(SALON) — If you watched TV, read a newspaper, listened to the radio or consumed pretty much any other news in the past 24 hours, you know that Mitt Romney’s comments about 47 percent of Americans mooching off the government dole are incredibly toxic and may have already cost him the presidency.
But the rumors of Romney’s demise may be greatly exaggerated, as there’s plenty of reason to believe the 47 percent nonsense can actually help him. It may sound far-fetched, and many voters will undeniably be turned off by his statements, but many others will likely embrace them. The notion that the comments will be entirely harmful is based on the assumption that Romney is focusing on winning over moderate independent voters. But Boston has apparently abandoned that approach in the dramatic strategy change the campaign rolled out this week (off to a great start!). Now, the thinking in Romneyland is, “This is going to be a base election, and we need them to come out to vote.”
