I mean, does he really think that? Isn't food the most basic of needs, followed by safety and shelter?

I bet he really does. In an ideal community, there are institutions and people (like himself in a real way in the Mormon community) that provide for people who can't provide for themselves (temporarily), but it's not for the government to do.

Speaking of Romney, I'm eating food right now AIFG!

If he's President, his job is to care about ALL Americans.

No, no, no, this country needs to be run like a business, where you can fire the non-producers and sell off the departments that don't fit your corporate goals. Let me think, doesn't a Chinese company run our nation's docklands?

edit: Yeah, "company" for "country", that's Freudian.

Republican strategists seem to think that the leaked tape is pretty damaging mainly because it eats up a week of the news cycle with only seven weeks to go, and Romney is already having a hard time shaping the narrative of the race. In fact, Romney's comments feed directly into the Democratic narrative.

Also, gaffes like this make a candidate look less competent, and the Romney campaign is not making any headway or making the right moves. The undecideds have sorted themselves out now and it looks like Romney cannot close the gap unless Obama gets caught literally screwing a pooch.

In an ideal community, there are institutions and people (like himself in a real way in the Mormon community) that provide for people who can't provide for themselves (temporarily), but it's not for the government to do.

But even if you believe in charity over government assistance, would you really articulate that belief as having food to eat is a privilege? That's the part I don't get.

But even if you believe in charity over government assistance, would you really articulate that belief as having food to eat is a privilege? That's the part I don't get.

I think yes. I am not sure how that jives with being a Christian, but yes.

Also, there seem to be some prevailing thought that most people, without the incentive provided by needing food and shelter, would not work at all. Now I am pretty sure if I had a safety net, I would not be doing what I am doing as work, but there is plenty of work I would do for free!

The thing that I don't understand is how, when speaking about his own taxes, he has carefully parsed the issue of taxes. He has NEVER said how much he has paid in income taxes. His claim about tax rates was that he pays a lot to the Mormon church and in taxes.

Well no doubt. When you buy a yacht, you have to pay a lot in sales taxes too. So when the debate raged on about Romney's taxes (and his lack of full disclosures), people wanted to know what rate he paid in income taxes since he HASN'T BEEN WORKING and all but $250K of his income has been from investments.

He has been quite evasive on this score, but when speaking to rich people who paid $50K to hear him speak (which already calls the audience's judgment into question - I mean pay $50K for a great orator will you) he denigrates this mythical 47% who don't pay income taxes.

He is a businessman, someone who was a governor, if anyone out there who should know more than me about U.S. tax policy and who pays which taxes, it should be Romney. Low-income people always pay more taxes proportionally than middle- and upper-class people. ALWAYS. When you count sales tax, etc. this is always the case.

So it is fine and dandy for him to get cute on how much he pays in income taxes, but when talking about "others" he gets to denigrate them.

It is dangerous for someone to lead this country who has such a lack of regard of so many of the country's populace and to think that some of the country should be held to different standards than other members of the country.

there seem to be some prevailing thought that most people, without the incentive provided by needing food and shelter, would not work at all.

Well to quote Ann Romney, "Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time."

And see, having stocks to sell is exactly like living in a homeless shelter and eating at soup kitchens. If you just have food and shelter given out willy-nilly, who would ever want to get a job???

"How am I going to get someone to harvest my crops if I don't hold their next meal over their heads? Cause no one would work for me of their own free will."

I don't think most people get the difference between not paying income taxes but paying other taxes.

I think this is very true. I didn't really understand the difference until, after another recent brouhaha over taxes, I finally did a little research into what distinguishes payroll taxes from income tax -- I'd been thinking of them all as the same thing.