Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Thinks 47% of Americans Are Lazy Gits
It stands to reason that if you want to get elected, you should mimic a failed presidential candidate like Mitt Romney. A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Colorado went all Mitt Romney on us, echoing the infamous “47 percent” speech. Gubernatorial nominee Bob Beauprez toured Colorado to “build unity,” then he was caught on camera being a divisive jerk.
The video shows Beauprez in a speech in 2010 saying, “I see something that frankly doesn’t surprise me, having been on Ways and Means Committee: 47 percent of all Americans pay no federal income tax. I’m guessing that most of you in this room are not in that 47 percent — God bless you — but what that tells me is that we’ve got almost half the population perfectly happy that somebody else is paying the bill, and most of that half is you all.”
Image: Coloradopols
Beauprez told a meeting of the Denver Rotary Club that “we’ve got almost half of the population perfectly happy that somebody else is paying the bill.”
“I submit to you that there is a political strategy to get slightly over half and have a permanent ruling majority by keeping over half of the population dependent on the largesse of government that somebody else is paying for,” Beauprez said.
Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio alerted The Denver Post to the clip on YouTube and said the comments fly in the face of Beauprez’s “Unity Tour,” which featured his running mate and former GOP primary opponents.
“If he’s talking about unity, this is a funny way to show unity with Coloradans,” Palacio said. “He must be talking about unity with other Republicans, because he didn’t say anything about anybody else.”
Beauprez’s campaign stood by the remarks, because of course.
According to The Denver Post, his campaign manager, Dustin Olson, said Beauprez had been talking about the same things on Wednesday’s tour: creating jobs and opportunities, “about lifting up and creating more opportunity.”
That’s right. Nothing is more uplifting than having someone call you a lazy git.
“I don’t see why it would be controversial to want more people to prosper,” Olson said. “We should be focused on building up our economy so more people have jobs and prosper. It is a sad state of affairs when people are in an economic situation where they are not able to pay federal income tax.”
Math is hard for Republicans. So is compassion.
While 47 percent of Americans have enough deductions to pay no federal income tax, they do pay federal, state and local taxes.
As The Denver Post notes, many of those who do not pay federal income taxes and don’t depend on the government include, senior citizens and the working poor.
Americans who pay no taxes at all amount to less than 10 percent of the population, according to The Washington Post, which gave Romney three Pinocchios out of four in its Fact Checker column.
At about the 5.29 mark, Mr. 47% gets stupid:
I know someone in his state who is out of work but not from lack of trying. Demeaning the unemployed is not conducive to “unifying.” I’m 100% sure that he will never get her vote and he can take that to the bank.
Eric Trommater July 3rd, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Even if it weren’t for my total abhorrence for the GOP on social issues I still could never vote for them because I don’t make enough money.
Anomaly 100 July 3rd, 2014 at 8:54 pm
I can’t afford to be a Republican.
tiredoftea July 3rd, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Even if I could afford it, I wouldn’t want to be!
labman57 July 3rd, 2014 at 8:54 pm
Bad habits die hard — those who do not learn from the mistakes of others are doomed to repeat them … over and over and over again.
uzza July 3rd, 2014 at 9:30 pm
He’s Wrong! There is nowhere near 47% of Americans in Congress.
Tommy6860 July 3rd, 2014 at 10:10 pm
Haha, your post should get top billing in this thread :).
tiredoftea July 3rd, 2014 at 10:17 pm
This address actually is before Mittster’s 47% remark. Stealing meme’s is a right wing trait.
The only reason Beauprez is considered “moderate” in CO is he stands next to the original fringe immigration freak, Tom Tancredo.
AnthonyLook July 3rd, 2014 at 10:17 pm
We need to organize and start protest marches like the old days.
Obewon July 3rd, 2014 at 11:06 pm
“We’ve got to stop being the Stupid Party”-Jindal January 2013 Romney Landslide tour. “Congressional Budget Office data suggests that, at most, about 10% of all households pay no net federal taxes. The number 10 is obviously a lot smaller than 47.”-LOL http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/economy/14leonhardt.html
Dwendt44 July 4th, 2014 at 12:51 am
10 could be larger than 47 on FakeNews.
majii July 4th, 2014 at 1:35 am
I can well imagine that Beauprez would never talk about the corporations that don’t pay taxes, and/or those that place millions/billions in profits in foreign banks to avoid paying taxes.
bpollen July 4th, 2014 at 4:48 am
I think the important number is 40%. 40% of the wealth of this country is held by just 1% of the population. The 47% number is just a bunch of not-shinola to try to get the middle-class and poor to vote against their own interests (voting Republican.)
Stan Ubeki July 4th, 2014 at 10:04 am
As a long term Colorado resident, and a resident of Tom Tancredo’s district, I was hoping he would win the primary, because he would be completely unelectable in the general. It was pointed out to me that Beauprez lost his gubernatorial bid by a larger margin than Tancredo. I am delighted to be reminded of how crazy Beauprez is.
Stan Ubeki July 4th, 2014 at 10:12 am
Yes, we should let 47% of Americans freeze and starve in the dark cold alleys. Those pesky opinionated retired folks that built this place, and those demanding little children who will pay into our SS system in a couple decades. They’re not generating revenue, they’re takers, one and all. Screw them.