Romney: Hey, On That Whole 47% Thing? Yeah, My Bad

I know conservatives want to argue about this but I'm not sure why. There's a kind of Won't Back Down ethic in us, a kind of reflexive stubborness, but the while 47% of the country does not pay income taxes, I don't think one can argue that that all of these folks have an "entitlement mentality." Obviously, a segment of the population does, but there's no perfect overlap with the percentage who pay no federal income taxes.

Plus, some people who do pay federal income taxes -- like Sandra Fluke -- do have an entitlement mentality.

So he was talking about two different things, and there is truth in both of the individual points, but to suggest there's perfect overlap between the 47% and the entitlement mentality is simply wrong. There is a difference between the entitled and the striving, after all, though many of both may be poor; and there's a whole lot of entitlement in the upper strata of income.

So why defend it? Just say "I got that wrong" and move on.

Which is what he's decided to do.

In an interview Thursday night with Fox News, Romney was asked what he would have said had the "47 percent" comments come up during his debate in Denver on Wednesday night with President Barack Obama.

"Well, clearly in a campaign, with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right," Romney said. "In this case, I said something that's just completely wrong."

He added: "And I absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that I care about 100 percent and that's been demonstrated throughout my life. And this whole campaign is about the 100 percent."

Eh. I think it's hard enough to defend the things we get right against a hostile liberal media; we do not have the luxury of excess time to defend the mistakes, too.

posted by Ace at 09:09 AM

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