GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney (Photo: AP)

If you needed proof of how out of touch from the ordinary struggles of the people of this nation Mitt Romney actually is, it arrived yesterday, courtesy of a secret recording from a closed-door fundraiser released by David Corn at Mother Jones.

Romney regards forty seven percent of Americans as parasites, the tape revealed. In fact he sounded almost jealous of the poor, and how good they have it. But just wait till he becomes presidentbecause then their free ride will be over, he assured his private audience.

'There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax.'

Where we see poor but hardworking people struggling to escape poverty, Mitt Romney sees spongers living high off the welfare hog courtesy of his (we're supposed to believe) high taxes.

Romney clearly holds half of this country in contempt. He'll be there with his boots on when the time comes to teach them a lesson, I expect.

But here's the thing, Romney's own career has been about playing the system from the winners corner. With his secretive Swiss Bank accounts and his Caymen Islands accounts, and his secretive trust funds, and his refusal to document his own tax returns, why should we believe he's morally superior to the ordinary citizens he so casually condemns?

Recall that part of the reason so many Americans don’t pay federal income taxes now is that Republicans passed a series of massive tax cuts that wiped out the income-tax liability for many Americans. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush made that scenario a reality, remember.

It may be partially true that 47 percent of the population figure pay no net federal income tax but Romney hasn't noticed that most of them do pay federal payroll tax. Of those who pay neither income nor payroll taxes, most are the elderly. That's because elderly people generally don't have jobs. I'd have thought many seniors might have been trending toward Romney but hopefully this will make them reconsider. Students, if they're smart, have probably just been warned off him too.

The idea that half of Americans are just a bunch of grifters is how America's super rich talk about us all when they're among themselves. It's repulsive, but it's wholly accurate.

Mitt Romneyhas said he believes corporations are people, but he does not believe struggling Americans are. You're all bloated dependents. You're entitlement junkies. You think that the government should take care of you because you clearly lack the means and the smarts to take care of yourself. Perhaps they'll hire Clint Eastwood to lecture you.

After all, if you're so smart, why didn't you have a rich daddy like he did?