Romney's Statement and Where Non-payers of Income Taxes Live

Update: I thought this discussion at the Atlantic was better than mine, below.
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I had already written a post on the map at right, when it came out yesterday that Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney said (video link) that Obama's core supporters are people who do not pay income taxes and rely on entitlements. I pay income taxes and I get no entitlements, and I am voting for Obama, albeit I am voting for him for non-partisan reasons.

If Romney's statement is taken simply  as "[t]here are ... people who will vote for the president no matter what," he's right. There are people who will vote against the President or for Mr. Romney no matter what, too.

The problem is he goes well beyond that. Instead of quibbling over his 47% figure, which a few sentences later in the same talk he inflates to "48, 49" -- and the 47% is inflated too -- he slaps people like me and a lot of other people int he face with what is a flat out lie.

Above right is a map using 2008 data from the conservative website "Tax Foundation" (click to enlarge). The States the Tax Foundation conveniently colored red had the highest percentage of tax filers who paid no income tax (nationally 36% of all filers in 2008). These folks are overwhelmingly poor, and the Tax Foundation decries the fact that they often pay no taxes. These states are Republican strongholds. Many of the blue states, no surprise, are strong Democratic states. (I saw the map via Pharyngula.)

Romney's statement -- which he has called inartful, but which he stands by -- also contradicts his public statements such as "I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling, and I’ll continue to take that message across the nation.” In his private briefing to Rebpublican donors (people who paid $50,000 per plate to attend this dinner that was leaked yesterday, Romney states that he is writing off the 47% (or perhaps 48 or 49%) who are Obama supporters (saying these folks are all getting "entitlements") -- "my job is not to worry about these people."

Among other things Romney also admitted that he is basing his campaign assertions on polling and implies he believes Obama is corrupt. He states incorrectly that Obama promised to keep unemployment under 8% and that 50% of college graduates are unemployed. In a second part to the tape, Romney asserts that the Israeli-Palestinian problem is intractable and he will not attempt to solve it (and says he does not favor the "two-state" solution), and says among others he's using Bibi Netanyahu's advisors for his campaign. These statements to the wealthy donors contradict his campaign rhetoric.

I have a tendency to want to leave this stuff alone, but there is a point where dishonesty and insults from Romney coalesce, and we should speak out.
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Text I could find of Romney's first recorded statement (from the Washington Post article - this is incomplete):

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what.

And, I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49 [percent], he starts with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect. So he’ll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that’s what they sell every four years.

And so my job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the five to 10 percent in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon, in some cases, emotion, whether they like the guy or not . . .