# Romney's 47% comment, why the big deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 14, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939 "2013-03-14T19:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/61 "2013-03-15T17:44:41Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Because it was: > > (a) False. There may be 47% of the country on government assistance of some sort and 47% that don’t pay incomes taxes, but they are not the same people (and the numbers are off anyways). > > (b) Tone-deaf. A person as rich as Romney, talking to other rich people about how put upon they are by folks too poor to pay taxes is unseemly. > > (c) Insulting to large segments of the population that he needed votes from (including but not limited to old people on SS and Medicare). > > (d) Divisive by attempting to split the country into “producers” and “takers”. Nobody is all one or the other, and many people are one for part of their life and the other for another part. That’s sort of the point of a safety net - to catch those that fall so they can move back up. > > Just for the record, here is the most pertinent part of the transccript: Bingo! Well put. > [@tullsterx](#): > > I think he took a pretty good point and made a complete mess out of it. Agreed. > [@](#): > > Of course if 47% or so of people don’t pay any net taxes, and that number is rising, then we’re heading in the wrong direction I agree with what I think you mean here. I like how my father put it: “Everyone should have some skin in the game.” It would be a disaster to have a majority of the voting public decide how to spend money contributed by others. However, I have to moderate that a bit, since many of those 47% were contributors in the past, but are now retired. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > > [@tullsterx](#): > > > > Of course if 47% or so of people don’t pay any net taxes, and that number is rising, then we’re heading in the wrong direction. . . > > Of course, this statement is hilariously wrong, for the reason Bryan Ekers mentioned. Being hilariously wrong, no points made by assuming this to be true can be defined as “good”. Please explain. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It’s 100% fair to discuss those who don’t pay federal income tax when discussing issues with fully funding the federal government, just don’t turn it into an attack on their character. Agreed! > [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > As I said this was clear in context, but that was not what many people heard or interpreted it. Its the same as Obama’s “you didn’t build that”. In context it is clear that he is talking about infrastructure, but many people heard it as talking about the business itself (particularly with selective editing). It’s definitely true that the Left made even bigger hay from it. However, the remark, taken in context, reported without bias, is a good example of bad judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/62 "2013-03-15T18:16:29Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > I agree with what I think you mean here. I like how my father put it: “Everyone should have some skin in the game.” It would be a disaster to have a majority of the voting public decide how to spend money contributed by others. However, I have to moderate that a bit, since many of those 47% were contributors in the past, but are now retired. > > Please explain. There is no such thing as 47% of people paying no net taxes. Perhaps there are 47% of people not paying net Federal Income Taxes, but that’s different than not paying taxes. State and local taxes are noticeably regressive, the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in tax than the rich. THAT is where their skin is going, and they don’t have much left to give to the Feds. Now, if you think everyone needs to have skin in every level of government, then suggest how we can de-regress the taxes of 50 states and 10,000 local municialities so that the poor actually have enough remaining income to have some skin at the federal level. If all you want to do is ignore the real money they pay out to other government agencies, and pretend they’re freeloaders, I’m not down with that. [Handy Link.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/19/heres-why-the-47-percent-argument-is-an-abuse-of-tax-data/) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/63 "2013-03-15T18:59:57Z")
Thanks, Cheesesteak. The $300 portion of my real estate tax that has me eating TV dinners this payperiod wouldn’t be noticed by the wealthy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/64 "2013-03-15T19:00:33Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > There are simply a whole lot of people working shit jobs and getting nowhere in life, having so little money that they don’t hit the levels of income that would require you to pay income tax **(but they do generally pay payroll taxes).** Yeah, why **is** that? ISTM that SS payroll tax should be income-progressive, like the income tax. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/65 "2013-03-15T20:16:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yeah, why **is** that? ISTM that SS payroll tax should be income-progressive, like the income tax. I believe the argument is that the wealthy won’t need Social Security, and certainly won’t get paid more SS than anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/66 "2013-03-15T21:39:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I wonder if someone born that wealthy has any concept of what it is like to be poor. Perhaps they seriously believe that “the 47 %” are a bunch of stupid, lazy selfish folks. I would tend to think it’s the opposite. People born wealthy should be the easiest to sell on the idea that the poor aren’t all lazy or otherwise bad. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/67 "2013-03-15T21:46:19Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > I would tend to think it’s the opposite. People born wealthy should be the easiest to sell on the idea that the poor aren’t all lazy or otherwise bad. This. Those that drew the “quite unrich parentage” card but still made it rich through some combination of skill, luck in life, and hard work are more likely to believe that everyone can pull themselves out of poverty entirely through skill and hard work than someone who was rich simply through the luck of who they were born to. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/68 "2013-03-15T21:47:14Z")
I’m not sure it matters. It’s a personality trait. There are plenty of both empathetic and mean-spirited rich people, and there are plenty of both empathetic and mean-spirited middle-class and poor people, too. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/69 "2013-03-15T21:50:47Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/70 "2013-03-16T20:41:00Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Because it was: > > (a) False. There may be 47% of the country on government assistance of some sort and 47% that don’t pay incomes taxes, but they are not the same people (and the numbers are off anyways). > > (b) Tone-deaf. A person as rich as Romney, talking to other rich people about how put upon they are by folks too poor to pay taxes is unseemly. > > (c) Insulting to large segments of the population that he needed votes from (including but not limited to old people on SS and Medicare). > > (d) Divisive by attempting to split the country into “producers” and “takers”. Nobody is all one or the other, and many people are one for part of their life and the other for another part. That’s sort of the point of a safety net - to catch those that fall so they can move back up. > > Just for the record, here is the most pertinent part of the transccript: I’d add a.2) There are about 47% of people who reliably vote Democratic, they are not the same people either. Its a three part Venn diagram - each circle overlaps - but Warren Buffet doesn’t have much to do with people getting food stamps. ---
**Author:** ![NotfooledbyW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NotfooledbyW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotfooledbyW)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/71 "2013-03-17T03:48:24Z")
> [@NotfooledbyW](#): > > So that is a slap in the face by a man from a family that does not serve in wars. They apparently find it more important to serve the Mormon Church as Romney did during Vietnam. > > On top of that Romney had protested against college students that were protesting against the Vietnam era draft. He was all for drafting those that could not afford college, but of course he was not man enough to enlist, in fact he sought every way to \*\*avoid serving \*\*available at the time. Romney went to France to try to convince the French not to drink. > There are many things wrong with what Romney said, but a big one for me was that **this combat avoider** , was even trashing the self-less men and women currently serving in combat who do not pay Federal Income Taxes because they are paying with their lives on the line for their country. That above is exactly what I wrote. However Marley23 singled out the following phrase and has determined apparently that it was not true: > [@](#): > > “…he sought every way to \*\*avoid serving \*\*available at the time” Please note that I puroposely chose the words “avoid serving” instead of 'draft dodging. That is because I know the difference between the two. Yet Marley23 chose to rewrite words to “draft dodging”. That is neither fair nor correct. > [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t think that’s even close to true. Do we have to do another round of ‘let’s accuse someone of draft dodging even though the war was wrong anyway?’ As far as I know, his actions were one, going to college, and two, going on a mission, which is typical for Mormons. Neither really qualifies as avoiding anything and both were probably undertaken out of conviction rather than a wish to avoid getting drafted. And there were other means available as we all know. I also don’t see the point in getting worked up over the fact that he supposedly joined one counter protest. No, we need no round of accusing someone of ‘draft dodging’ because that is not my point nor what I wrote. Seeking four deferrements was definitely ‘avoiding’ serving in the military whether it was for conviction of just plain chicken. The point about Romney as a college student protesting the draft protesters is that he basically stood for drafting others when he himself had ‘convictions’ and wealth that enable him to have a choice. Those drafted did not have a choice, if they were healthy males and not fathers. The Huffington Post reported: > [@](#): > > Though an early supporter of the Vietnam War, Romney avoided military service at the height of the fighting after high school by seeking and receiving four draft deferments, according to Selective Service records. They included college deferments and a 31-month stretch as a “minister of religion” in France, a classification for Mormon missionaries that the church at the time feared was being overused. Seeking is avoiding. I detest and contrast Romney from other college aged males that ‘avoided’ the draft by seeking deferments because most of those college students protested against the draft, although they were financially able to avoid being drafted. They were not draft dodgers either, but Romney stood on the side of the establishment that conscripted all healthy males to serve in the godawful and immoral war that the US Government decided to wage. I don’t know why anyone would defend the privileged class war avoider but war supporter. Specifically with what the chicken hawk said in 2007 to try to convince Americans and Vietnam Veterans who did put their lives on the line for their nation… right or wrong. More from the Huffington Post: > [@](#): > > A look at Romney’s relationship with Vietnam offers a window into a 1960s world that allowed him to avoid combat as fighting peaked. His story also demonstrates his commitment to the Mormon Church, which he rarely discusses publicly but which helped shape his life. > > Romney’s recollection of his Vietnam-era decisions has evolved in the decades since, particularly as his presidential ambitions became clear. > > He said in 2007 – his first White House bid under way – that he had “longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam.” But his actions, Selective Service records and previous statements show little interest in joining a conflict that ultimately claimed more than 58,000 American lives. He longed to be in Vietnam… yeah right? Huffington Post" > [@](#): > > Political rivals, military veterans among them, suggest that Romney’s own decision not to serve in the military is in conflict with his pro-military rhetoric. > > “He didn’t have the courage to go. He didn’t feel it was important enough to him to serve his country at a time of war,” said Jon Soltz, who served two Army tours in Iraq and is the chairman of the left-leaning veterans group [VoteVets.org](http://VoteVets.org). > > Critics note that the candidate is among three generations of Romneys – including his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, and five sons – who were of military age during armed conflicts but did not serve. > > As a presidential candidate in 2007, Romney told The Boston Globe he was frustrated, as a Mormon missionary, not to be fighting alongside his countrymen Here’s what Romney actually said, according to the Huffington Post: > [@](#): > > “I was supportive of my country,” Romney said. “I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there, and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam.” Some more from Huffington Post link to the Associated Press report. Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report. The title of the report is, “Mitt Romney Faces New Scrutiny Over Vietnam War-Era Draft Deferments” By STEVE PEOPLES 06/05/12 12:53 PM ET > [@](#): > > Indeed, Romney strongly supported the war at first. As a freshman at Stanford University, he protested anti-war activists. In one photo, he’s shown in a small crowd of students, smiling broadly, wearing a sport jacket and holding up a sign that says, “Speak Out, Don’t Sit In.” > > But the frustration he recalled in 2007 does not match a sentiment he shared as a Massachusetts Senate candidate in 1994, when he told The Boston Herald, “I was not planning on signing up for the military.” > > “It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft,” Romney told the newspaper. > > But that’s exactly what Romney did, according Selective Service records. He received his first deferment for “activity in study” in October 1965 while at Stanford. > > As Soltz notes, the younger Romney was under no obligation to seek a college-related deferment. > > “Vietnam was a war that the poor and the people who couldn’t afford to go to college had to go to,” Soltz said. > > After his first year at Stanford, Romney qualified for 4-D deferment status as “a minister of religion or divinity student.” It was a status he would hold from July 1966 until February 1969, a period he largely spent in France working as a Mormon missionary. > > He was granted the deferment even as some young Mormon men elsewhere were denied that same status, which became increasingly controversial in the late 1960s. The Mormon church, a strong supporter of American involvement in Vietnam, ultimately limited the number of church missionaries allowed to defer their military service using the religious exemption. Romeny said in a Memorial Day Speech in 2012 > [@](#): > > “Greatness in a people, I believe, is measured by the extent to which they will give themselves to something bigger than themselves,” Romney said in a Memorial Day speech When it came to Vietnam there is nothing great about that man. I would have been drafted had I not been involved in a motorcycle accident,not my fault, when I was 17 and having metal pins in my ankle. I protested the war every chance I could, although I didn’t have to go and couldn’t go had I wanted to. Romney is was war avoiding scum that supported the war and the draft. Sorry. That is the reality and it is what I said, I never claimed that Mitt Romney was a draft dodger. He was a very blatant draft hypocrite. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/72 "2013-03-17T04:38:10Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The guy who shot the video just went public and he’s also talked about this issue. To him, it said a lot about Romney’s character that Romney didn’t say one word to the staff at the event and didn’t acknowledge them in any way. In the interview on _The Ed Show_ the guy who shot the video said he brought the camera to work because two weeks or so earlier Bill Clinton made a similar appearance at the location. Afterwards Clinton made a point to talk to the staff and to poise for pictures with them. He thought perhaps Romney would do the same, Mitt didn’t interact at all with the staff. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/73 "2013-03-17T06:08:04Z")
A point of clarification about college deferments and the draft, from one who was there. First, when the lottery began, most people were in college before they got their number. Since a high number would have meant you didn’t have to go anyhow, I think it is a bit difficult to say that anyone went to college solely to avoid the draft. Second, 2S deferments were pretty much automatic, and you didn’t have to be rich to get them - especially back then when even expensive colleges were in the reach of more people. Third, deferments only lasted until you got out of college. I think it could be argued that grads would do a better job than kids right out of high school, in some areas at least. With my lottery number of 11 I would have been drafted if Tricky Dicky hadn’t wiped out the draft. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/74 "2013-03-17T07:33:36Z")
Basically ,no political candidate can tell the truth about anything-PC rules. This country will never change until people accept the truth, and stop listening to pandering politicians. Was Romney correct? Largely, yes-there is a huge group of voters who will vote for candidates who promise more (from the taxpayers) for them. That is the truth and no one can refute it. The same with these absurd wars that we have indulged in- trillions wasted in Afghanistan-for what? I have never seen an accounting of how much this war has cost-or any analysis of how we are “safer” because of it. ---
**Author:** ![NotfooledbyW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NotfooledbyW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotfooledbyW)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/75 "2013-03-17T12:23:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The same with these absurd wars that we have indulged in- trillions wasted in Afghanistan-for what? I have never seen an accounting of how much this war has cost-or any analysis of how we are “safer” because of it. -Today, 03:33 AM 076a0333 Vietnam and Iraq March 2003 through November 2011 (\* last month involving 2 U.S. combat troops’ deaths) were absurd wars. Afhganistan, not so fast. Afghanistan was started on the basis of our inherent right to self-defense after suffering an attackon our soild and our Department of Defense from that particular part of the world. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or making us safer or as a military intervention to stop or decrease genocide. The military operation in Afghanistan because of it’s proximity to nuclear armed Pakistan does have national security implications that can be argued. But the particular mission going on for the past decade was about the right to retaliate when attacked. And it is a NATO mission that according to treaty when one nation is attacked belonging to NATO, all are considered attacked. Iraq, nothing doing. It is wrong to lump Iraq and Afghanistan together as absurd wars. That is what Republicans did do justify Iraq. It is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![NotfooledbyW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NotfooledbyW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotfooledbyW)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/76 "2013-03-17T13:21:14Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > A point of clarification about college deferments and the draft, from one who was there. First, when the lottery began, most people were in college before they got their number. Since a high number would have meant you didn’t have to go anyhow, I think it is a bit difficult to say that anyone went to college solely to avoid the draft. The point I have made on this thread is about Romney … Romney was eligible for compulsory military service at the height of the Vietnam war in 1966. The lottery came out many years later when the war was beginning to wind down. I am not saying Romney went to college to avoid the draft. Romney was certainly going to college because of his privileged class and that is what the privileged class does to stay privileged. The point is Romney, as a youn man, had to ‘choose’ to seek a college and religious deferments, when other men of his age did not have the same choice. But Romney spoke out in favor of sending ‘others’ that did not have his station in life, to go fight and kill and die in an unnecessary war. Romney could avoid war by going to college, others could only avoid war by going to jail or to Canada. The point about Romney is that later with political ambition to seek the highest office in the land, he said he longed to be in Vietnam in combat fighting and serving his country as so many others did at the time. That is BS. He chose his path in life and he can’t retroactively change it to enhance his political career. > [@Voyager](#): > > Second, 2S deferments were pretty much automatic, and you didn’t have to be rich to get them - especially back then when even expensive colleges were in the reach of more people.. You had to choose to seek them and get them. Romney chose to get deferments rather than fight in the war that he supported at the time and agreed with the draft the way it was set up and the draft that gave him the ability to choose not to go to war, because he had the financial means to avoid it if he wanted to. > [@Voyager](#): > > With my lottery number of 11 I would have been drafted if Tricky Dicky hadn’t wiped out the draft. I would have been drafted but for pins inserted in my ankle. And later my lottery number would have been called. But I opposed the war, and I opposed the draft. The point is, I didn’t have the money to go to college, and would not have had the choice the Romney had. War means we all sacrifice together or should. It should never be about access to money that decides who goes and who doesn’t. If Romney had no way out, his opinion of the war may have been different. The opinion he had at the time was then and is still now, indefensible. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/77 "2013-03-17T13:21:35Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Ok I’ve read a lot of newstories on this and not one has explained why it was such a big deal, the comment was not far from the truth and was not so outlandishly outrageous(like saying hey lets use poor kids for food!). > > Why was this seen as a massive blunder? Well, see the comment actually is far from the truth. Also, it was very condescending and insulting. That, along with all the other reasons is what makes it so outlandish. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/78 "2013-03-17T14:15:53Z")
Sorta related-did any of the Kennedy family (of draftable age in the Vietnam era) actually serve in the armed forces? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/79 "2013-03-17T14:30:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Sorta related-did any of the Kennedy family (of draftable age in the Vietnam era) actually serve in the armed forces? I imagine that if I were John F, I’d do all I could to keep my family from going through what I did. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939/80 "2013-03-17T14:33:28Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Sorta related-did any of the Kennedy family (of draftable age in the Vietnam era) actually serve in the armed forces? I don’t know. _You’re_ the one obsessed with the Kennedys. Why don’t _you_ do the research and let us know? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romneys-47-comment-why-the-big-deal/652939.md?page=5)