Mitt Romney further solidified his reputation as an out-of-touch top 1%er with this comment in the NBC Facebook New Hampshire GOP Debate.
“He (Romney’s father) said, Mitt, never get involved in politics if you have to win an election to pay a mortgage.”
This deserves some parsing. If you don’t need an elected official’s salary to pay for your mortgage than that means your mortgage is already paid off. Who does that apply to other than senior citizens or people like Romney who are wildly wealthy?
It means that Bill Clinton, a guy who made $35,000 a year as governor of Arkansas and little net worth in 1992 before becoming President should not have run for President because he didn’t have a house fully paid. It means that the 1970s Newt Gingrich shouldn’t have run for office with his small teachers’ salary while trying to pay mortgages and a family (and mistresses?).
It means that tens of thousands of elected officials, Republican and Democrat, are illegitimate in Romney’s views because they do depend, literally, on their government paycheck to pay their mortgages.
Romney’s statement wasn’t made with anger or contempt but it provided yet another glimpse into his inner worldview—one that is so completely immersed in top 1 percent atmospherics that he has no clue that anyone could question the validity of his assumption.
Romney didn’t quite come out and give a tongue lashing or beating to his butler or valet in public—yet. But it is only a matter of time.