Romney actually wants to help 'poor people,' and the right isn't happy
| Washington
It isn鈥檛 just the left that鈥檚 attacking Mitt Romney for saying he鈥檚 鈥渘ot concerned about the very poor.鈥� The right is also in high dudgeon 鈥� and not just because Mr. Romney made it easy (again) for his detractors to portray him as an out-of-touch rich guy.
From talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh to The Wall Street Journal editorial page, conservative pundits are coming down hard on the Republican presidential front-runner over the second part of Romney鈥檚 point: that the poor have a safety net, 鈥渁nd if there are people that are falling through the cracks, I want to fix that.鈥�
A gasping Mr. Limbaugh could barely contain himself.
鈥淭he safety net is one of the biggest cultural problems we鈥檝e got!鈥� Limbaugh said. 鈥淲e had better be worried about it just like we had better get angry over Obamacare. Obamacare is worth getting mad about. Mitt said that it wasn鈥檛. This biz, 鈥業鈥檓 not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there鈥�? Right, the safety net is contributing to the destruction of their humanity and their futures!"
The Journal was more measured, but just as negative.
鈥淭here's a half-century of creative conservative thinking on antipoverty transfer programs, and it's too bad Mr. Romney didn't mention some of it,鈥� the paper editorialized. 鈥淥ne note to strike is about growing dependency on government and its corrosive effect on human dignity.鈥�
Refundable tax credits, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other programs for the poor are almost 50 percent more generous to individuals than they were in 2007, the editorial stated.
But Romney hasn鈥檛 exactly been trying to make it up to conservatives. In fact, in remarks to reporters on his campaign plane Wednesday, he reaffirmed his longstanding support for automatic increases to the federal minimum wage to keep up with inflation 鈥� a position that conflicts with Republican orthodoxy. 聽
Romney鈥檚 real point, he said throughout the day, has been to show concern for the middle class. 鈥淚鈥檓 concerned about the very heart of America, the 90 to 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling,鈥� he said in his original remarks to CNN. 鈥淚鈥檒l continue to take that message across the nation."聽
Democrats, of course, are gleeful over the 鈥減oor鈥� gaffe. The Democratic National Committee whipped up a quick Web ad and put out a statement decrying 鈥渁 shallow attempt to show concern for the middle class.鈥�
鈥淗is policy proposals make clear that he also isn鈥檛 very concerned about the middle class,鈥� said the DNC, arguing that Romney鈥檚 tax plan provides only a modest tax cut for the middle class and a big one for the wealthy.
Newt Gingrich, fresh off his drubbing by Romney in the Florida primary Tuesday, seized on Romney鈥檚 gift and ran with it. At an event in Nevada Wednesday, the former speaker said he was "fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other. I am running to be the president of all of the American people, and I am concerned about all of the American people."
