I have no idea why NM is a red state in this chart. As for all those who don’t pay Federal Income tax (not at all the same as “non-taxpaying”): Perhaps this is the South’s revenge on the Union.

Fact-Checked: Romney’s ’47%’ Of Non-Taxpaying Americans From Red States | Addicting Info

Fact-Checked: Romney’s ’47%’ Of Non-Taxpaying Americans From Red States | Addicting Info

Romney’s 47% Paying No Taxes Combines Elderly With Poor Workers – The Washington Post

By Richard Rubin, Updated: Tuesday, September 18, 6:00 PM Bloomberg

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — Elderly Americans and low-wage workers make up the bulk of those who don’t pay income taxes, a group that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said are “dependent on government” and see themselves as “victims.”

For 2011, 46 percent of households didn’t pay federal income taxes. About half of those didn’t pay because of standard deductions and personal exemptions designed to exclude subsistence levels of income from taxation

Romney’s 47% Paying No Taxes Combines Elderly With Poor Workers – The Washington Post

Mitt Romney’s 47% Problem : The New Yorker

…something else Romney related in the video: the story of his own wealth.

I have inherited nothing. There is a perception, “Oh, we were born with a silver spoon, he never had to earn anything and so forth.” Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you can have: which is to get born in America.

Romney was the son of a governor and an auto executive who gave him a wealth of connections, a private education, college tuition, a stock portfolio that he lived on while in graduate school, help buying a first house. That he recognizes the value of none of these things is both dismaying and discouraging for anyone who thinks that he will be able to do much to actually encourage opportunity in America. He is clear enough about one difference money can make in life, when he tells those present, “Frankly, what I need you to do is to raise millions of dollars,” and talks about how many foreign customers his campaign consultants have had. But Romney did, in the video, talk about a disadvantage that he feels he has labored under: had his father “been born of Mexican parents, I’d have a better shot of winning this.”

Mitt Romney’s 47% Problem : The New Yorker

The GOP called themselves the party of “Deep Thinkers” and the Vulcans just 8 years ago. Of course, Santorum (Latin for asshole — Bob Kerrey) will say he meant “the people who consider themselves smart and you dumb.” And “elite” has always pissed me off when we know one thing makes you elite in America: nauseating amounts of money.

Rick Santorum: ‘Smart People’ Will Never Be On Our Side (VIDEO)

"We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country," Santorum said, according to BuzzFeed and a video posted by Right Wing Watch, available above. "We will never have the elite, smart people on our side, because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do."

Rick Santorum: ‘Smart People’ Will Never Be On Our Side (VIDEO)

Suggesting your voters are dumb should be fatal, but this is the party that embraces ignorance and (self-)deception and eschews facts.

It’s notable how often the phrase “double-down” comes up in various contexts with regard to Nit.

Mitt Romney’s Libya Blunder Reflects Larger Failings : The New Yorker

“It almost feels like Sarah Palin is his foreign policy adviser,” Matthew Dowd, a former political adviser to President George W. Bush, told the Washington Post. “It’s just a huge mistake on the Romney campaign’s part—huge mistake.”

Obama’s subsequent jibe that Romney “shoots first and aims later” hit home. …

[I]t is widely thought that Romney’s political advisers aren’t the brightest bulbs—his entire campaign has been a litany of errors. What has been less remarked upon is the makeup of Romney’s foreign-policy team. For a former businessman who claims to willing to hire the best and smartest regardless of background, it is a remarkably unimpressive and ideologically driven group, consisting largely of washed up neocons and Cold Warriors, many of whom served in the Administration of George W. Bush. …

Kristol, Bolton, Gerecht, Cohen, and several other of the people who are listed as informal advisers on Romney’s Web site are former members of the Project for the New American Century, the neocon think tank that will forever be linked to the invasion of Iraq.

My theory is that in this area, as in others, Romney has demonstrated that he’s a poor politician, allowing himself to be co-opted and hoodwinked by the right.

When Romney decided to run in 2012, the best argument for his candidacy was that he had nothing to do with the Bush Administration and could appeal to moderate voters. But rather than trying to make a break with the Bush Administration and portraying himself as a different sort of Republican, one who has learned from the mistakes of the past, Romney has embraced the Bush heritage—one that delivered the Presidency to Obama in 2008.

Mitt Romney’s Libya Blunder Reflects Larger Failings : The New Yorker

Be afraid. Be very afraid of Gnit.

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule « 2012 Election Central

TV Channels – Each debate will be broadcast live on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, as well as all cable news channels including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC among others.

Live Stream – Each debate will be streamed live online. Check back here for the live stream.

October 3, 2012

Topic: Domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)

The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.

The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.

October 11, 2012
Vice Presidential

Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)

The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.

October 16, 2012

Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

October 22, 2012

Topic: Foreign policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)

The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule « 2012 Election Central

Cutting Federal jobs makes perfect sense if you want to prove government can’t get anything done. Starve the beast. Doesn’t do much for employment figures.

Heather Huhman: 7 Ways Our Presidential Candidates Plan to Tackle Unemployment

Reduce the federal workforce (Romney). As part of Romney’s fiscal policy, he plans to cut the overall size of the federal workforce by 10 percent. Romney posits that, although the private sector has been steadily losing jobs, the federal workforce has grown by 6.9 percent. The thought is to put federal resources where they should be most effectively used. Does this mean widespread federal layoffs? Romney’s plan does not highlight the details. To contrast, Obama plans to add nearly 15,000 jobs to the federal workforce if elected.

Heather Huhman: 7 Ways Our Presidential Candidates Plan to Tackle Unemployment