Senate [In-Depth Discussion] United States presidential election: 2012

I don't know that that's necessarily a rebuttal. Even if we say the Tea Party has a different mindset, libertarians are also undeniably disdainful of an active role for government, and that came through strongly in Romney's remarks.

 

I really don't think libertarianism is much of a political force in this country, or we'd have had a much different GOP platform than the one we got. In any case, I don't think the 47% comment was a statement of libertarian principle so much as it was an attempt to pander to the prejudices of people who got it into their heads that they're being victimized by the "leeches of society".