(Community Matters) The real “47%” to which Romney was referring: “. . .African-Americans, Hispanics, liberals, single and college-educated women, and union households.. .”
. . . said longtime Christian conservative strategist Ralph Reed. “Those groups alone add up to about 46 percent of the electorate.” Politico
[Haley] Barbour summed up the Obama message on Romney in perhaps the most memorable sound bite of the 2012 election: “He’s a wealthy plutocrat married to a known equestrian.”
A Responsible Mom:
That Romney quote about people in the 47 percent not taking responsibility for their lives made me so angry I almost cried. I’m in that 47 percent. My household hasn’t paid income taxes in ten years – not since my husband became seriously disabled and could no longer work. How dare Romney tell me I’m not taking responsibility. I’ve been nothing but responsible – responsible for raising three children and caring for my husband for five years until he died, through some very tough times. I worked part-time through much of this, but SSDI and private disability insurance made it possible for my family to survive financially. My two sons received federal loans for college. One is now a public school teacher, and a darn good one – a worthwhile investment, I’d say. The other is still in college. My third child is disabled and continues to receive SSDI, and I’m still responsible for her. I work full-time, pay payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes. But I work for a not-for-profit and don’t receive the kind of salary people of my abilities earn in investment banking.
The stuff that happened to me – a spouse who died prematurely, a child with a genetically-based disability – these things can happen to anyone. Anyone.
Community Matters 
Thank you for sharing these stories; I’ll be referencing them myself. The denigration of working class (hero class?) Americans is astounding.