Mitt Romney’s 47 Percent Comments ‘Managed To Offend Just About Everyone In America,’ Former Bush Advisor Admits

Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comments, made in May at a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser in Florida and released late last month by Mother Jones, will almost definitely affect the election — and despite considerable spin from the Romney camp, the effect may not be all that positive.

Mitt Romney’s 47 percent comments were immediately divisive when the clip first started making the internet rounds, with much of the reaction labeling Romney as out-of-touch at best and at worst, pledging to leave nearly half of Americans at sea if elected in November.

But Romney’s 47 percent comments may have offended an even wider swath of America, and even Republicans have admitted that the disastrous leaked clip insults more than half of Americans — in fact, perhaps nearly all Americans if going by the barometer of accepting government help.

Bloomberg quotes a former advisor to President Bush, explaining that the Romney 47 percent remarks have been notable in that many GOPers have broken ranks in their wake:

“’As the data shows, Romney’s comment managed to offend just about everyone in America,’ said Mark McKinnon, a former political adviser to President George W. Bush and one of several Republicans who have distanced themselves from the candidate’s remarks.”

The site contends Romney’s 47 percent math is off by a large margin, citing a poll from a few years back in implicating far more Americans as having leaned upon the government at some point in their lives:

“The 96 percent figure comes from a national survey of 1,400 people conducted in 2008 by the Cornell Survey Research Institute for Mettler. Ninety-six percent of respondents said that at some point in their lives they had benefited from at least one of 21 government social policies. Sixty-five percent said they had used four or more.”

However, Mitt Romney’s 47 percent comments did seem to speak to a segment of America that believes that social programs and other government help should be abolished, and for all the damage they may have caused Romney, many are likely to recall them favorably on Election Day.

Were you influenced one way or another by Mitt Romney’s 47 percent remarks?