We are going to hear a lot of interesting things today from the Romney camp (just can’t wait for Jennifer Rubin’s reaction!), but there’s already a bit of official campaign spin from none other than Bay Buchanan, per The Hill‘s Justin Sink:
[W]hile the Obama campaign has said the comments demonstrate Romney’s “disgust and disdain for half our fellow Americans,” Buchanan said he was simply “talking politics.”
“He’s analyzing the voter base,” Buchanan said. ‘How do I reach my 50 point plus one vote? And when you do that, and I tell you I haven’t met a candidate who doesn’t, I always recommend they don’t, but they always seem to like to be that political analyst, what he’s saying is there are people out there who don’t pay taxes, unfortunately, they’re in a position where they’re dependent on government, and those individuals are — those Americans are voting for Barack Obama. they’re in his backyard.”
But Buchanan insisted that as president, Romney would be “extremely concerned” about the poor and the elderly who are the large majority of those who do not pay federal income taxes.
So that’s the defense? Romney was just offering the detached analysis that 47% of Americans are parasite scum?
I guess this makes sense if you figure Mitt’s already fatally alienated “the 47%,” so now the prime objective is to avoid offending the sensibilities of non-parasites who don’t much like this kind of hateful crap. Such “swing voters” probably would like to hear that Romney at least plans to become president of all the people, even if his tender compassion towards the less-fortunate is expressed by boosting their taxes and/or reducing safety net benefits.
Presumably Buchanan’s out there this morning because she’s had a lot of practice at spinning the unspinnable. She chaired all three of her brother’s presidential campaigns, and her last gig before signing on with Team Mitt was to head up the short-lived Tom Tancredo for President effort.
