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News & ArtsMonday, September 17, 2012
2012 The Romney Tapes: Secret Audio Reveals Romney "Jokingly" Lamenting He's Not Latino, Calling All Obama Voters Dependent on Government
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 1:05 PM
The Huffington Post has run a series of comments recorded from a private Romney fundraiser (warning: they are annoyingly shot through with advertisements). The tapes are packed with candid Romney quotes that will prove problematic to voters. Romney admits "frankly" that he was born with "a silver spoon" in his mouth, he says 47% of the electorate "believe that, that they are victims" who are dependent on the government for food and housing, he praises working conditions in a Chinese factory, and he wishes his dad was born in Mexico for political reasons:
"My dad, as you probably, know was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico ... and, uh, had he been born of, uh, Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this," Romney said. "But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. ... I mean I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino."
I wonder if these are the kind of policy details that Romney promised to be more transparent about earlier today?
1
No sir; if, all other things being equal, you were Latino, you'd still be an asshole.
Or was it douche? Dick? I forgot what SLOG agreed upon.
Or was it douche? Dick? I forgot what SLOG agreed upon.
2
Are we sure Mitt Romney wasn't also born in Mexico? Where's his birth certificate, let alone his tax returns? Very suspicious
3
Mitt being first-gen Mexican-American would only help him if he could have magically transformed into that sometime in the last decade or so.
Otherwise, you have to believe that Jorge Romney would have successfully immigrated to the US and become CEO of a major car company in the 50's and been elected governor in the 60's, both of which strike me as being a bit...unlikely.
Otherwise, you have to believe that Jorge Romney would have successfully immigrated to the US and become CEO of a major car company in the 50's and been elected governor in the 60's, both of which strike me as being a bit...unlikely.
4
If he's so against people being on the government dole, he should pay for his secret service protection. Arrogant prick.
6
69 million people voted for Obama in 2008.
but willard's probably right, the majority of those 69 million don't think that their government should let americans starve, die from lack of healthcare, or sleep outdoors.
but willard's probably right, the majority of those 69 million don't think that their government should let americans starve, die from lack of healthcare, or sleep outdoors.
7
It doesn't matter what he says. There are enough people out there who hate Obama "just because" that they'd vote in Romney even if he said he was a slave-raping, nazi holocaust denier.
9
I dig the whole white-guy-who-thinks-he's-persecuted-despite-pretty-much-every-available-way-to-measure-inequality-pointing-in-the-other-direction Mitt (and all of the other white alarmists) has taken. It suits him.
10
Welcome to Republican bizarro-world, where fantastically rich white dudes talk about how lucky the people on food-stamps are, how awesome it would be to be able to claim membership in a historically oppressed minority group (because votes!) and how unfortunate it is to have inherited wealth (because it means all the moochers don't like you due to jealousy.) Also, wouldn't it be great to make so little money that even the I.R.S. doesn't bother to take a cut? Yeah, there couldn't possibly be a downside to that.
Is there a single facet of his privilege that Mitt can't frame as an unfair disadvantage?
Is there a single facet of his privilege that Mitt can't frame as an unfair disadvantage?
12
This is the first honest thing I've heard from Romney.
The problem isn't that he's an ass.
The problem isn't that he has a huge sense of entitlement.
The problem isn't that he refuses to provide any details.
The problem is that he is WHITE.
And Americans (especially Latinos in America) just aren't ready to vote for a WHITE president.
You're all bunch of racists who refuse to vote for best qualified candidate just because both of his parents were WHITE.
The problem isn't that he's an ass.
The problem isn't that he has a huge sense of entitlement.
The problem isn't that he refuses to provide any details.
The problem is that he is WHITE.
And Americans (especially Latinos in America) just aren't ready to vote for a WHITE president.
You're all bunch of racists who refuse to vote for best qualified candidate just because both of his parents were WHITE.
14
...or, you know, you could look at the Mother Jones story, which has the advantage of not being posted by a site well known to screw its own contributors.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012…
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012…
15
Why is Willard Mitt Romney running for President? He seems to be running so he can hear his own voice, and he has some sort of version of droit de seigneur, with most the Americans he wants to financially rape..
16
I remember when the Lucky Ducky cartoons were my least favorite recurring bit in Tom the Dancing Bug because I found the humor too broad and the target not realistic enough. Romney's campaign has really exposed me as a fool.
19
My sister is a life long Republican. She has well over a million dollars invested in the stock market. She isn't on Social Security and she buys her own insurance. As far as I know she has never taken a government dime - never had a scholarship or student loan, never sought a subsidy. But she won't vote for Mitt Romney because 1) she hates his policies, 2) she thinks he's slime, and 3) Romney has never articulated why he wants to be President or what good he can do for the country. She accepts that there is a place for government - to build the roads, maintain the peace, and enforce the law. Her vote wasn't purchased and she isn't stupid - but the Teabag-wing are wishing a hard as they can that she, and other people like her, didn't exist.
20
@14 is correct. Mother Jones has it posted without commercials, and you can see Romney. 47% of voters are parasites who think they are entitled to food, health care and shelter. Mitt doesn't care about people who feel the government should ensure their basic human needs are met. This is the real Romney, and I hope the networks pick up the video.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012…
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012…
21
I think Paul Krugman said it best about the 47%: "the great bulk of those who pay no income tax pay other taxes; also, many of the people in the no-income-tax category are (a) elderly (b) students or (c) having a bad year, having lost a job — that is, they’re people who have paid income taxes in the past and/or will pay income taxes in the future. The idea that half of Americans are just grifters is grotesque."
22
The most damning thing about the Romney Unplugged footage is how uncharacteristically genuine he seems. After years of fake smiles and phoney laughs, I don't think I've ever seen him as at ease as he is in expressing his naked contempt for the poorer half of Americans. For everyone who thinks that Romney is a centrist at heart who is only playing to the radical right base, I think we just got our best look at who the real Mitt Romney is.
23
I predict that he will double-down on all of it tomorrow. Because no hole is too deep for Romney.
24
Regarding Mr. Romney's comments and general contempt for us little people- until you walk a mile in his impeccably cut, supple $8500 tasseled loafers lined with cushy endangered species fur insoles, you cannot understand his belief in America returning to the manufacturing powerhouse it once was.
It was once the supplier for not only our needs, but the consumer goods of the world. Before we had any protection for workers, a living wage, or anything like those laughable and deplorable "environmental protections". Entitlements like those.
The Koch Bros. are in manufacturing, after all; they should know how to get full employment in the U$$A. Gut education so we don't have wisenheimers questioning authority unless they want to starve or get whipped in front of the willing workers. Gut "entitlements" so it again becomes the norm to be willing to risk one's life to at least be able to work for a living.
Keep building for profit prisons to deal with those who feel this would be unconstitutional; He makes money on investment capital after all.
Now give him his shoes back, but not until you have spit shined them. He must have liked the fruits of my earnest efforts, or the fact that I was at least, white. He said "Nice job, boy!" and flipped me a penny.
It was once the supplier for not only our needs, but the consumer goods of the world. Before we had any protection for workers, a living wage, or anything like those laughable and deplorable "environmental protections". Entitlements like those.
The Koch Bros. are in manufacturing, after all; they should know how to get full employment in the U$$A. Gut education so we don't have wisenheimers questioning authority unless they want to starve or get whipped in front of the willing workers. Gut "entitlements" so it again becomes the norm to be willing to risk one's life to at least be able to work for a living.
Keep building for profit prisons to deal with those who feel this would be unconstitutional; He makes money on investment capital after all.
Now give him his shoes back, but not until you have spit shined them. He must have liked the fruits of my earnest efforts, or the fact that I was at least, white. He said "Nice job, boy!" and flipped me a penny.
25
@Proteus: Mexicans aren't "an historically oppressed minority group". They aren't even racially monolithic; many of them actually are white. Not Anglo-Saxon of course, but whites of European Spanish ancestry (the decendants of the Spanish colonists. Mexicans have been classified as "white" for most of US history and percieved more as white ethnics than "people of color" (even the many who in fact are more Indian than Spanish). The concept of "Latinos" as a distinct and "oppressed race" is relatively new.
What Romney means obviously is that in the 2012 election, being "Latino" would help him because it'd guarantee him a majority of the "Latino" vote.
What Romney means obviously is that in the 2012 election, being "Latino" would help him because it'd guarantee him a majority of the "Latino" vote.
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