Mitt Romney: NAACP Audience Wants “Free Stuff”
Yesterday, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke before the NAACP.
Things were going fairly well until he mentioned that if elected he’d repeal “Obamacare,” eliciting boos from the audience.
Responding later to the NAACP audience’s reaction (which he admits to having expected all along), Romney said, “Remind them of this: if they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff. But don’t forget, nothing is really free.”
So after deliberately antagonizing his audience, Romney fumes to his constituents that black voters want “free stuff.”
“As someone who’s read the transcript of nearly every Romney speech for a year, I should note in fairness that he’s used the ‘free stuff’ line before. But in this case, this realization isn’t especially helpful to his defense.
A few months ago, for example, the GOP presidential hopeful responded to questions about contraception access by saying, ‘If you’re looking for free stuff you don’t have to pay for, vote for the other guy.’ Soon after, Romney complained that Obama is trying to buy students’ political support by offering them ‘free stuff.’
There is a pattern to this. If you’re a woman who wants access to preventive care you might not otherwise be able to afford, Romney sees you as wanting ‘free stuff.’ If you’re a young student who can’t afford higher-ed tuition, Romney assumes you expect “free stuff.”
And if you’re an African American supporter of the NAACP who wants your family to have access to affordable health care, Romney suspects you’re just looking for ‘free stuff.'”
Read more at maddowblog.msnbc.com
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