I have to love the Fox wingnuts this morning doubling down on Mitt’s disdain and trying to explain why the Obama administration is once again playing class warfare by disagreeing with his comments. This is par for the course, but it’s always fun to see them spin so hard they look like they might upchuck right on TV.
Still, I think the Democrats have not yet figured out the best way to use Mitt’s repulsive comments. In order to maximize the impact of this — and hopefully kill this disgusting meme once and for all — they need to personalize the 47% for the American people. And this is because, as Jonathan Chait says this morning, there’s a cleverness to it:
The federal income tax is, by design, one of the most progressive elements of the American tax system, but well over 80 percent of non-retired adults pay federal taxes. But most people hear “income taxes” and think “taxes,” which is why the trick of using one phrase to make audiences think of the other is a standard GOP trick when discussing taxes. For that very reason, it won’t strike many voters as an insult: Most people who don’t pay income taxes do pay other taxes, and fail to distinguish between them, and thus don’t consider themselves among the 47 percent scorned by Romney.
So, the obvious approach is to point out who exactly he was talking about — disabled people, veterans and senior citizens particularly. After all, they do represent a large portion of the 47%. In fact, one could make a very lugubrious ad about Mitt threatening the larger senior standard deduction.
But honestly, I think the real fat pitch right over the plate is the fact that Mitt is complaining about people failing to pay taxes when he refuses to release his tax returns. The idea that the man is complaining about Americans being freeloaders when there’s an excellent chance he’s one of them, despite being worth nearly half a billion dollars, is just too juicy to pass up. it’s the most arrogant thing he’s done — and there have been a lot of them — and he deserves to have this used as a cudgel.
Maybe it’s also time to start highlighting some of the millionaires who pay no income tax. There are a lot of them.
Anyway, enough “they oughtta” for the day. It’s easy pickings right now and a lot of fun. But it’s got a life of its own at this point and there’s no way of knowing where it’s going to go. Still, if I had my druthers, some 501c or Super PAC would make it its mission to take this sick 47% meme and repeatedly slap these Randroids in the face with it.