Mitt Romney's Marie Antoinette Charge 'Laughable' Coming From 'Quarter-Billion-Dollar Man': DNC

Barack Obama's reelection campaign and the allied Democratic National Committee swiftly responded to Mitt Romney's latest personal attack on the president with character-related attacks of their own.

In an interview with The Huffington Post's Jon Ward on Thursday, Romney charged the president with woeful insensitivity for suggesting that people were too pessimistic about current economic conditions, considering where they could have been. It was, he asserted, a line reminiscent of one of history's haughtiest figures.

"When the president's characterization of our economy was, 'It could be worse,' it reminded me of Marie Antoinette: 'Let them eat cake,'" said Romney.

Efforts to cast Barack Obama as an elitist are nothing new. But for Democrats, a particular aggravation arises when the charge comes from Romney's lips. The former Massachusetts governor, after all, is hardly a rags-to-riches figure. In pushing back against his Antoinette quip, the Obama team emptied out the proverbial closet of anecdotes that cast Romney as an elitist.

"It is actually laughable that the 'Quarter-Billion-Dollar Man' would call President Obama out of touch -- and use the example of a French monarch to make the point," DNC spokeswoman Melanie Roussell said in a statement to The Huffington Post on Thursday evening. "This is the same guy who joked that he was 'unemployed,' offered a $10,000 bet as casually as one might buy a cup of coffee, and said 'corporations are people.' He's also the same person who, as a former corporate buyout specialist for Bain Capital, made his fortune firing thousands of workers, cutting benefits, bankrupting American companies and outsourcing jobs overseas. He's the one who won't release his tax returns -- most likely because we would all learn that he pays a lower tax rate than middle class wage-earners. Laughable."

Tightening the screws a bit, Obama campaign Press Secretary Ben LaBolt quickly followed suit, tweeting out a link to a video of Mitt Romney speaking French for an introduction of the volunteers at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

It's worth noting that past efforts to go after the president for having an elitist worldview have had mixed success. In 2008, Sen. John McCain's campaign deemed Obama a "celebrity." This cycle, Romney spent some time accusing him of enjoying the faculty lounges of Harvard more than real Americana.

Neither of those charges stuck, largely because they didn't mesh well with the story of the president's upbringing, but also because McCain was the definition of a political celebrity and Romney holds degrees from two Harvard graduate schools.

What's been more effective has been to apply the charge of elitism to Obama's policies and, more specifically, his advisers, several of whom (especially on his economic team) came from the top perches of academia, politics and the financial sector.

Comments

[argved]

06:42 PM on 01/16/2012

Didn't Willard Romney when he was Bishop insist that Marie Antoinette receive an after death baptism?

[Redsunriseman]

11:41 AM on 12/31/2011

Mitt has forgotten his stance on wanting all auto workers to lose their jobs and for home owners to go into foreclousure ,I'd. Say that was more of a "let them eat cake " mentallity then the guy who saved GM.

[bucknackt]

08:46 AM on 12/31/2011

PEOPLE need to remember mitt romney was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and is a bourgeois pig, driven by greed and lust for power. His legacy in the private sector is waging class warfare on workers to increase profit margins while protecting executive compensation. His policies as president will be the same, guided by an unholy alliance with the rich, corporate America, the wall street-banking cabal and the military-industrial complex, the 1% he has prostituted himself to in order to become leader if the world's richest plutocracy. BOHICA America, get used to that position if the gop / teabaggers win in 2012! (My safe investment tip for 2012 if the gop / tea-baggers win.....vaseline).

[shyhon]

11:02 PM on 01/04/2012

.As opposed to leaning politics from the nationally recognized corrupt power base-Chicago, befriending known and avowed terrorists, taking his religious training from a bigot and lastly, appealing to the socialist/Marxist party for their support when seeking a seat in congress.
Hmmmm, I believe I'll take Romney, who though a "bourgeois pig" (DO people really still use that word?), "driven by lust and power", still managed to give to charity nearly $6 million dollars between 2002-9, hundreds of thousands of dollars through their charitable foundation, $127,000 to children’s charities, $33,000 to disabled vets, $1 million to the Winter Olympics in Utah, drew no salary as governor, and a few more things.
Give me a rich man with a generous heart any day.
My safe tip for the trashbaggers for 2012, Vicks. One heaping tablespoon with your morning coffee. After that, anything in your day will seem better.

[bucknackt]

08:10 AM on 01/05/2012

A lot of the money donated to charity came from the obscene executive compensation romney received at baine as a result of his outsourcing thousands of American jobs to India and other developing countries, leaving thousands of American workers unemployed. Charity is not a substitute for full time employment at a living wage, but romney's policies only benefit the rich bourgeois pigs and corrupt corporations and the politicians they own. gop and tea-bagger propagandist are working hard to present romney as a "christian" conservative, but all he is able to do is talk the talk, if he actually walked the walk his platform would reflect the teachings of Jesus Christ, not karl rove and grover norquist.

[argved]

07:00 PM on 01/16/2012

Shyhon says, "As opposed to leaning politics from the nationally recognized corrupt power base-Chica­go, befriendin­g known and avowed terrorists­, taking his religious training from a bigot and lastly, appealing to the socialist/­Marxist party for their support when seeking a seat in congress."
Wow, talk about made up stuff and nonsense.

[tinkertoy]

01:05 AM on 12/31/2011

Both Michele and Barak got paychecks from the same firm, whether they were summer associates, associates or full partners. They met at and worked at the same lawfirm. Period.

[Snickers777]

11:14 PM on 12/30/2011

I have no problem with Mitt or Barack. I'm happy the President is able to spend his vacation with his family in Hawaii. I'm just glad us taxpayers can afford to send him and his family (and secret service and support staff) around the world vacationing in some of the finest and most expensive resorts in the world. I mean...he is the President of the richest country in the world. Why shouldn't he be able to spend whatever he wants. I just don't get it...why does everyone make such a big deal about how much money our President or our government spends. It's no big deal...all we have to do is just print more money. It's that simple. Chill out people.

[OldandGnu]

03:53 PM on 12/30/2011

Romney's lame attempt to spotlight Obama as elitist, serves only to underscore how "out of touch" the "Quarter Billionaire ", himself, actually is with the people. He arrogantly, and wrongly, assumed that his "Marie Antoinette" comparison would strike a chord of agreement with regular folks. He seems unaware that a lot of regular people, tired of politicians always "painting a rosy picture" and lying to the citizenry about the true state of affairs, see Obama's realistic representation of the state of affairs as refreshing and encouraging. Mitts "handlers" also seemed to have failed to remind him of how forgetting the "People who Live in Glass Houses" analogy , can be a BIG mistake.

[vidian6]

07:46 AM on 01/01/2012

Who's ideas was it that he say this. It's so insane you have to questions they thought process. Boy somebody's lost it.

[OldandGnu]

03:19 PM on 01/01/2012

He'll say whatever HE thinks might get "a rise" from whatever group he happens to be addressing at that moment. He's not the only Politician to show that he's a PHONY...but he's one of the most blatant examples.

[BuddyMc]

03:36 PM on 12/30/2011

Is Romney wrong? I'm not sure, but how many of us that have been told to tighten our belts, could afford a $4 million vacation. How many of our wives, (or other Presidents wives), have had their own jet to go ahead of the President in? How many times has she went on shopping sprees without the President, knocked on some officials door and then claimed all that she spent as a business expense. Maybe, just maybe this time Romney has hit the nail squarely on the head. I don't see Obama denying anything, except responsibility for all of his failures, only the talking heads of the extremist left are the ones making any noise.

[Greta42]

04:26 PM on 12/30/2011

It seems you have been hit squarely on the head with the dysfunctional thinking you exhibit in this post. First you claim the $4 million vacation rumor spread by FOX which has been debunked. All presidents travel on AF1 with security as you well know - but now it is an issue for you because it's not Bush.

Then you attack Mrs. Obama - why don't you give citations for those "shopping sprees" you claim - because you have none. As for her claiming it all as a business expense, how would that relate to all the trips that Laura Bush made, many with her 2 daughters and friends and family. Did you complain about those trips?? The answer is NO because you are a big.ot and a repub.

[BuddyMc]

05:04 PM on 12/30/2011

Nah, just a very disgruntalled democrat who is tired of all of the smearing that the extremes of left and right and right do. I did not agree with everything that Bush did, but his leadership was evident, by accepting the blame of what did happen on his watch, and not being a cry baby whenever someone made fun of him. As I replied to another Bush hater, he even praised those, who insulted him, for their service to their country. Who has Obama praised that didn't kiss his butt? I had hopes for his promises, but they have all been lies! He has not led this country at all, he has a plan, but no one knows what his plans are, he can't articulate his plans and he spends less time in the white house tending to the needs of this country than any other president in our history. I just hope Hillary makes herself available and that the rest of the country can see that she is so much more qualified than the academia in office now.

[jims1950]

07:41 PM on 12/30/2011

george took plenty of vacations at our expense. so did all the others.

[vidian6]

07:48 AM on 01/01/2012

He took more vactions than any other president, that's a fact.

[Nelle]

03:18 PM on 12/30/2011

The dude can throw around 10K bets and says the President is out of touch? Look in the mirror Willard!

[kalemakapii]

03:14 PM on 12/30/2011

Romney speaks French..?! Mitt, it is time for you to release your birth certificate. Of all the languages to learn, you choose French? Euro-elitist.

[BuddyMc]

03:42 PM on 12/30/2011

I'm not going to say that Romney isn't well off and maybe a little elitist, but I haven't seen him taking a $4 million vacation on the citizens dime. Obama sure does identify with the rest of the country's misery, shooting hoops with Michael, playing golf with Tiger, have Motown parties at the white house, yeah, maybe he is telling us eat some cake.

[Greta42]

04:31 PM on 12/30/2011

Again here you are with the same lies - There is no $4 million vacation, liar -

Romney is not the President or an elected official. He is a Plutocrat, part of the oligarchy. He makes millions on his millions. Why would he be entitled to have the taxpayer's pay for his vacation since he is a private citizen??

Sounds like you just don't like having a mixed race President having some AA sports figures to the White House. That is the basis for all your complaints, admit it.

[kalemakapii]

05:01 PM on 12/30/2011

ALL presidents take vacations using taxpayers money. They are entitled to it. Bush was no different. He took more vacation time than any president in modern history. In fact, Bush was off playing golf with his big oil friends while young Americans were dying in a war he started. I'll bet seeing a BLACK president having a "Motown" party at the WHITE hourse, with all those BLACK people really makes you angry. Too bad, get use to it. American is changing and you can scream all you want about "taking the counrty back"... it ain't gonna help. You can't have the country back. People you so obviously hate now have control of it. OBAMA 2012

[Fracuss]

03:10 PM on 12/30/2011

Before Romney began to "reinvent" himself, (based on his record as gov.) I thought he would be the only "acceptable" Republican candidate for president. Now, he is proving that you cannot be all things to all people without being a hypocrite and making a fool of yourself. If you pretend to be who you are not...be careful what you wish for.

[Fracuss]

03:06 PM on 12/30/2011

Oh, sure...Romney is one of us.
Here is a tip Mitt...think first, talk second. And never, ever, suggest you are the average man or that you "feel our pain". I knew Bill Clinton, and you are no Bill Clinton.

[DoTheMath]

03:22 PM on 12/30/2011

Great tip. Fortunately, there's no way Mitt will heed your good advice. Obama-Biden 2012!

[treadway123]

02:45 PM on 12/30/2011

His son Mat Romney call out the Birther thingy saying when Obama shows his B.C, Mitt will show his income Tax return. Tell Matt that the B.C been shown enough, time his dad owned up on his income tax return an show us what he is hiding.

[BuddyMc]

03:46 PM on 12/30/2011

The question in my mind is still, Why did it take so long to show that BC? It sure would have put a lot of worry and heartache to rest if it had been done sooner!

[jims1950]

07:44 PM on 12/30/2011

don't you think it needed to be seen when he anounced he was running for president?
that's when it was first shown. it was also on the internet.

[GUITFIDDEL]

02:20 AM on 12/31/2011

I had to have a Top Secret Clearance. The FBI interviewed my parents, relatives, High School Teacher, my parents neighbors and some friends that I almost forgot about. AND, that was only to work on certain types of aircraft. They had to go through it again when I had to work on a hazardous waste site 8yrs later. I believe the CIA was involved with that. What do you think they'll do to someone that wants to be COMMANDER and CHIEF of the UNITED STATES that has control of all this stuff? Do you think they can probably find out more about someone than Donald Trump?

[Greta42]

04:34 PM on 12/30/2011

Not releasing his tax returns will sound the death knell for his campaign. Every candidate has to make them public, he will not be allowed an exception to this.

People already don't like Mitt, especially the conservative repubs. They will see this for what it is - He has a lot to hide regarding how he makes his money AND exactly what tax rate he pays. Won't it be interesting to see whether he pays a lesser %age than a salaried middle class American!!

[jims1950]

07:45 PM on 12/30/2011

we all know he pays a lesser % than we do. they get loopholes we dont. we get chased down by the irs.

[DoTheMath]

02:35 PM on 12/30/2011

The fact that Romney picked this particular line of attack proves how out of touch he is. The DNC's response is buried in the article, so in case anyone missed it:

"This is the same guy who
joked that he was 'unemployed,'
offered a $10,000 bet as casually as one might buy a cup of coffee,
and said 'corporations are people.'

He's also the same person who,
as a former corporate buyout specialist for Bain Capital, made his fortune
firing thousands of workers,
cutting benefits,
bankrupting American companies
and outsourcing jobs overseas.

He's the one who
won't release his tax returns -- most likely because we would all learn that
he pays a lower tax rate than middle class wage-earners. Laughable."

[phal4875]

02:58 PM on 12/30/2011

Fanned. Thank you for sharing very important information about the likely GOP candidate.

[Fracuss]

03:07 PM on 12/30/2011

Fanned...you nailed it.

[alpacaman1]

02:27 PM on 12/30/2011

I would say to Obama on Romney: "Let him eat crow".

Ya know, I always thought the Mormons were an upstanding lot.
I don't understand how a pathological liar slipped out and became the world's image of what Mormon's are.

I think John Huntsman is more American, more honest and far more representatinve of Mormons than the walking, talking hypocracy that we have before us.

[GUITFIDDEL]

01:27 AM on 12/31/2011

Not me.

[IndyDemoCan]

02:22 PM on 12/30/2011

Yeah, Willard really knows what the common folk are all about, born rich and getting richer with every American job he ships overseas! We all know that Obama is a republican, but at least he's a moderate republican, not a crackpot republican like the rest of the field. Hopefully Obama can be nudged a little more to the left in the next four years. People really need Medicare for all, and a job, but the only thing they are gonna get from any of the crackpot republicans presently running for the number one spot is more grief and most likely another war! Vote for peace, get the money and religion out of politics, and we (the 95%) might have a chance someday!