Why yes, I think he did. Here's what he said, referring to a 'culture of violence':
And you ask how -- how are we going to do that? And there are a number of things. He mentioned good schools. I totally agree. We were able to drive our schools to be number one in the nation in my state. And I believe if we do a better job in education, we'll -- we'll give people the -- the hope and opportunity they deserve and perhaps less violence from that. But let me mention another thing. And that is parents. We need moms and dads, helping to raise kids. Wherever possible the -- the benefit of having two parents in the home, and that's not always possible. A lot of great single moms, single dads. But gosh to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone, that's a great idea.
I saw what you did there, Governor Romney. You blame the "culture of violence" on children living in single parent families and then go on to say, but hey -- there's a lot of great single parents. They're just failures responsible for gun violence, because everyone knows it's not the guns, it's the people holding them, right?
The governor expands:
Because if there's a two parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically. The opportunities that the child will -- will be able to achieve increase dramatically. So we can make changes in the way our culture works to help bring people away from violence and give them opportunity, and bring them in the American system.
Was that a subtle admission that poverty affects learning and achievement prospects, Governor? Shhhh, don't tell Bill Gates. He doesn't like you to talk about poverty because it's an 'excuse', don't you know?
And underneath, there's the subtle dog whistle. "Those people" shouldn't be breeding until they're married. Isn't that what he's saying? And not gay married either. Only straight marriages for Governor Romney.
Yes, he did blame single parents for gun violence. But not all single parents, I don't think. Just the poor kids, those who already face nearly insurmountable challenges and the ones he'd like to foreclose from any opportunity at all. They're the ones.
