Mitt Romney thinks rural gun owners are bitter.

Well, no, but he's just had the flip of Obama's "bitter gun owners" moment. That moment, you may recall, was when in early 2008 Obama either let a mask slip and revealed himself to have low opinions of gun owners, or, was playing up to his audience's perceptions in order to raise more money. I honestly don't know what the answer to that is, but if it's the former, he's been too engaged to restrict gun rights; whereas for the latter there's a clear motive.

Romney's moment? It's over at Mother Jones. Speaking to a closed audience of wealthy donors, he explained his inability to maintain a lead against Obama as due to Obama having an embedded base of irresponsible "lucky duckies" who don't pay income taxes. Sucking at the government teat. Please read the article, there's much more there.

Now obviously Romney is being over-the-top divisive here, playing up an us vs. them contest. What I would love to know, obviously, is whether Romney really feels this way vs. just marketing to the donors. I'd also like to point out that this kind of message is getting out: I recently linked to a piece at Powerline where John Hinderaker explained Obama's popularity in the same way, that it's based on entitlement addiction rather than any rational choice. And a week ago I spoke of the fears of some people I know, that should Obama lose, his "dependents" will riot and loot.

No matter whether this is the "real" Romney or just the "fund raising" Romney, it sounds awful, and it will be interesting to see if it gets as much play as Obama's "bitter gun owners" comments. And then, if it does get as much play, how many on the Right will say that the media is "in the tank" for Obama.

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(DISCLOSURE: I work for Abt SRBI. My company does polling. My opinions should not be construed as representing those of my employer.)