Why does Mitt Romney hate the elderly?

Caught on tape saying what he really believes to the people that fund his campaign, Mitt Romney trashed, among others, the elderly.

Romney said: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.”

“My job is is [sic] not to worry about those people,” Romney continued. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

That is actually a lie for starters…the not paying taxes part.

Only 18.1 percent of American households paid zero or negative federal income tax and zero or negative federal payroll tax in 2011. They are elderly, they are poor or both.

Second of all, a large portion of that 47 percent are Republican voters. There are a significant number of 47 percenters that are poor and rural and white and Southern.

Mitt Romney has disdain for them all.

The idea that 47 percent of Americans don’t have “personal responsibility” or “care for their lives” is shockingly arrogant, even by Mitt Romney’s standards.

The idea that a candidate for President of the United States writes off nearly half the country is appalling.

This notion that we are a country of takers shows a fundamental misunderstanding of America.

Some of these “takers” paid taxes – income and payroll – and are now living their retirement. They do not deserve to be spoken of in these terms.

Other freeloaders are disabled veterans who have sacrificed a lot already. Mitt Romney, who lived in France during the Vietnam War, should apologize to our veterans who are in that 47 percent.

In fact, he should apologize to everyone in the 47 percent he disdains.

Ironically, it is still unclear if Romney ever paid no income taxes in a year. But, according to the Tax Policy Center, 3,000 people who made more than $2,178,866 in 2011 (the top 0.1 percent) paid no federal income taxes.

Romney actually depends on the 47 percent to win. And the states he is ahead in, by and large, are the states that are most dependent on the federal government – taking more federal dollars than they pay into the system.

The redistribution of wealth to Republican states from Democratic states is, to say the least, ironic.

Romney’s “dependent takers” are a significant portion of the Republican base.

And Romney looks down on them. Are they suckers enough to vote for him? Will the Republicans in the 47% cling to the GOP that disdains them and uses them for their votes every election day?

About Bill Buck

Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.