Amy Goodman: Romney’s 1 Percent Nation Under God
Although Mitt Romney has yet to win a majority in a Republican primary, he won big in Florida. After he and the pro-Romney super PACs flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars worth of ads in a state where nearly half the homeowners are underwater, he talked about whom he wants to represent. We will hear from the Democrat Party the plight of the poor, and theres no question, its not good being poor, he told CNNs Soledad OBrien. You could choose where to focus, you could focus on the rich, thats not my focus. You could focus on the very poor, thats not my focus. My focus is on middle-income Americans. Of the very rich, Romney assures us, Theyre doing just fine. With an estimated personal wealth of $250 million, Romney should know.
Romneys campaign itself is well-financed, but his success to date, especially against his current main rival, Newt Gingrich, is driven by massive cash infusions to a so-called super PAC, the new breed of political action committee that can take unlimited funds from individuals and corporations. Super PACs are legally prohibited from coordinating their activities with a candidates campaign. Federal Election Commission filings made public Jan. 31 reveal that the principal super PAC supporting Romney, Restore Our Future, raised close to $18 million in the second half of 2011, from just 199 donors. Among his supporters are Alice Walton, who, although listed in the report as a rancher, is better known as an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune, and the famously caustic venture capitalist and billionaire Samuel Zell, the man credited with driving the Tribune media company into bankruptcy. William Koch, the third of the famous Koch brothers, also gave.
Juxtapose those 199 with the number of people living in poverty in the United States. According to the most recent figures available from the U.S. Census Bureau, 46.2 million people lived in poverty in 2010, 15.1 percent of the population, the largest number in the 52 years the poverty estimates have been published. 2010 marked the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty.
-snip-
The next morning, NBCs Matt Lauer challenged him, asking: Did you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country, is envious? Is it about jealousy, or fairness? Romney doubled down, claiming: I think its about envy. I think its about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus 1 percentand those people who have been most successful will be in the 1 percent ... [its] entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God.
It's Amy Goodman -- the rest is worth reading! She nails it. Damn, if anyone would personify the government being of the 1% for the 1%, it'd be Romney!