Who are ‘those people’? “There are 47 percent who are with him [Obama],” declared Mitt Romney, “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. And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax.

“My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

It took years, but the real Mitt Romney finally stood up and told us who he is. He won’t be president of all Americans if he’s elected, just half of them.

My father-in-law, Lee, doesn’t pay income taxes. He’s 88 now, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.

Lee joined the Marines after he left Annapolis and landed under heavy fire at Inchon as a platoon leader before fighting his way toward Seoul. He was awarded the Bronze Star after leading an attack that destroyed a North Korean tank column outside Ascom City.

Lee and my mother-in-law Shirley have been married 64 years. They live in quiet retirement on Social Security they set aside over the years out of their earnings.

Like tens of millions of other senior citizens, students, disabled and poor Americans, and many servicemen and women, they don’t make enough money to pay income taxes.

But Romney isn’t “worried” about “those people.” In fact, he’s openly disdainful of folks like my in-laws, regarding them as parasites, “victims” who take no “personal responsibility” for themselves.

I guess Lee forgot about personal responsibility after he took an enemy bullet near Seoul and was awarded a Purple Heart.

It’s the $50,000-per-plate GOP crowd that gets the governor’s juices flowing, the ones like casino billionaire Sheldon Adelstein, who Romney hopes will buy the presidency for him. How is it, by the way, “family values” politicians like Romney seem always to be in bed with professional gamblers?

Romney’s attack on “those people” ignores the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit, a conservative idea that aims to reduce poverty by incentivizing the poor to work.

According to the Tax Policy Institute, half of those who don’t pay income taxes are households earning less than $16,800. One-third make between $16,800 and $22,500.

Two-thirds of these low-income earners do contribute payroll taxes to cover Social Security and Medicare not to mention paying state, local, sales, gas and property taxes and state fees.

The right wing has screamed “class warfare” for three years. Romney’s divisive comments confirm there is a war and it’s being waged by Republicans against the middle class and poor Americans.

And now we know Romney will escalate that war if he wins. Whenever he’s asked for specifics on how he’ll cut taxes across the board and balance the budget Romney says he will “close loopholes.”

Which loopholes? The governor will let us know after the election.

Here’s a hint fellow middle class readers: the deduction Americans take on mortgage interest is a “loophole.”

If Romney trashes the mortgage interest deduction, average Americans will subsidize the $2 billion savings Sheldon Adelstein realizes on his tax return. The $10 million he wagered on Romney will have paid off big time.

It’s ironic that Romney’s remarks come before a group of wealthy Americans who don’t want to pay income taxes at all.

Like Romney, they expect all the benefits of living in America without paying their way.

Sounds exactly like “those people,” doesn’t it?

Kevin Foley is a public relations executive, author and writer who lives in Kennesaw.