It's Christmas in September!

Some people were expecting an October Surprise from the repugicans.  But we never thought Mitt Romney would give it to us in September!

By now you may have heard that Mitt Romney ended his race for the presidency last night.  Well, not officially.  But the race is all but over.  Anyone who gives this man a dime after last night's fiasco, truly doesn't care about a return on their investment.

You see, last night we learned, from a secret video, that Mitt Romney had told some high-paying donors that half of America is worthless, lazy people who don't pay taxes, don't have a job, and don't really want one.

"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 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.

Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Then, in case you didn't get the message the first time, Romney reiterated his key point, that Democrats don't pay taxes.

"It's a message which I'm gonna carry, and continue to carry, which is, look, the President's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them, and therefore I'm [not] likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who were in the middle. This is really a discussion about, about the political process of winning the election."

And if that weren't clear enough, rnc Chair Reince Priebus, always good for adding insult to injury, said Romney's words were "on message." So the entire repugican cabal is now embracing Mitt Romney's claim that half of the American people are jobless and lazy and see themselves as victims.

Nice job, Reince. I think I see ripples of impact for the House and Senate races ("The chair of the Republican party says you're lazy and you don't pay enough in taxes...").

The reaction from the media was swift, and damning.

Josh Barro of Bloomberg, "Today Mitt Romney Lost the Election."

CNN's Jim Acosta ‏@jimacostacnn
Shorter Romney statement... no apologies.

AP's Kasie Hunt ‏@kasie
Category of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes: U.S. troops serving in combatzones.

TIME's Mark Halperin ‏@MarkHalperin
Many of us have seen pols pander to donors in closed events. I've heard my share Rs+Ds. Never anything this damaging however.

CNN/Daily Beast's @HowardKurtz
Romney on the 47 percent seems a stereotype of an unsympathetic venture capitalist--going to be hard to overcome among non-base voters.

CNBC/NYT's @JohnJHarwood
Ex-GWBush ad-maker McKinnon: Romney fund-raiser tape "potentially crippling"

@JohnJHarwood
Dem pollster Garin on Romney fund-raiser tape: "Reinforces impression he's mistake/prone & arrogant. would be better off if he apologized"

Things are getting so bad, this piece of satire by Andy Borowitz may not be so far off from the truth.

In what his campaign described today as a bold strategy to insure victory in the Presidential contest, repugican nominee Mitt Romney will undergo a procedure to have his mouth wired shut until Tuesday, November 6th.