Romney On NAACP Booers: They’re Freeloaders

By Aviva Shen/Think Progress

Mitt Romney has found a new spin for the resounding chorus of boos he triggered at the NAACP on Wednesday. At a fundraiser in Montana that night, Romney boasted about the boos to a very different crowd, saying: “If they want more stuff from the government, tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff. But don’t forget nothing is really free.”

Given Romney’s fraught history with the organization — Mother Jones reported yesterday on his antagonistic relationship with the Boston NAACP while governor — invoking the “welfare queen” stereotype against NAACP members who support Obamacare is tone deaf, if not a deliberate attempt to stoke conservative resentment against so-called government freeloaders.

The “free stuff” comment is a mantra Romney uses often. Just last month, in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), Romney scoffed, “Everybody likes free stuff, but there is no free stuff.”

The Rachel Maddow Blog cites several more examples:

A few months ago, for example, the GOP presidential hopeful responded to questions about contraception access by saying, “If you’re looking for free stuff you don’t have to pay for, vote for the other guy.” Soon after, Romney complained that Obama is trying to buy students’ political support by offering them “free stuff.”

There is a pattern to this. If you’re a woman who wants access to preventive care you might not otherwise be able to afford, Romney sees you as wanting “free stuff.” If you’re a young student who can’t afford higher-ed tuition, Romney assumes you expect “free stuff.”

And if you’re an African American supporter of the NAACP who wants your family to have access to affordable health care, Romney suspects you’re just looking for “free stuff.”

Of course, no one will receive free health insurance under Obamacare; the law makes health care more affordable for working and middle class families through tax credits. But everyone pays into the system to ensure that the government does not have to pick up the tab of the uninsured.

Obama Didn't Call Americans Lazy -- But Right-Wing Media Routinely Do

From Media Matters

Right-wing media recently pushed the discredited attack that President Obama called Americans "lazy." But right-wing media figures themselves have a history of suggesting that Americans -- particularly the poor, the unemployed, and union workers, among others -- are lazy or lack work ethic.

Right-Wing Media Claimed Obama Called Americans "Lazy"

Fox's Todd Starnes: Obama "Took The Nation To Task ... For Being Lazy." In a blog post that was posted on Fox Nation, Todd Starnes wrote:

President Obama took the nation to task today for being lazy.

The comments came during a meeting between the president and CEOs attending the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. The United States is hosting this year's gathering in Hawaii.

[...]

It's not the first time the president has accused Americans of being lazy. [Fox News Radio via Fox Nation, 11/14/11, via Media Matters]

Fox's Kilmeade Suggests Comment Shows Obama Is "Determined To Bring Us Down." Whileco-hosting Fox News' The Five, Brian Kilmeade said: "I will say this. The fact that the president of the United States has called us soft, we've lost our competitive edge, and now we're called lazy. ... He's trying desperately to flatten out our country, and defuse us, and get us off our high horse. Why is he so determined to bring us down?" [Fox News, The Five, 11/14/11, via Media Matters]

Hannity: "This Is Not The First Time" Obama Has "Kind Of Attacked The American People."During an interview on his Fox News program with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sean Hannity asked:

HANNITY: What do you make of the President? This is not the first time that he's kind of attacked the American people, that you know, the people are a little bit lazy, he spoken a while back about them getting soft, we lost our ambition, our imagination. What do you make of that? Are the American people not smart enough to accept his goodness and greatness? [Fox News, Hannity, 11/15/11, via Nexis]

For more right-wing media claims that Obama called Americans "lazy," SEE HERE.

In Fact, Obama Didn't Call Americans Lazy ...

AP: Ad Saying Obama "Thinks" That "Americans Are Lazy" Actually "Takes Obama's Comment Out Of Context." Beth Fouhy, political reporter for The Associated Press, reported that a campaign ad by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry that uses Obama's comments takes them "out of context":

Republican presidential hopeful Perry takes Obama's comment out of context.

Obama was speaking to a group of CEOs about the challenges of attracting foreign investment in the U.S., not about individuals or their economic challenges.

[...]

Perry is using the comment to portray Obama as out of touch, even contemptuous, of ordinary Americans. [The Associated Press, 11/16/11]

ABC's Devin Dwyer: Attacks On Obama "Distort" His Comments. ABC News White House producer Devin Dwyer wrote that the ad by Perry featuring Obama's comments "distorts" what Obama said:

"Can you believe that? That's what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy? That's pathetic," Perry says in the spot that's airing in Iowa and New Hampshire.  

The only problem: the full context of Obama's remarks made Saturday during a meeting of CEOs in Honolulu indicates he wasn't suggesting that at all.

Boeing CEO James McNerney asked Obama about his thinking on the perception by some countries of "impediments to investment" in the U.S.

Obama replied that "we've been a little bit lazy" about actively trying to attract private foreign investors to U.S. soil -- referring broadly to American government and business sectors, not the American people themselves. [ABCNews.com, Political Punch, 11/16/11]

Wash. Post Fact Checker: It Is "Clear From The Context Of Obama's Remarks That He Is Not Saying Americans Are Lazy." In a November 21 Fact Checker post, The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler wrote that it is "clear from the context of Obama's remarks that he is not saying Americans are lazy":

In other words, Obama is highlighting a serious problem. Perhaps the phrase "lazy" is a bit overheated, but it clear from the context of Obama's remarks that he is not saying Americans are lazy. He's talking about a trend over a two-decade period that indicates a certain complacency in trying to win business and investment. [The Washington Post,11/21/11]

... But Right-Wing Media Routinely Attack Americans As "Lazy" Or "Having Poor Work Habits"

LOW-INCOME AMERICANS

Limbaugh: "Do You Know Any Low-Income People Who Want To Get A Better Job? ... Do They Even Want To Work?" On the April 21 edition of his radio show, host Rush Limbaugh said, "Do you know any low-income people who want to get a better job? ... Do they even want to work?" [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 4/21/11, via Media Matters]

Fox Business Scolded Poor People For Not Being Ashamed Of Their Poverty. During the May 19 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co., host Stuart Varney attacked anti-poverty programs as evidence that the U.S. now has an "entitlement mentality." Fox commentator Charles Payne then scolded people in poverty for not being "embarrassed" about needing public assistance:

PAYNE: Krystal [Ball], there's no doubt that these are good programs. I think the real narrative here, though, is that people aren't embarrassed by it. People aren't ashamed by it. In other words, the there was a time when people were embarrassed to be on food stamps; there was a time when people were embarrassed to be on unemployment for six months, let alone demanding to be on it for more than two years. I think that's what Stu is trying to say, is that, when the president says Wall Street is at fault, so, you are entitled to get anything that you want from the government, because it's not really your fault. No longer is the man being told to look in the mirror and cast down a judgment on himself; it's someone else's fault. So food stamps, unemployment, all of this stuff, is something that they probably earned in some indirect way. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 5/19/11, via Media Matters]

Fox's Stuart Varney On Low-Income Americans: "Many Of Them Have Things -- What They Lack Is The Richness Of Spirit." During the August 25 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co. at Night, host Stuart Varney hyped a Heritage Foundation study showing that many Americans in poverty own appliances, saying: "The image we have of poor people as starving and living in squalor really is not accurate. Many of them have things -- what they lack is the richness of spirit. That's my opinion." [Fox Business, Varney & Co. at Night, 8/25/11, via Media Matters]

Fox Business Pitted The "Takers" Of "Government Handouts" Against The "Makers." After a National Bureau of Economic Research study concluded that social safety net programs, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, were highly effective at keeping people out of poverty, Fox Business launched a week-long series pitting the "takers" of "government handouts" against the "makers" in the economy. [Media Matters, 5/24/11]

UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS

Kilmeade: "Maybe The Unemployment Benefits [Expiration] Will Get People To Sober Up" And Take A Job. On the July 15, 2010, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said that "[m]aybe the [expiration of] unemployment benefits will get people to sober up" and take a job. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/15/10, via Media Matters]

Ben Stein Attacked Unemployed Americans As Having "Poor Work Habits." In a July 19, 2010, post at The American Spectator, conservative pundit and frequent Fox News guest Ben Stein wrote:

The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities. I say "generally" because there are exceptions. But in general, as I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day's work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job.

In an August 27, 2010, American Spectator post, Stein repeated his attack, writing: "[A]s I noted before, in my small circle of friends, anyone who has good work skills and a decent personality can get a job. I am not talking about the national scene. Just my little world. The chronic complainers and the malcontents and the unrealistic are the ones who cannot find work they want. The people who really want to work can get work. It might not be great work, but it's work." [The American Spectator, 7/19/10,8/27/10, via Media Matters]

Stein Claimed That "A Lot Of" Unemployed People "Would Not Prefer To Go To Work." On the April 30, 2011, broadcast of Fox News' Cavuto on Business, Stein said that "a lot of" unemployed Americans "would not prefer to go to work." [Fox Business, Cavuto on Business, 4/30/11, via Media Matters]

UNION WORKERS

Limbaugh Attacked Union Workers As "Freeloaders" As Compared To "Real Working Non-Unionized People." On the February 17 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh called union workers "freeloaders" and contrasted them with "real working non-unionized people." [Premiere Radio Networks,The Rush Limbaugh Show, 2/17/11, via Media Matters]

Limbaugh: Union Protests In WI Were Due To Union Members Not Wanting To "Pay A Dime Towards Their Own Health Care Or Retirement." On the August 18 broadcast of his show, Limbaugh said that the protests in Wisconsin took place because public union members didn't want to "pay a dime towards their own health care or retirement." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/18/11, via Media Matters]

Coulter: Teamsters President Hoffa Represents "Useless" Workers Like "Kindergarten Teachers" Instead Of "Men Who Have Actual Jobs." During the September 7 edition of Fox & Friends, conservative pundit Ann Coulter said that Teamsters president James Hoffa represented "useless" workers like "kindergarten teachers" instead of "men who have actual jobs." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/7/11, via Media Matters]

OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTESTERS

Limbaugh: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Are "Perpetually Lazy, Spoiled Rotten, 99 Percent White Kids." During the October 6 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh attacked Occupy Wall Street protesters as "perpetually lazy, spoiled rotten, 99 percent white kids." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/6/11, via Media Matters]

Fox Nation And Wash. Times On Occupy Wall Street And Its Demands: "Don't Feed The Lazy."A November 18 op-ed in The Washington Times, titled, "Don't feed the lazy," claimed that "Occupy Wall Street's demands undermine real compassion." The op-ed stated:

It is interesting to note that according to the Bible, one of the criteria for receiving aid was a willingness to work. Entitlement was not an option. The Apostle Paul wrote, "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."

Paul is not being cruel or heartless in this passage. He is expressing a truth that those who are able but unwilling to work should be disqualified from receiving charitable help, thereby allowing their natural need for food to drive their effort to work. This is a profound and often overlooked financial principle.

[...]

Attitudes toward poverty, debt and entitlement make reaching common ground with those in the Occupy Wall Street movement difficult. Compared to many around the world, they live in relative comfort, with access to food, shelter and liberty. But rather than embracing equal opportunity, they seem to clamor for equal outcomes.

[...]

Perhaps it is time for the Occupy Wall Street movement to reflect on the words of Paul: "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."

Fox Nation also linked to the op-ed. [The Washington Times, 11/18/11; Fox Nation, 11/21/11]

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION EMPLOYEES

Limbaugh: Employees At Nonprofit Organizations Are "Lazy Idiots" And "Rapists In Terms Of Finance And Economy." During the August 12, 2010, edition of his radio show, Limbaugh attacked the employees of nonprofit organizations as "lazy idiots" and went on to say that they are "rapists in terms of finance and economy." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/12/10, via Media Matters]

Glenn Beck's not an anti-Semite -- he's lazy and irresponsible

by Simon Maloy

On June 7, self-styled historian Glenn Beck offered his take on why so many professional historians are speaking out against his own peculiar brand of historical revisionism: "You have to have the letters to be able to say these things. You have to have a PhD. You're not qualified to talk about history. I'm sorry -- really? When did we give this to a bunch of eggheads?" It's classic Beck -- playing the victim against an ill-defined cast of elites conspiring to take him down. It's also classic Beck in that he completely ignored the truth behind the matter -- historians criticize Beck because he's a really bad historian. And Beck lent much credence to their complaints last week when he endorsed one of the anti-communism movement's great anti-Semites.

To recap, Beck got really excited last Friday telling his listeners about this book from the 1930s he was reading called The Red Network, saying that it was the Depression-era version of what he's trying to accomplish today -- namely, the public exposure of all the secret communists supposedly inhabiting the Democratic administration. Unmentioned by Beck was that the author of the book, Elizabeth Dilling, was a wildly anti-Semitic supporter of Germany's Nazi regime, and that The Red Network itself contains more than its share of racist and anti-Jewish invective.

But that's clearly not what attracted Beck to the book. What prompted him to talk it up and wave it around for all to see was its staunch and frequently hysterical anti-communism. Indeed, The Red Network boasts fire-breathing attacks on the "progressives" in the Roosevelt White House and claims a "Communist-Socialist world conspiracy ... is boring within our churches, schools and government and is undermining America like a cancerous growth." That kind of stuff is right in Beck's nutty wheelhouse, though he'd be hard-pressed to explain how he managed to read the book and somehow not notice its attacks on Judaism as a "cult," or its several attempts to blame Russian Jews for Nazi Germany's anti-Semitism.

And that gets to the nub of things -- did Beck even read the book before promoting it on the air? He clearly knew of and approved of its stance on communism (he was impressed by its attacks on the "radical" NEA, in particular) and based on that he blessed it with his imprimatur. One would like to think that a real historian (or really anyone interested in an accurate retelling of the past) would read a book all the way through before promoting it as an important historical document, or at least do a little background research to make sure that the author isn't, for example, a Nazi.

But that's not how Beck operates. Instead, he finds material that reinforces his worldview, adopts its ideas as his own, and then gleefully foists it onto his audience. We saw the same thing happen with W. Cleon Skousen's The 5,000-Year Leap and R.J. Pestritto's Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism. Beck read those books and suddenly he started spouting off on the divinity of the Founding Fathers and the evils of the Wilson administration. He doesn't think; he regurgitates. And in this instance he got burned.

What's more, Beck knows he got burned, but he isn't about to admit it or apologize. On Monday he tried to weasel his way out of it by saying that it's ridiculous for "the left" to call him an "anti-Semite" when they also, allegedly, call him a "Jew lover." Once again, classic Beck -- ignoring what actually got him into trouble and instead playing the victim.

Make no mistake, Beck is deserving of all the criticism he gets. But calling him an anti-Semite misses the point: Beck wasn't espousing anti-Semitism, he was being his typically lazy and incurious self, and that irresponsibility resulted in an accidental endorsement of anti-Semitism. And for that he owes all of us an apology.