ammunition for his GOP opponents before his nomination. I think he is less concerned about. Showing how much he paid in taxes than how much and where he donated his income.
This makes you wonder about the accuracy of the polling.
The wealthiest 400 people are Billionaires and have more net worth than half of all tax payers. The top 1 percent has over 40 percent of all personal net worth. The next 4 percent has 35 percent of all personal net worth. How much money is enough? What would the economy be like if 1 percent had 99 percent of the money?
“There is one and only one social responsibility of business -- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game.”
Milton Friedman
Corporations and wealthy people have the ability to influence and write the rules.
The “Laffer Curve” is an untested thought experiment based on payroll like taxes where the first dollar is taxed the same as the last dollar. The basic assumption is “If you tax someone’s wages too high they will stop working overtime and at 100 percent, they will quit their job.”
This is not true for progressive income taxes in the real world where the tax brackets increase with increasing income. Here the assumption is, “People will continue accumulating wealth until they reach their maximum marginal tax bracket and then stop their income producing activities.” Let’s use Mr. Warren Buffet as an example.
I feel that Warren Buffet does more than most to stay within the rules of the game and I use him as an example only because his taxes are public. Mr. Buffet is on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people and Forbes reports his net worth in 2009 as $40 Billion, in 2010 as $45 billion and in 2011 as $50 Billion. It is safe to say his income for 2010 exceeded $5 Billion. His AGI Income reported to the IRS for 2010 was $63 million and he paid 17 percent in taxes or $11 million. Warren’s first $100,000.00 of wages will be taxed the same as anyone else making $100.000. If the maximum marginal tax bracket is raised to 50 % his tax may go up to $25 million on his $63 million of AGI, Warren would not skip a beat. He would not close one store or take any money out of the bank. If the maximum tax rate was raised to 100 percent, he would not shut down one corporation. In fact he could not stop making income and then restart the next year. The Laffer curve would be a monotonic increasing line starting at the first tax bracket, which means that government revenue increases as the tax brackets are increase.
Why is this important? Republicans have almost bankrupted the country based on the false policy that “tax cuts will increase government revenue.” It’s especially harmful for the government to issue bonds to give wealthy people and large companies tax breaks.
Question from David Gregory, 0n Meet the Press, 8-1-2010, "You do not agree with republican leaders who say, Tax cuts pay for themselves?"
Dr. Greenspan, "They do not."
"I am very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money."
Dr. Alan Greenspan
It could also be that South Carolinians don't consider him a "real Christian".