And here are some great audience reaction shots to what he had to say:
Good job, Mitt Romney!
In all seriousness, Romney got a lot of boos during his speech. He got booed when he talked about repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act. He got booed when he talked about his opposition to marriage equality. His economic proposals are regressive garbage. (Aviva Shen at Think Progress: More Than Two Million African-American Households Would Face a Tax Hike Under Romney's Plan.) He has nothing to offer anyone who isn't just like him.
The NAACP released this statement after his appearance: "This morning Governor Romney laid out his policy agenda for this nation. Unfortunately, much of his agenda is at odds with what the NAACP stands for—whether the issue is equal access to affordable health care, reforming our education system or the path forward on marriage equality. We appreciate that he was courageous and took the opportunity to speak with us directly."
And in response to the lackluster response to his agenda? "If they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy—more free stuff. But don't forget nothing is really free."
Wow.
He also noted that he "expected" to get booed. Which underlines the evident fact that he did not speak to the NAACP because he has, or even thinks he has, anything to offer a black constituency. He spoke to the NAACP to get a headline for the powerful white people funding his campaign about "reaching out" and how brave their candidate is just for showing up.
He went there to get press that Others African-Americans in the process of helping him.
Boo.
