>> bill: are you one of the freeloaders?: i guess so because i'm trying to figure out when does $250,000 become middle class. but you know, the lady from the south took my point already but i want to -- >> bill: can't say it often enough. >> caller: that silly ass rush limbaugh was saying it is unequivocal now that obama hates america. well now he gets to say today it is unequivocal it is unequivocal that mitt romney hates america. he hates working class american people. so now he can toot that horn today. >> bill: yeah. don't hold your breath, marty. [ laughter ] good to hear from you. it is going to be interesting to see. pardon me. how the romney campaign tries to -- tries to recover from this. i gotta tell you, they've had a bad run. even before -- i think the bad run that goes back before the republican convention. i think the bad run started with putting paul ryan on the ticket because why does he put paul ryan on the ticket. then suddenly they're not talking jobs or economy anymore. they're talking medicare. and then

what possible context is it okay to say that 50% of americans are freeloaders?ontext can you say that military families and seniors living on social security consider themselves victims and are not doing anything to improve their own life. finally now yesterday they came out and said well, here's the problem. this video you can't believe anything that you've read about it because the video -- the whole release of the video there are two minutes missing. out of like a 20-minute talk, there are like two minutes missing. and that raises the question, what are in those two minutes? what do you think could be in those missing two minutes? it certainly doesn't debunk the rest of the video. what could mitt romney have said in those two missing minutes that would change the nature of this story? hmm? one suggestion is that mitt romney -- i love your thoughts on that. 1-866-55-press. get creative. one person suggested mitt romney told his friends well, don't worry about anything because i've invited clint eastwood to speak at our national convention. >> yeah. maybe the t

(laughter) and the other 40%, the true freeloaders. settle down. the other 40% of the 47%, the true freeloaders who pay no federal income tax or payroll tax are actually made up of those making less than $20,000 a year and many of the nation's elderly. mr. romney knows them as "personal responsibility shirking unconvincables." you may know them as "the greatest generation" and/or "that that." (laughter) of course, that says nothing about the real parasites, welfare queens. public assistance is clearly a path to dependency and i would like to see evidence otherwise. oh, you have some evidence, mitt romney's mom? something about mitt romney's dad? >> you know we've only owned our home for the last four years. he was a refugee from mexico. he was on relief, welfare relief for the first years of his life. but this great country gave him opportunities. >> jon: oh. my. god. (laughter) george romney was on welfare. so according to mitt romney's own logic, mitt romney could not win the vote of his dad. (laughter) who would be one of the 47% of unconvincabl

up of such freeloaders?avid corn is author of "showdown" which comes out tomorrow and joan walsh is author of "what's the matter with white people." let's watch, listen, and decide. >> all anybody said was, don't worry how do we convince everybody that they have to take care of themselves? >> well, 47% who are with him, who are dependent and entitled to health care, food, you name it and they will vote for this president no matter what and the president starts off with 48, 49 -- he starts off with a huge number. these are people who pay no income tax. 47% of americans pay no income tax. so our message of low taxes doesn't connect. he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. that's what they sell every four years. and so any job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them. they are independents voting one way or the other, playing on emotion, whether they like the guy or not. >> now, this was a fund-raiser. how long ago was it? >> it was after he clenched the nomination. i say tha

he said he's against freeloaders. oh, the humanity. what is your gut telling you?mney's comments on the 47%. game changer? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote. an update to yesterday's gut check of the shortstop escobar. suspended three games for displaying a homophobic slur on his face during a baseball game. we ask you, should he be suspended and fined? 78% said, yes. 2 22% of you, sorry, you were wrong. i'm going to be back tomorrow and former pennsylvania governor rendell will join the "news nation." "the cycle" is up next. woman 1: this isn't just another election. we're voting for... the future of our medicare and social security. man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org i was talking to my best fri

a lot of them are freeloaders.uest: first of all, if you look at where we are now and where we were four years ago, our economy was in free fall. when president obama came into office, we were losing 800,000 jobs per month. we lost 3.5 million jobs in the first quarter of his presidency before we had a chance to get the stimulus in effect and solve our fiscal problem in terms of the financial crisis. the president has righted the ship and since then, we have that 33 months of private sector job growth, 4.6 million jobs were created. is this where we want to be? even the president says no. we're in a better position than we were four years ago. people who had 401k programs or private pensions lost 1/3 of their retirement plan when the economy was in free fall. the stock market has rebounded and people who have those plans have regained from where they were. people have to take a real examination of that and look at where the president wants to take us forward. he wants to get behind research and development, manufac

>> i think i said it was an entitlement machine, i don't think i ever used the word freeloading. the facts of the matter are that 50 years ago, the federal government devoted one dollar to entitlements to every $2 it devoted to everything else. it's turned upside down. now two out of every three dollars the government allocates for entitlements. >> what are you're thoughts >> you said you reject the notion of the term moochers, and the debate is misguided. what are your thoughts on this? >> i feel pretty strongly that it's misguided debate and divisive one, and a false framework, because the dynamics of the rise of americans can't possibly be divided into makers or takers or moochers. if you think about social security and medicare, the largest part of the entitlement that nick is talking about, the beneficiaries of those programs paid into those programs during their working life. so clearly they were makers at that poibts, and then upon retirement they draw on those benefits. i think those are exemplary social insurance programs. >> susie: what do you say to that, nick? at time

he implied 47% of the people are basically freeloaders, that's what he implied. it was offensive.isn't a case of mischaracterization. what it shows is that republicans have a candidate that's defective and it shouldn't be surprising to them. he's made these mistakes repeatedly. the best analysis of this election this year that i've heard was from a republican friend that i was having dinner with. he said that this guy is defective. he said he's like being a bad nascar driver on a rich team. he said no matter how good the car is, no matter how bad the pit crew is, the driver has to drive the car. this guy puts it on the wall every single time. wait a minute, man, i let you speak. he puts it on the wall when he says let gm go bankrupt. he puts it on the wall when he says let 47% of the people i don't have to concern myself with. he puts it on the wall when he travels across the east, goes to the uk, offends one of our strongest allies. he repeatedly puts ton the wall and makes mistakes and that's why we're where we are, 44 days out. >> dee dee, the political prism through which to l

mitt romney, the one who tells rich people that the rest of the country is a bunch of loafers, freeloadersbums. well, last night a new wobbler showed up, mitt romney himself. racing like a desperate crazy man, he suddenly declared he's changed his mind on the whole 47% business. that he's now proud of being the grandfather of obama care, proud to say he's for same-sex couples having partner rights and no way he wants to run those 12 million immigrants out of the country. so how scared is this candidate that he's now turning tail on so much of what he's been standing for? is the man we caught behind the curtain suddenly afraid of the script he's been reading? is this the moment, the etch-a-sketch moment, we were warned was coming, the alloutmoment of moral melt down. this afternoon, this afternoon at the univision candidates forum president obama responded to romney's caught on tape comments where he wrote off 47% of the country. let's take a listen to the president. >> when you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, that somehow they want to be dependent on gov

he portrayed 47% of the country for a bunch of government freeloaders. it takes skill to alienate that many americans in one swoop. if romney instead chosen to vilified every person that watched the super bowl he would reach fewer people. it's larger than the number of people who went to the ballot box and voted in 2010. it's equivalent to brushing off every single person who owns a smartphone. despite writing off a truly staggering number of americans many of whom might be voting for romney in november, the candidate appeared on fox last night to defend his comments at the may 17th fund-raiser. >> well, we were, of course, talking about a campaign and how he's going to get close to half the vote. >> so, romney's claiming he was talking purely about electoral math. the problem with that defense, of course, is that he wasn't. >> the 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. >> last night romney also tried to recalibrate his definition of the 4

>> this idea that people are freeloaders. but in a way, you could see how not the way he phrased it. you can see how this idea of picking on the 47% is sort of politically clever, right? because we're all very proud of our making but we're blind to our taking. so people here oh, there is this 47% that doesn't pay taxes. that's not me. i pay taxes. he must be talking about some other freeloaders when in fact, it is this obscure semantic distinction about who pays income taxes as opposed to taxes on their income. you can see how it is very divisive thing. in fact, republicans, i the new new deal where, in fact, republicans were fighting the tax cuts for the working poor that were in the stimulus. because they don't consider those tax cuts. they consider that welfare. that was some of the first big fight between president obama and eric cantor was that was when obama said -- >> jennifer: not really tax cuts but when it comes to tax cuts for business -- >> exactly. hey, look, because i'm an author in my spare time, i'm a small bu

finally a candidate with the courage to say half of all americans are freeloaders who believe they're entitled to food. (laughter) what do they think, food grows on trees? no! (laughter) we job creators know that there is no such thick as a free lunch! lunch is $50,000 a plate! (laughter and applause) folks-- it's refreshing. it's refreshing! folks, this is not a crisis for romney, this is a triumph! because mitt nailed it! obama supporters are nothing but lazy parasites! get a job! (laughter) folks, it's not just the welfare queens mitt's talking about. get this: the 47% who don't pay federal income tax are mostly elderly, children, and the working poor and u.s. military personnel deployed in war zones who are exempt from paying federal taxes on combat pay. see? romney mentioned the troops in a speech! (laughter) but-- but of course-- (applause). give it up for mitt romney! (applause) but the liberal hounds, of course, went after mitt like a poor person going after a basic need. (laughter) so-- (laughter). so romney threw together his second hasty press conference in one week. i beli

he's been working very hard kissing babies and freeloaders. babies and freeloaders. facebook yet? the "politicsnation" conversation is going all day long. and today our fans had a lot to say about the romney harvesting comment. kalar says, he's never been a job creator. he's a profit harvester. our facebook family was happy about the voting in eye yeah. anthony says, go iowa. let's get this election going. we have a lot more on that first swing state to vote a little later in the program. we want to hear what you think, too. head over to facebook and search poins and like us "politicsnati and like us to keep the conversation going long after the show ends. it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. look! she

what you are saying is all of those folks are essentially freeloaders. they're getting away with something and they go back to work every day and had a substantial portion of their income into payroll taxes. so they are not freeloaders. they are just working and doing what working people do. i am there. i have been there. >> host: scottsdale, arizona. >> caller: well, i've been getting a lot of talk from both sides. i have two things i want to discuss. one is the economy and the other is israel. what i found over and over with president obama is the quotes about the rich people, the rich people, the rich people. i am a notch burner and have my own business. and what i do know is wholesalers, distributors, all these companies -- private companies are hiring people and they are making their income of $250,000 to maybe $300,000. but in that income, they are investing in the economy by creating jobs, by producing income. >> host: let's get a response to that, congressman. >> guest: here are the facts though. 98% of americans are well below those in towns. ev

include veteran, the elderly, the working poor and much of the middle class as a bunch of lazy freeloaders. it touched off a firestone everywhere, but nowhere more acutely at romney campaign headquarters. [laughter] where it triggered something i like to call "chaos on bullshit mountain." [cheering and applause] that's an exploding bullshit dust you've all heard so much about. in the 48 hours since the romney video first gained wide exposure, turd containment crews have been working overtime on bullshit mountain. >> keep in mind it was post-ed by a left wing web site. >> "mother jones" put this tame out. >> "mother jones," the magazine no one reads. >> even word that jimmy carter's grandson might have played an instrumental role in getting this video... >> jon: oh, my god, your campaign got blown up by jimmy carter's grandson? oh, the habitat for humanity. [laughter] so word one from bullshit mountain is, well, yeah, he said it, but you only found out about it because of people that are... we don't like. [laughter] what's word two? >> the way he said it, it was not the best way of saying s

taxes are low, profits are high, yet as mitt romney tells it, the rich are being held back by freeloaders. >> well, there are 47% of people who will vote for the president, no matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. >> the romney campaign is now in crisis mode. today the republican nominee attacked the president over comments he made 14 years ago. >> just a tape came out a couple of days ago with the president saying, yes, he believes in redistribution. i don't! i believe the way to lift people and to help people have higher incomes is not to take from some and give to others, but to create wealth for all of us. >> romney based his remarks on comments then state senator barack obama made in 1998. talking about how to make government more efficient. "the new york times" points out the political maneuvering, "mr. romney and mr. ryan are using redistribution as shorthand to

but apparently he considers them to be freeloaders. perhaps that's why he didn't bother to mention their sacrifice at the republican convention. this statement really, really, really shows his character and he's got a major character flaw. anyone who would talk about 47% of americans with the kind of disdain that he used with his words simply -- i mean, why does he want to be the president of america? how can he possibly pull us together if he at the get-go has said that 47% of us are unworthy. >> i think it is a snapshot quickly of what we have suspected of mitt romney all along. i think this is the key part in his comment. he says, my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. this is a damning comment by a candidate who seems to have no concept of what people are going through in this country. it's almost as if i don't give a damn about them. i just got to get 10% of the the independents and we're going to be okay and get the kind of countr

all of the candidates think of themselves as freeloaders. but they are not. i am a libertarian in part because i see the false choice offered by political left and right, either government control over the economy or government control of our personal lives. democrats think it is income inequality. republicans think that the opposite is true. let them advocate moral behavior and let them give to charities but leave the government out of it. that is why i like gary johnson. >> if after four years we decide more war and more control and higher taxes are what you really want, you can always go back into office again. john: that would be good. what about drug use and poverty. let no one be coerced by government. beyond a small amount needed to fund a limited government that keeps us safe. do not let government forcibly take other people's money. most people think problems are things that are solved by law. they assume it is just laziness or stupidity of the other side's politicians that prevent government from solving our problems government is inefficient. and g