Mitt Romney, as many of you probably heard, was caught on hidden camera talking to a bunch of very rich people at a lavish event. I want to give you some highlights. I edited out most of the stutters, though some were from transcripts copied/pasted for convenience.
From the video:
"By the way both my dad and anne's dad did quite well in their lives, but when they came to the end of their lives and passed along their inheritances to anne and to me, we both decided to give it all away, so I have inherited nothing - everything that anne and I have we earned the old fashioned way and that's by hard work." (loud applause).
By the time his father died Romney had already gone to harvard by selling off stocks his father gave him from his company and become a multi-millionaire through his family's business connections. Here is his wife describing their college life:
"Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time. The stock came from Mitt’s father. When he took over American Motors, the stock was worth nothing. But he invested Mitt’s birthday money year to year—it wasn’t much, a few thousand, but he put it into American Motors because he believed in himself. Five years later, stock that had been $6 a share was $96 and Mitt cashed it so we could live and pay for education."
He earned everything with the sweat of his brow - it's damn hard work blowing out those birthday candles every year and getting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock options from your car company executive father.
That poor, poor man.
He continues:
"I say that because there's a perception that 'oh, you were born with a silver spoon, you know, you never had to earn anything' and so forth. And I, frankly I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you could have, which is to get born in America. And I'll say there is - let me - 95% of life is set up for you if you're born in this country."
Uh huh. For some more than others.
Then he talks about the national debt and says "And yet the president, three and a half years in, won't talk about reforming Social Security or Medicare."
The very first thing obama did when he got into office three years ago was reform medicare and cut the cost of the program by over 700 billion dollars by removing waste and redundancy on the side of medical providers (without cutting benefits at all and actually lowering prescription costs) and when the president did this romney ran attack ads like this:
So yeah, romney's a lying piece of shit.
Romney continues:
"And when the Republicans do, it's the, "Oh, you're throwing Granny off the cliff." It's like, "You're killing the kids."
Because the republican solution is to get rid of medicare and give seniors a voucher to let them pay for some of their insurance if they can get insurance at all, which most of them won't be able to because a) it's not profitable to insure most seniors or the premiums would be prohibitively high and b) medicare is a gigantic program which allows it to leverage much cheaper rates out of private medical providers than seniors could ever hope to get as individual consumers. Medicare was invented specifically because private companies can't do things it's not profitable to do but which we as a society need done and should do.
But anyway, sorry for ranting, getting back to the video.
After railing against raising taxes on top earners to pay for the national debt he says "It's like - I mean there won't be any houses like this if (LAUGH) if we stay on the road we're on." He's in a lavish mansion at a fancy catered dinner saying this. The "road we're on" has lead to 80% of the country controlling 7% of it's wealth, the greatest wealth divide in the last century.
"...we should have been aggressively supporting the voice of the dissent in Iran. And when there was an effort towards revolution there we should have been aggressively supporting it."
This would have been the equivalent in a nation whose conservatives calls america the great satan of fidel castro endorsing a democrat (as he did with president obama) in a nation whose conservatives use the specter of communism to gain support - it would have done little or nothing to help their cause and been a tremendous ideological boon to the opposition.
He then conflates any attempt at peaceful diplomacy from the president with naivete and megalomania, saying that the only way to deal with other countries is by force - you know, like jesus would've done. He then says about israel-palestine "I should tell you, the idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to give to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world. We have done that time and time and time again. It does not work." Yay for contradicting yourself. He then continues "So - so this - the- the only answer is show strength. Again, American strength, American resolve. As the Palestinians - someday reach the point where they want peace more than we're tryin' to put-- force peace on them."
More fucking for virginity.
One of the people he was speaking to said "I would disagree with that. I think a lot of young children coming out of college feel they were let down by the president. And they feel that there's not a job out there for them. ...and it's 60,000, now they're making $30,000." He then continued that romney should be proud of how hard he's worked and said "Why is it bad to kill yourself and why is it bad to cut 30 jobs that net 300?"
Yes. It's obama's fault people are earning so much less - and on an unrelated note why is it bad to replace good paying jobs with jobs that pay 1/10th as much?
Wow. Seriously, wow.
Romney says:
"...I wind up talking about how the thing which I find most disappointing in this president is his attack of one America against another America."
Then a very short time later says about the "other america" that isn't voting for him:
"Well, there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. Alright? There are 47% who are with him. Who are dependent upon government, who believe that - that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it... And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for for their lives."
When romney's among CEOs and millionaires he says his job is not to give a shit about the 47% poorest of americans (who he is running for office to serve supposedly) and that they're permanently morally corrupt and lazy... for wanting luxuries like food and shelter. Remember that a huge chunk of those corrupt, evil, lazy people are children and seniors and the evil "healthcare" they're entitled to is the medicare/medicaid republicans want to get rid of, supposedly without "throwing granny off the cliff". Most of the people on welfare work for a living and need welfare because of things like medical bills and republicans constantly lowering their wages invisibly through inflation. There are more and more poor people who desperately need government help because of assholes like his friend there cutting jobs that pay and replacing them with jobs that don't. If CEOs like romney and his pals didn't make 300 times the average income of their employees then far fewer people would need any form of welfare. The bottom 50% of the country he's vilifying control 1.1% of the nation's wealth. And no that's not 11%, there's a decimal point there. Why don't they just go to college by selling their father's stock options like romney?
This is just from part 1, I'll watch part 2 later. (the video and transcript, link)
He has a point that really you can start with nothing in this country and make your way up. Want healthcare? Go get a job and work hard. There are too many examples of people who didn't even speak the language when they came over here and made a success of their life. My wife and I both work for employers who are not citizens of the U.S. They came over here to make money. They were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They worked hard and didn't take the payout until they made their way to the top. They don't deserve to be penalized for their success. They deserve to be rewarded.
@TheTheologiansCafe - One, you apparently didn't read the blog or read it in a pathologically selective way, and 2) one of those people who started out with nothing and worked their way up is someone you may have heard of - barrack obama. And it wouldn't have been remotely possible without public education and public student loans and welfare programs to help his single mom keep food in his stomach at times along the way.
A pragmatic problem with redistributing wealth is that eventually there is nothing left to redistribute. Once that is done then everyone is impoverished, and you pretty much have society divided up into a permanent elite government class, and all of the citizens who are united in poverty. This is how every single communist country is run, and it is what we are heading toward if Obama's policies continue.
There was nothing wrong with what Romney said. He knows that all the welfare people are not going to vote for him, in fact they will vote for whoever will give them the bigger handout, which is Obungle and his party. They don't care about economic recovery or long term sustainability and very few of them probably even understand those issues. Similarly Obama knows that the religious right and people who are higher wage earners are not going to vote for him.
@agnophilo - Oh come on, Barack Obama had everything handed to him. He was entirely groomed to be what he is.
@Ambrosius_Augustus_Rex - I don't even know where to start with this insanity - our country is headed toward an oligarchy controlled by corporate near monopolies, big banks and financial institutions, not a communist state where private profit is illegal. How people can be convinced that america is becoming communist when there isn't even anyone advocating that is astonishing.
@Ambrosius_Augustus_Rex - What, specifically, did he have handed to him and by whom? Who handed him his harvard diploma? Aside from his dean at his graduation, that is.
Wow lots of illogical responses 2 ure post, I'm just going to give u props 4 ire post. Don't sweat the discent those folks 2 jaded 2 consider other opinions at the moment.
@TheTheologiansCafe - I agree. Paris Hilton worked very hard to get where she is in life and how dare we punnish her by making her pay any taxes. You need to be applauded for continuing to stand up for the true victims in this world....the Kim, Kourtney and Chloe Kardashians.
@tendollar4ways - So we make policies based on the Paris Hiltons of the World? You do realize they are a small minority of the population? You need to turn off the reality TV and get out and meet people who started their own business. Half of them work so hard they probably don't even know who Paris is.
Amen
Excellent expose.
Romney is such a Pharisee. Wow.
@agnophilo - My favorite part was "So yeah, romney's a lying piece of shit."
Often times, hard work is just not enough when you can't even get your foot in that door. But seriously, he has the gall to lecture us.
Unfortunately we can see President Obama destroying Western Civilization right before out eyes.
And he just loves all the dummies who go all postal at Mitt Romney's Truth Campaign.
Why do Democrats find the truth so scandalous?
I suppose if you put a hidden camera on EVERY politician and heck,I'd say any average citizen(you and me included) it would catch something said that was hypocritical.I could do this very same thing to Obama,Biden,Reid or even republican's but I'm not,because I know man's nature.I'm one and I know how my mind thinks and its just like everyone else.It's selfish for the most part.
"Our country is headed toward an oligarchy controlled by corporate near monopolies, big banks and financial institutions, not a communist state where private profit is illegal. How people can be convinced that america is becoming communist when there isn't even anyone advocating that is astonishing. "
This is amazing to me too- as we move further towards a complete plutocracy and record corporate profits since BO took office, he's still branded as a socialist/communist wrecking the country.
Faux News and other far right media have don't their job well in brainwashing so many to believe the exact opposite of what is actually happening.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Yes Dan, I am well aware that 1% is small minority compared to 99%. BTW..I have owned my own business and I worked my ass off. I worked one strech 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for months on end. I also know people who own their own companies in the industry I am in now and they don't do shit and play lots of golf.
I play golf with alot of very rich guys and for the most part they don't work 1/2 as hard as the guy who works in my warehouse. You should turn off Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and pick up a newspaper.
@tendollar4ways - Is there something wrong with being able to use your BRAIN to make money instead of just hard physical work? I'm not a smart man when it comes to using my brain to come up with ideas that make money,but I applaud those who do.I work hard for the little I have but I don't hate or envy people who work their brains harder to make money like you apparently.Yes,there are rich people who are jerks and care only about themselves but there are just as many poor people who are jerks and want everything given to them.And on the opposite end,there are rich folk who are generous givers and poor people who help other even when they have little means.It's all in the individual but you just go ahead and lump everyone with your stupid labels....its what you do best man.
the moment that video became public fact checkers went to work on this portion of Romney's little tirade:
"Well, there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. Alright? There are 47% who are with him. Who are dependent upon government, who believe that - that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it... And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for for their lives."
as what we've come to expect from the Romney/Ryan ticket what Romney said there is entirely not factual. Romney was referring to the 47% of Americans who don't pay income tax. most of the people who fall under that 47% are seniors who are retired, students who have low paying jobs or no jobs, soldiers serving in combat zones (they are not required to pay income taxes) and people earning $19k/year or less. btw someone quipped we now know why Mitt Romney didn't mention the soldiers in Afghanistan during his RNC acceptance speech....he believes they are lazy freeloaders.
let's take the last group, people earning $19k/year or less. the majority of those people live in the Southeastern and Gulf States. they are red States and in 2008 John McCain won almost all of those States, all but 1 i believe. while we don't know how individuals vote when they go into voting booths it is more or at least as likely this group would be Romney supporters.
after Romney was called out by fact checkers for lying with his claim Obama cut the work for welfare program, something Obama did not do, Romney's chief strategist said "We are not going to let fact checkers dictate our strategies."
let's also not forget, Romney is refusing to show us his taxes. it is suspected he paid no taxes on at least one year.
it's a video of Mitt Romney's mother talking about the time her husband, Romney's father was on welfare and how it's wonderful that this country is willing to help people when they need help as she and her husband once did. according to Mitt Romney's own logic his own father wouldn't have voted for him and Mitt's job would not be to worry about his own father.
Sure he wasn't propositioning them, playing leader-subordinate? LOL
I tried to rec this post but can't. I'm at a hotel. Maybe that he's something to do with it.
You seem to have a problem with ANYONE making money via the stock market. I have no doubt were you to make a killing, you wouldn't be blowing smoke out of your ass like this. You are a failed capitalist, so you take it out on those who made it.
Americans allow those on welfare to work for a living? WTF? That's not allowed here in Canada. Conflict of interest and all that. We do have programs where people must work to obtain their welfare cheques. If they refuse, they are denied. Well done. As it should be.
How can you tell when a politician is lying?
Their lips are moving.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Hear, hear. This guy is obviously against those making it. He hates them because he failed.
@radicalramblings - Yet, your own Constitution guarantees you, the American people, to overthrow your current government. Hmmm? Why not take advantage of it?
Comments (72)
He has a point that really you can start with nothing in this country and make your way up. Want healthcare? Go get a job and work hard. There are too many examples of people who didn't even speak the language when they came over here and made a success of their life. My wife and I both work for employers who are not citizens of the U.S. They came over here to make money. They were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They worked hard and didn't take the payout until they made their way to the top. They don't deserve to be penalized for their success. They deserve to be rewarded.
@TheTheologiansCafe - One, you apparently didn't read the blog or read it in a pathologically selective way, and 2) one of those people who started out with nothing and worked their way up is someone you may have heard of - barrack obama. And it wouldn't have been remotely possible without public education and public student loans and welfare programs to help his single mom keep food in his stomach at times along the way.
A pragmatic problem with redistributing wealth is that eventually there is nothing left to redistribute. Once that is done then everyone is impoverished, and you pretty much have society divided up into a permanent elite government class, and all of the citizens who are united in poverty. This is how every single communist country is run, and it is what we are heading toward if Obama's policies continue.
There was nothing wrong with what Romney said. He knows that all the welfare people are not going to vote for him, in fact they will vote for whoever will give them the bigger handout, which is Obungle and his party. They don't care about economic recovery or long term sustainability and very few of them probably even understand those issues. Similarly Obama knows that the religious right and people who are higher wage earners are not going to vote for him.
@agnophilo - Oh come on, Barack Obama had everything handed to him. He was entirely groomed to be what he is.
@Ambrosius_Augustus_Rex - I don't even know where to start with this insanity - our country is headed toward an oligarchy controlled by corporate near monopolies, big banks and financial institutions, not a communist state where private profit is illegal. How people can be convinced that america is becoming communist when there isn't even anyone advocating that is astonishing.
@Ambrosius_Augustus_Rex - What, specifically, did he have handed to him and by whom? Who handed him his harvard diploma? Aside from his dean at his graduation, that is.
@TheTheologiansCafe - I agree. Paris Hilton worked very hard to get where she is in life and how dare we punnish her by making her pay any taxes. You need to be applauded for continuing to stand up for the true victims in this world....the Kim, Kourtney and Chloe Kardashians.
@tendollar4ways - So we make policies based on the Paris Hiltons of the World? You do realize they are a small minority of the population? You need to turn off the reality TV and get out and meet people who started their own business. Half of them work so hard they probably don't even know who Paris is.
Excellent expose.
Romney is such a Pharisee.
Wow.
@agnophilo - My favorite part was "So yeah, romney's a lying piece of shit."
Often times, hard work is just not enough when you can't even get your foot in that door. But seriously, he has the gall to lecture us.
Unfortunately we can see President Obama destroying Western Civilization right before out eyes.
And he just loves all the dummies who go all postal at Mitt Romney's Truth Campaign.Why do Democrats find the truth so scandalous?
I suppose if you put a hidden camera on EVERY politician and heck,I'd say any average citizen(you and me included) it would catch something said that was hypocritical.I could do this very same thing to Obama,Biden,Reid or even republican's but I'm not,because I know man's nature.I'm one and I know how my mind thinks and its just like everyone else.It's selfish for the most part.
"Our country is headed toward an oligarchy
controlled by corporate near monopolies, big banks and financial
institutions, not a communist state where private profit is illegal.
How people can be convinced that america is becoming communist when
there isn't even anyone advocating that is astonishing. "
This is amazing to me too- as we move further towards a complete plutocracy and record corporate profits since BO took office, he's still branded as a socialist/communist wrecking the country.
Faux News and other far right media have don't their job well in brainwashing so many to believe the exact opposite of what is actually happening.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Yes Dan, I am well aware that 1% is small minority compared to 99%. BTW..I have owned my own business and I worked my ass off. I worked one strech 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for months on end. I also know people who own their own companies in the industry I am in now and they don't do shit and play lots of golf.
I play golf with alot of very rich guys and for the most part they don't work 1/2 as hard as the guy who works in my warehouse. You should turn off Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and pick up a newspaper.
@SoullFire - My buddy Sam here @Somefishytales - is a perfect example of this.
@tendollar4ways - Is there something wrong with being able to use your BRAIN to make money instead of just hard physical work? I'm not a smart man when it comes to using my brain to come up with ideas that make money,but I applaud those who do.I work hard for the little I have but I don't hate or envy people who work their brains harder to make money like you apparently.Yes,there are rich people who are jerks and care only about themselves but there are just as many poor people who are jerks and want everything given to them.And on the opposite end,there are rich folk who are generous givers and poor people who help other even when they have little means.It's all in the individual but you just go ahead and lump everyone with your stupid labels....its what you do best man.
the moment that video became public fact checkers went to work on this portion of Romney's little tirade:
"Well, there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. Alright? There are 47% who are with him. Who are dependent upon government, who believe that - that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it... And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for for their lives."
as what we've come to expect from the Romney/Ryan ticket what Romney said there is entirely not factual. Romney was referring to the 47% of Americans who don't pay income tax. most of the people who fall under that 47% are seniors who are retired, students who have low paying jobs or no jobs, soldiers serving in combat zones (they are not required to pay income taxes) and people earning $19k/year or less. btw someone quipped we now know why Mitt Romney didn't mention the soldiers in Afghanistan during his RNC acceptance speech....he believes they are lazy freeloaders.
let's take the last group, people earning $19k/year or less. the majority of those people live in the Southeastern and Gulf States. they are red States and in 2008 John McCain won almost all of those States, all but 1 i believe. while we don't know how individuals vote when they go into voting booths it is more or at least as likely this group would be Romney supporters.
after Romney was called out by fact checkers for lying with his claim Obama cut the work for welfare program, something Obama did not do, Romney's chief strategist said "We are not going to let fact checkers dictate our strategies."
let's also not forget, Romney is refusing to show us his taxes. it is suspected he paid no taxes on at least one year.
and this is priceless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZPaysBTqk
it's a video of Mitt Romney's mother talking about the time her husband, Romney's father was on welfare and how it's wonderful that this country is willing to help people when they need help as she and her husband once did. according to Mitt Romney's own logic his own father wouldn't have voted for him and Mitt's job would not be to worry about his own father.
Sure he wasn't propositioning them, playing leader-subordinate? LOL
I tried to rec this post but can't. I'm at a hotel. Maybe that he's something to do with it.
You seem to have a problem with ANYONE making money via the stock market. I have no doubt were you to make a killing, you wouldn't be blowing smoke out of your ass like this. You are a failed capitalist, so you take it out on those who made it.
Americans allow those on welfare to work for a living? WTF? That's not allowed here in Canada. Conflict of interest and all that. We do have programs where people must work to obtain their welfare cheques. If they refuse, they are denied. Well done. As it should be.
How can you tell when a politician is lying?
Their lips are moving.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Hear, hear. This guy is obviously against those making it. He hates them because he failed.
@radicalramblings - Yet, your own Constitution guarantees you, the American people, to overthrow your current government. Hmmm? Why not take advantage of it?