E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Updated 2:22 p.m. - CHESTERFIELD, VA -- Vice President Joe Biden continued on Tuesday to hammer away at Mitt Romney's secretly-taped riff about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes, ridiculing the GOP presidential nominee as failing to represent all Americans.
"When he said it’s not my job to worry about ‘these people,’ well, whose job is it?" Biden asked of a crowd of about 500 at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are our brother’s keeper, we are one nation under God, we are all in this together, and if the 47 percent doesn’t make it, the country doesn’t make it."
Biden, who delivered his first salvo about the taped Romney fundraiser comments this weekend in New Hampshire, offered an extended critique of Romney's own level of tax contributions and said that those in the "47 percent" still pay "a lot of taxes" like Social Security, state and local, and property payments.
"Look, instead of attacking folks who work for a living and pay their way, Romney should be respecting their hard work," he said. "That’s the job of a president: to lift people up, not to tear them down."
Reuters, Getty Images
In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.
He also noted that Romney has been widely criticized for failing to release more detailed information from his past tax returns and for paying a lower tax rate than many middle class Americans. (However, Romney's most recent release of some 2011 data showed that the former private equity exec limited deductions from his extensive charitable donations and thus paid a higher-than-required effective rate of about 14 percent.)
"He, Romney? Attacking someone on taxes? I mean, woah!" said the famously rhetorically excitable Delaware pol. "That’s like me attacking someone for being passionate in politics!"
The trip to Virginia was Biden's first since the campaign swing when Biden sparked a firestorm after remarking to a largely black audience in Danville that the banking policies supported by Republicans would "put y'all back in chains."
The vice president did not use similar themes today, focusing instead on the Romney-Ryan ticket's reluctance to raise taxes as a way of addressing the federal deficit.
"These guys think compromise is somehow a dirty word," Biden said. "They are insisting and Romney is insisting on putting back in policies that produced the problem in the first place. “
Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams responded: "President Obama and Vice President Biden’s reckless policies have increased our national debt by $5.4 trillion and resulted in dangerously high unemployment, increased poverty, and plummeting incomes. This election presents a clear choice between Barack Obama’s vision of a government-centered society and Mitt Romney’s vision of an opportunity society. Governor Romney will spur economic growth and create more wealth, while President Obama believes in redistributing wealth. The Romney plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million jobs and encourage upward mobility instead of more government dependency."
Leave a Comment:
Go get em Joe. Can't wait for you to rip Peckerwood apart too!
Biden's a**h*le, sucks wind.
Intelligent post snake - right up there with "windows in my airplane" comment by your God Romney
Listening to Biden is like listening to my 10 yr old son pretend to talk about Politics...Pathetic
If your 10 year old is so good why isn't he running for office? after all there is a town I believe in Colorado has a 14 year old mayor.
hmmm..maybe...Never thought about that....Thanks
I am just not sure if he could get through the "Vetting " process.....
Plugs Biden covers for Obama again, while Obama lies again. He said he wouldn't rais taxes on the middle class, but the Supreme court ruled that his Obamacare penalty for not buying insurance was in fact a "tax."
And guess who gets hit - the 47%, the middle class, get a tax increase.
You have two options under Obamacare buy insurance at an estimated cost of $4,200 per person or $9,500 per family, OR pay a TAX of $695 per person or $2,085 per family.
The CBO estimates (on the low side) 6 Million US Citizens will be affected.
That's a TAX on the middle class - Those are your choices - Thanks Obama
Beats the hell out of the $14,785 I am paying now for deadbeats not paying their fair share!!!!!!
I dont know...what is fair share?...paying everybody's taxes....Giving over 30 percent of what you make to charity...What is fair.?.. If i am the 47 percent I am loving Rommney for getting us the 1.9 mil in tax money and 4 mil in Charity....
Obama does not have the balls to raise taxes on people who are in the market well...because nobody would invest in the market. If nobody invests in the market well...all you little bitter Baby Boomers will not make you Pensions and Retirement...hmmm...what a dilema...Hate Romney...but need his kind...
I thought Fed up was a lot more tougher..why dont you answer the question ..you were looking for answers ..I gave it to you.. cmon ..where is your comment ..that is not a rant but an educated response?
Prior to the credit market freeze in September 2008, the highest monthly unemployment rate during 2001-August 2008 was 6.3 percent. The overall average monthly unemployment rate during the 8 years was 5.3 percent. America moved out of the recession of 2001 leading to six years of uninterrupted economic growth and a record 52 straight months of job creation.
During that timeframe the dow soared to a 14,000+ point record high
When Barack was sworn in Jan 2009 the unemployment rate was at 7.7%.
By Dec 2009 he had allowed it to climb to a staggering 10.0%, even with the $830 trillion Stimulus, and Democrat control of House, Senate and the Whitehouse... we would never see that 7.7% again
Barack has been unable to bring the unemployment rate below 8.0% in 4 years
He has not even been able to bring it back to the "Bush level" he inherited....
Less we forget....the real story.....
all4reason Please by all means let us know of ANYONE, ANYWHERE on this planet that could have gotten us out of the 8 years of BushyDick policy? ANYONE.
Can ANYONE out there on the Vine think of ANYONE that could- come on people name names - ANYONE?
Barack...said he could...but he could not...he is the only person to look at that matters this September day of 2012.
He's not the best we've got..if he is...our days as a Super Power....slipping away
I agree ,...Obama ..ran his whole campaign on this...I guess he and all of his fans are now backtracking saying that he was in over his head...If he could not have handled the Job ..maybe Hilary could have done a better job...There is your name ... I would go on to say there are other Presidents that could have done a better job.... Clinton and Reagan .to name a few..
Recently found note from the Mittster - - "you people" are so dumb they don't realize I have 3 years to file an amended return and will get all that money I didn't claim in my refund back. So I have put another one over on at least 47% of the country, BAHHAHAHAH! Got em again, the idiots!
You do realize that the Democrats had the majority in Congress the remaining 6 years in Bush's Presidency, don't you????
mainah... The Dems have had Majority for the past 6 years and they want to fire the Minority...6 years and look where we are.....
I apologize for being pretentious with you. I’m just fed up
with the political calling for class warfare.
I consider myself a conservative independent. I don’t
believe in tax breaks for anyone. Tax breaks are attempts by the government to
control the economy or to commit social justice. Government doesn’t belong in
either area.
Like many to the right, I support a flatter tax rate for all
income with fewer deductions and fewer exemptions.
obama biden 2012 and watch the middle class work their a
everything obama does is redistribution. the rich are to smart thats why they are rich. the poor are just that. the middle class is obamas piggy bank. you folks have been suckered. obamas for the middle class alright. he is concentrating on you and while he has been saying your his priority he has done zero for you. really what is exactly better for the middle class after four no five years of obama saying he's for you? vote for obama so i can say i told you so every day.
Did Joe tell everyone they would be put in chains again?
Well being more Libertarian, I think both parties suck as a whole right now. As Mr Clint Eastwood put it, both parties have spent like drunken sailors over the last 2 years.
I don't care if gay marriage is legal, I don't care what god they worship, just let the people live the life they want to live. It's personal business and leave it at that. There is a caveat too, don't flaunt it in my face either, then again that probably happen because people wouldn't have a reason to bi***.
What I do care about is what the chuckleheads in Congress are going to do with the economy with whoever is in the white house. I am tired of the partisan divide and party agendas. It hasn't gotten us anywhere in the last 8 years.
The reason Romney said what he said is because he won't get the people that drank all the Obama Kool Aid to vote for him, just like Obama won't influence the 47% that drank the Romney Kool Aid. That leaves the 6% of the voters that are willing to wade into the BS and figure who is lying least.
As for those that think Biden will beat Ryan, I think you're mistaken, the senile old fool (and the part of the biggest problem in DC) will be over his head.
What I mean by biggest problem in DC is that the bulk of our Representatives and Senator's 60-65% are classified as Senior Citizens and another 5-10% probably are eligible for AARP. That is not good, they are too old, too corrupt and are out of touch with people in their 20s, 30s, and 40's.
#136:
http://fzknew.newsvine.com/_news/2012/09/26/14112919-romney-and-the-forbes-400
This is silly - everyone is misquoting or misrepresenting everyone in this election. Mr Romney never said he didn't 'worry about them', he said 'worry about their votes', and there is a huge difference.
He said (correctly) that the majority of people in a situation where they are not paying any income taxes will vote Democrat. Democrats target that group and tell them 'what the Government can do for them', and Mr Romney`s message is more about how he can lower everyone`s taxes. If you're paying $0 in income tax, a message about lowering it won't really resonate.
Don't misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with being poor and nothing wrong with being rich - I make $28,800 / year. But Mr Romney's point is still accurate - if you are paying $0 in income taxes right now, 'lowering your taxes' isn't and attractive message and he's not likely to get those votes.
I wish Romney was in my classroom the day after his 47 percent comment was released. Most of the students in the inner-city school where I work "depend" on the government because of life circumstances that are particularly difficult.
Let Mr. Romney tell my students in person that they are "victims," who "believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." Let him look them in the eye and say his job is "not to worry about" them. Let him admonish them by saying that he could "never convince them to take personal responsibility and care for their lives." Let him tell Jerome, whose mother is dying, and has to support his family, or Donna whose parents both died tragically a year apart, or Marisol who goes regularly for chemo treatments but still finds the time to do her homework, apologizing for her absences, or Jason who is living in a motel because his father is out of work.
Had Romney been in my class that day, he would have seen outrage and sadness in the faces of the children before him. But he would have heard, too, the eloquent defense of their dignity. He would have seen the pride on their faces when they spoke about their families. He would have witnessed the character, kindness, and innate goodness of that 47 percent of Americans who have the strength and the will to depend on themselves.
James Mulhern, www.synthesizingeducation.net