Mitt Romney, Socialist

So Think Progress (and Wonkette, and Balloon Juice...) saw a clip of a Romney speech in which he says Americans should "get as much education as they can afford" and worked themselves into a tizzy over it, tossing out all the usual out of touch, Millionaire Mittens jokes.

What they missed was the rest of the clip, which heralded a sudden, drastic shift to the left by Romney which is assuredly going to allow him to win all the independents and Reagan Democrats and maybe even real Democrats and thump the Kenyan usurper right good and send him packing:

I think this is a land of opportunity for every single person, every single citizen of this great nation. And I want to make sure that we keep America a place of opportunity, where everyone has a fair shot. They get as much education as they can afford and with their time they’re able to get and if they have a willingness to work hard and the right values, they ought to be able to provide for their family and have a shot of realizing their dreams.

They "ought" to be able to provide for their families? Everybody knows wages for non-job creators have been stagnant for decades (see chart below from the EPI) and that it doesn't really matter how hard you work or how right your values are, you probably can't provide for your family these days on a single person's salary, and maybe not even with two people's salaries.

Romney is pointing to nothing less than a massive re-distribution of wealth from the top to the bottom with his talk of "ought" and "dreams". That's boilerplate class warfare rhetoric, folks.

I mean, it's just a small step from saying "if you work hard and have the right values you ought to be able to provide for your family" to "hey, why can't you provide for your family even though you work hard and have the right values?" And that way lies revolution and pitchforks and Stalinism.

So you go, Mitt! Keep talking that commie talk, and the working-class electorate will be putty in your soft, manicured hands.