If there's one thing I get most sick of in politics, it's gotcha media seeming to purposefully misinterpret someone's words. I hate even having to talk about this stuff. This is like the toilet cleaning part of cleaning your house, but I guess it must be done.
So start with saying that of course Mitt could/should have made his point regarding the middle class with better words. Fine. Learn from it.
But here's the point for me: I don't think any fair-minded person could possibly take what Romney said yesterday as any different than what most politicians say all the time. He clearly was NOT saying he doesn't care about the poor - to the contrary he said he believes the safety net is (and should be) there for them and can be improved where needed. In what world can that be interpreted as not caring about the poor? Again, you can't clip out a few chosen words, you have to look at the whole statement. I could take a conversation from anyone, clip out only the parts I want, and make it sound bad. But that's unfair and disingenuous. Get that, media and pundits?
Notice nobody pulled out the line "I'm not concerned about the very rich" - because that wouldn't create the controversy and misinterpretation they want to create. Oh, no.
In context, you can easily summarize what Romney said this way: "the middle class have been most harmed by Obama's policies, and my priority as president will be to correct this."
OK, now back to my zen state for a few moments...
Commentary on the political campaigns across America this year, with focus on the 2012 Republican Primary, the 2012 US presidential campaign, as well as the battle for the US Senate and the US House of Representatives in 2012.
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