What I learned from Mitt Romney

I just learned something new from Mitt Romney about the hard-working American people. Can you guess what it is?

Sure enough, according to Mitt Romney, the hard-working Americans are all white! Who would have thought?

If you watch the video you'll see what I mean.

Set aside for the moment the fact that the claim made in the ad is a lie: nothing that President Obama has done "guts" welfare reform. Instead, pay attention to the text and subtext.

The text is pretty straightforward: by "gutting" President Clinton's welfare reform President Obama has betrayed hard-working Americans and favored people who want to just sit at home and collect welfare checks. This text follows a standard Republican theme for the last few decades.

So does the subtext. The ad shows us video of the hard-working Americans that Romney wants to protect, and every single one of those hard-working Americans is white. Every single one.

Romney here is following in the proud tradition of Jesse Helms, and other Republicans who have made blatant appeals to racism.

Usually, when Republicans do this kind of thing it works. We'll see what happens this time. Meanwhile, prepare for more as the Republicans show their true colors.