Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wealth. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Supreme Court #McCutcheon Ruling Guts Campaign Finance Reform

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Whoa, SCOTUS just made another ruling that could change the course of future elections. While Democrats might also benefit, the answer to creating a stronger democracy can't be to flood political campaigns with even more money! All politicians are too beholding to special interests as they are. *sigh* I guess all Campaign Finance Reform laws are moot now, or will be overturned by the Supremes?

From Business Insider
The Supreme Court struck down caps that individuals can make to candidates or political parties during a two-year election cycle, in an opinion issued Wednesday by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The case, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, marks the most consequential campaign finance ruling from the high court since the landmark Citizens United decision in 2010.

Critics immediately denounced the decision, saying it would give wealthy donors more freedom to influence an election.

. . . In 2014, the limit on all contributions was $123,200.

The Supreme Court's decision does not do away with limits on individual contributions to candidates for president or Congress, which now stands at $2,600 an election.























































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Monday, August 26, 2013

The Donald Defrauded Students at Bogus "Trump University"

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From Gawker
According to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Trump defrauded at least 5,000 Trump devotees, who paid between $1,495 and $35,000 to enroll in Trump's "educational institute." Those students were under the impression that the cost of tuition would include "individual instruction until they made their first deal," because, well, that's what the program promised.
Instead, they were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have their photograph taken in front of a life-size picture of the blustery Golden Retriever.

We're going to have the best of the best. . . . and if you can't learn from them, and you can't learn from me . . . and these are all people handpicked by me, then you're just not going to make it in terms of the world of success.
. . . We're going to teach you better than the business schools can teach you.
~ Donald Trump in a promotion for Trump University





More than 5,000 people across the country who paid Donald Trump $40 million to teach them his hard sell tactics got a hard lesson in bait-and-switch. Mr. Trump used his celebrity status and personally appeared in commercials making false promises to convince people to spend tens of thousands of dollars they couldn’t afford for lessons they never got. No one, no matter how rich or popular they are, has a right to scam hard working New Yorkers. Anyone who does should expect to be held accountable.
~ New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who filed suit Saturday against bogus sham “Trump University,”


They meet on Thursday evening - I get sued by this AG Schneiderman... Saturday at one o'clock. Think of it. What government in the history of this country has ever brought a suit on Saturday? I never heard of such a thing.
...They obviously did it very quickly, but probably Obama - maybe this is a mini IRS. Maybe we have to get the tea party after these people, because this could very well be a mini IRS.
~ Donald Trump on whether Obama gave Schneiderman the idea for the investigation

The president and I have much more important stuff to talk about that Donald Trump. I've never discussed Donald Trump with the president.
~ Schneiderman in response to Trump's accusation









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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Return of the Romneys


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I'd say he (Mitt) is in a better place than (Ann) is. Not to say she’s bitter — and she enjoys her life. Look, they live on the beach, north of San Diego and a bunch of their grandkids are around. You know, they’ve got a pretty great life. But she I think feels the pain and the what-ifs and the hurt more than he does. And it comes through in the interview. There’s a lot of emotion that comes through in the interview, and she’s more open about it — the ‘what might have been.
~ Chris Wallace of Fox News on Recent Romney Interview

Transcript: Chris Wallace Interviews the Romneys on Fox News


On Losing:

ANN ROMNEY: It was a crushing disappointment. Not for us. Our lives are going to be fine. It's for the country.
WALLACE: Is it true you began to cry?
ANN ROMNEY: I did, of course. Yes. Very disappointed.
WALLACE: Cry for what?
ANN ROMNEY: Cry -- it's not -- again, is not sorrow for, oh, my gosh, you know, our lives are, you know, this dream -- the dream was to make a difference. The dream was to serve.

~~~~~~

WALLACE: Mrs. Romney, as we sit here right now, have you gotten over the defeat? Or is that going to take more time?
ANN ROMNEY: I think it takes time. I think I'm mostly -- you know, the great "Princess Bride" line, "mostly dead."
I'm mostly over it. But not completely.
And you have moments where you, you know, go back and feel the sorrow of the loss. And so, yes, I think we're not mostly dead yet.
















Why Did Obama Win?
ANN ROMNEY: I think they had a better ground game. And I think we were not aware -- you know, we certainly had the passion coming from our side, and I don't think we were as aware of the passion that was coming from the other side. I think we were a little blindsided by that.

~~~~~~

MITT ROMNEY: And -- and I won't get a third chance. I'm not doing it again. The weakness that our campaign had and that I had is we weren't effective in taking my message primarily to minority voters, to Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans, other minorities. That was a real weakness.
We did very well with the majority population, but not with minority populations. And that was a -- that was a failing. That was a real mistake.

WALLACE: Why do you think that was?

MITT ROMNEY: Well, I think the ObamaCare attractiveness and feature was something we underestimated in a -- particularly among lower incomes. And we just didn't do as -- as good a job at connecting with that audience as we should have.













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On Their Media Image as Wealthy People
WALLACE: Do you think that the two of you at all contributed to this image, which the other side certainly played up, that you were so wealthy that you were somehow out of touch with the concerns of the average American?

ANN ROMNEY: You know, that's -- that's a reality that, you know, you can't change. I mean, we are who we are. The thing that was frustrating to me is that people didn't really get to know Mitt for who he was.
. . . But it was not just the campaign's fault. I believe it was the media's fault as well, is that he was not giving -- being given a fair shake, that people weren't allowed to really see him for who he was.

WALLACE: All right, what about the media?
(LAUGHTER)
ANN ROMNEY: I'm happy to blame the media.
(LAUGHTER)











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On the Damaging 47% Remark
MITT ROMNEY: Yes, it was a very unfortunate statement that I made. It's not what I meant. I didn't express myself as I wished I would have.
You know, when you speak in private, you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted and -- and it could come out wrong and be used.
But, you know, I did. And it was very harmful. What I said is not what I believe. Obviously, my whole campaign -- my whole life has been devoted to helping people, all of the people. I care about all the people of the country.
But that hurt. There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign.











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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

CNBC's Maria Bartiromo Shrieks at a Democrat and Traders Cheer


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Bartiromo: Are you guys just incompetent or what? I mean, if you can't do this, if you can't do what the American people pay you to do, why don't you just step aside and put somebody in there who can actually get a deal done?
. . . You're talking about $1.2 trillion in revenue, but you're not prepared to put anything on the table. People are not stupid.

. . . Cardin: The easiest way to get the revenues is to get the rates on the higher-income taxpayers.

 Bartiromo: That's all you want to do. That's it. It's your way or the highway. Raise the rates on the rich. No other way. Your way or the highway. That's it.. That's where we are. Thank you, Senator.

Cardin: Next time, let me answer the questions --

Bartiromo: Oh, you've answered them. Clearly.


I'll give her one cheer for clearly exposing Democrats' "my way of the highway" approach. She missed the opportunity to get to three cheers because it seems that she's just now recognizing after all these months that Democrats, including President Obama, won't accept any kind of a solution that doesn't involve raising the top rates -- even though they've been saying that very thing all along. ~ Tom Blumer on Newsbusters  . . . from time to time, you just have to give credit where credit's absolutely, positively due. Because if this thing hasn't gone viral yet, it damn well should. Yesterday on CNBC, host Maria Bartiromo schooled a United States senator. I won't even mention his name. After what happened to him, he's not worthy, and he probably would prefer I just leave him out of this whole thing. He would prefer you don't even watch the video. ~ The Street She is a yammering magpie trying to be relevant! ~ comment by B. L. on The Street As a journalist, she sucked. She let her own frustrations and point of view get in the way of an honest interview. There is a difference between hard-nosed questioning and badgering; she clearly crossed that line. ~ comment by Rick G. on The Street  . . . I think she unloaded on the wrong person. The agreement is not merely about getting the dollar number to be the same. It is important what is changed and what is not changed. Certainly a Democratic Senator whose party just won the election gets to have a say in what happens. ~ comment by disqus_lCwrk6cnV1 on The Street ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quotes from the CNBC Facebook Page  Go Maria!!! Bite their heads off!! she's my hero
~ Heather M.

I thought she was rude,,,,,
~ Jay T.

I Love her but I really thought she was just a Bully and did nothing but trivialize what is going on. Boehner is jerking us all around. He doesn't have the votes nor the Intestinal Fortitude to go against those who have bought Congress. He can't control his caucus. We had an election we voted for taxes being raised on those over 250K and Obama has given even more. We knew what we were voting for. The Republicans have to face reality They LOST. The Senator could not get a word in edge wise. It reminded me of Hard Ball with Chris Matthews.
~ Jackie S.

She never treats Republicans in such a contemptuous way, she's becoming all that's bad on cable, look for her to move to Fox soon where she'll fit in perfectly!
~ John M.

Raise those mean nasty rich people's taxes don't raise mine I want my gubmint check to come on time lol welcome to Rome 700 A.D. All empires come to an end.
~ Gary E.

love it. I don't care which party or politician she's interviewing, every one of them is ruining Christmas.
~ George P.

Great job Maria !!! this guys need to be push for a "yes" or "no" answer, other-way they only say "bla-bla-bla".
~ Diego S.

CNBC might consider that Democrats are their viewers too. We do not need CNBC commentators to spread Republican lies and deceit; they already have Fox News for that. Why does Maria not ask Boehner or Republican guests what spending cuts they would support that does not entail throwing Grandma from the train. Maria needs to take some time off, a lot of time off. Perhaps, she would be happier over at Fox News.
~ Connie V.

The Cliff Diving has begun ... Maria is going to be much poorer as Wisdom Tree Funds lose a billion dollars by the close of tomorrow's market. Karma for the house of Steinberg from all the Frank B. Hall people they screwed in the 1980's.
~ Fred C.

hahahaha,,, Maria is among the 1% of filthy rich American, who are against raising the taxes for the 1% and will pick-on and corner any Democrat politician, while giggling and flirting with the republican politicians she gets to interview... hahaha,, great way for CNBC to glamorize her,,,,, she must be getting desperate and scared like the rest of the 1%, thinking about the tax hike she is going to have to pay up... :))))
~ Vin da V.

Always thought CNBC was bipartisan.... Neutral..... This is sad. CNBC is allowing right wing tantrums on air. So unprofessional..... The last straw was Maria acting like a little school girl giggling over the attention she got on the floor. I will be watching Bloomberg from now on.
~ Andrea L.

Itsy bitsy spider going over the cliff, watch out Maria your going to get bit, Ranting, ranting ranting is not impressing most, we all know your really should quit. Terrible, me bad. Please Faux Fox, hire Maria.
~ Shirley M-D

Great. Just wish the guy had been next to her so she could grab him by the collar and shake sh#t out of him. Loved the applause at the end.
~ Stephen S.


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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Resort Mogul Threatens to Fire Workers if They Vote for Obama


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Screencap from Queen of Versailles Trailer

From Think Progress
David Siegel, who owns Florida-based Westgate Resorts, sent an email to all his employees yesterday to discuss the upcoming election. “The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job,” Siegel wrote, noting that the company is “the most profitable [it's] ever been.” “What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration.” He went on to say that although he “can’t tell you whom to vote for,” if Obama is re-elected, it would mean “fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.”
. . . Siegel earned national notoriety this year for his quest to build the biggest house in America, “a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles.”

Original Letter on Snopes.com

 Full Email Here on Gawker, plus this:
 UPDATE: Shortly after we posted this letter, we found out, thanks to multiple readers, that it bore suspicious resemblances to a popular chain letter that was circulated just before the 2008 elections. Well, we just got off the phone with David Siegel, who told us the letter below is real, and that it was sent out to all of his employees yesterday. "I did use the letter that had circulated before as a guideline, but I changed it [to fit my circumstances]," he told us. "It speaks the truth and it gives [employees] something to think about when they go to the polls." He also said that its threats of possible layoffs are real, based on his assessment of the political and economic climate. He added that he "hasn't had any negative feedback" on the letter.

Direct Quotes from Letter:

Subject: Message from David Siegel
Date:Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:58:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: [David Siegel]
To: [All employees]
To All My Valued Employees,
As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best.
~~~
So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.

So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job.
~~~
You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
Signed, your boss,
David Siegel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloomberg: Siegel's Role in the 2000 Election of George Bush
“I’m not bragging, I’m just stating the fact: I personally got George W. Bush elected,” Siegel told me during two days of interviews. “I’m not proud of it. I feel like I’m responsible for all the problems in the world.” By that he meant, mostly, the then-deteriorating situation in Iraq.
Here’s Siegel’s account of how he swung the election in Bush’s favor: “Whenever I saw a negative article about [Al] Gore, I put it in with the paychecks of my 8,000 employees. I had my managers do a survey on every employee. If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore. The week before [the election] we made 80,000 phone calls through my call center—they were robo-calls. On Election Day, we made sure everyone who was voting for Bush got to the polls. I didn’t know he would win by 527 votes. Afterward, we did a survey among the employees to find out who voted who wouldn’t have otherwise. One thousand of them said so.”

From a Movie Review for "Queen of Versailles"

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Pic and Review via Flickfilosopher
“Everyone wants to be rich,” says real-estate mogul David Siegel here, and that’s probably true. But few people would even conceive of doing with their riches what Siegel does with his. “Horror” isn’t too strong a word for it... and it’s clear that documentarian Lauren Greenfield was aiming for some good old-fashioned rubbernecking when she started shooting what became The Queen of Versailles during the height of America’s cheap-money, pass-the-risk bubble in the mid 2000s.

For Siegel and his wife, Jaqueline -- his third wife, and 30 years younger than him -- were building what would be the largest private residence in the United States, a gaudy monstrosity that would have, when finished, housed a bowling alley, three pools and a spa, 11 kitchens, a skating rink, a movie theater, and a 20-car garage. (This is not an all-inclusive description, but you can find one here, if you’re looking to have your stomach turned some more.) The master bedroom suite alone is, at 6,000 square feet, much larger than most entire homes. The Siegels actually had the gall -- or the ignorance -- to dub this pile Versailles. If either of them have any appreciation of the irony of taking inspiration and a name from the ultimate symbol of crass wealth and absolute privilege, they don’t show it.

Not even when, as happened to the former occupants of the first Versailles, it all comes crashing down around them. . . . More Here at Flickfilosopher






From a blog post on Baltimore City Paper by Edward Ericson Jr.
Siegel, 1999, recall­ing the rent-to-own store he opened in the early ‘60s in Miami:

“Soon Siegel had a store in Lib­erty City and a fleet of Volk­swagon vans. His sales­men offered the refur­bished sets to the area’s African-American res­i­dents for $10 down and $5 a week, he says, adding, ‘I only had about $10 in each one.’

Those $5 pay­ments soon financed three stores, a gas sta­tion, a house with a pool and a Buick con­vert­ible. ‘My goal was to make $125 a week,’ Siegel says. ‘I usu­ally exceeded that.’”

To be fair, he didn’t say whether the Buick con­vert­ible was new.

Shock­ingly, Siegel’s store got burned down in the riots and he ended up in Cen­tral Florida sell­ing swamp land to gullible “investors.” He quickly went on his own and in a few years (if his 1999 rec­ol­lec­tion is to be believed) made mil­lions on those unde­vel­opable acres, mostly by tout­ing their prox­im­ity to Dis­ney World–but also by draw­ing up bogus devel­op­ment plans and occa­sion­ally clear­ing a dirt road. He sold to peo­ple in New Jer­sey, Mex­ico, and as far away as Bel­gium. State reg­u­la­tors and the fed­eral Depart­ment of Hous­ing and Urban Devel­op­ment came after him, but he lawyered-up and stared them down. Most of the buy­ers of his prop­er­ties (includ­ing the young man who would go on to become musi­cal direc­tor of Glo­ria Estefan’s Miami Sound Machine) had lit­tle or noth­ing to show 20 years later.


What a d*ck. Will someone please let me know when it's time to storm the Bastille? I have my torch and pitchfork ready.
~ comment by SchoolOfStrange on Gawker

Short Version: For the last time, there is no such thing as class warfare. Now, things better go my way or I'll strip you of your livelihoods before I go off to live comfortably in the tropics.
~ comment by OldTowneTavern on Gawker

This is probably the most un-American thing I have ever seen. literally threatening his employees livelihoods to vote for one candidate over another.
~ comment by Nathan Penrose on Think Progress

We went to France and we saw Versaille and were inspired" to build a monstrous piece of crap in the middle of a swamp.
~ comment by homeblood3000 on YouTube

How about selling that garish chair and giving your minimum wage employees healthcare?
~ comment by Tuffy's Dad on Huff Post

The email does raise an interesting question or two, such as, if it’s true that “even to this day, every dime I earn goes back into this company,” where did all the money for that house come from? And if he made all the right decisions, why did he come so close to bankruptcy? Why does he blame government for the fact that he had to pull his eight kids out of private school? If he couldn’t support a family that large, why did he keep having children?
Under ordinary circumstances, I also wouldn’t think it necessary to pity poor Mr. Siegel. After all, he would seem to have more than enough pity for himself to fill all three swimming pools at Versailles, allowing him to wallow in that emotion to his heart’s content.
~ Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal Constitution







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Friday, September 21, 2012

Romney Dumps "A" Tax Return, So . . . There, Take That!


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Just the one for 2011. Tax Rate: 14%.

View Document Here: New York Daily News

From Bloomberg
Romney and his wife, Ann, have paid 100 percent of the taxes they owe, Brad Malt, a partner at the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston who manages the Romneys’ investments, wrote in a blog post on the campaign’s website.

Romney makes most of his income from investing an estimated $250 million fortune, and much of that income is taxed at a top rate of 15 percent, rather than the top rate of 35 percent that applies to wages. Romney, 65, is a former Massachusetts governor and co-founder of Bain Capital LLC, the Boston-based private equity firm.

. . . The campaign said it will release a letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which prepares Romney’s returns, summarizing his filings for the past 20 years.

More From Ezra Klein's Wonk Blog on Washington Post
In 2011, Romney earned $14 million, mostly from investments that are taxed at a lower, preferential rate. He also gave a very large amount of money to charity—more than $4 million. So, thanks to the charitable deduction in the tax code, he was technically allowed to reduce the amount of income subject to the income tax even further.

The trouble is, if Romney did that, he would have ended up paying less than 13 percent of his income in federal taxes (back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest the amount would have likely been somewhere around 11 percent). That would have conflicted with his statement in August that he has paid at least 13 percent the past ten years. So Romney opted to limit his charitable deduction to just $2.25 million, essentially agreeing to pay the government more in taxes than he needed to. In the end, Romney had an effective federal tax rate of 14.1 percent.

There’s nothing wrong with voluntarily donating a bit more to reduce the federal deficit. Although there is this awkward quote from Romney during a primary debate in January: “I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more,” he said. “I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An email to the Romney campaign account dedicated to responding to questions about tax returns, returns@mittromney.com, produced this response:
He has been clear that no American need pay more than he or she owes under the law. At the same time, he was in the unique position of having made a commitment to the public that his tax rate would be above 13%. In order to be consistent with that statement, the Romneys limited their deduction of charitable contributions.
~ BuzzFeed

I read the 13.66% over the 20 yr. period to be the average tax rate. If this were true there is the possibility that he could very well have not paid any taxes in certain years but higher rates in others to average it out to the 13.66%. Hisrate would have been higher when he was salaried at Bain. Harry Reid might yet have a point.
~ comment by Calibrese on WaPo Wonkblog


At first I thought this was an April Fool's Joke. But it isn't April. I can't imagine that David Axelrod will now say, I'm glad Mitt put this issue behind him. This will drag Mitt's taxes back into the debate. And there's not many days left. I just can't imagine why they would do this. There are 40 days left and you have now made more of them about Mitt's taxes....you don't serve a life sentence and then confess afterward. They've taken their beating on this (already) ... I just don't understand how a (being) 'little pregnant' strategy (works).
~ Republican Strategist Alex Castellanos via Politico.com


Mitt's Desperate Friday News Dump
In the near future, I think we might be able look back to say that this was the week the Mitt Romney campaign entered its death throes. I suppose some miracle cure is still possible, but given that his vice presidential pick is getting pelted by boos from seniors and he himself was caught on tape calling half the nation shiftless moochers, sending things so off the rails that Mitt now wants to talk about his tax returns, of all things, you know the Romney camp is in quite a panic. That's a hell of a Friday news dump.
Mind you, he's still not releasing those tax returns. He's released the much-promised 2011 version, finally, but the rest of it is not really tax returns, but an artist's interpretation of what his tax returns would look like, if he did release him. A very polite and notarized letter from his mother doctor accountant saying please excuse Mitt Romney from releasing his tax returns as other presidential candidates have. I sincerely promise everything is on the up-and-up in there and there is no reason to look any further; signed, some guys paid by Mitt Romney to say this
~ Hunter on Daily Kos

It just kills me that he pays a much lower tax rate than I do, and I actually work for a living. I am part of the 53%. I don't want my tax rate lowered. I want Mitt's raised. I like national parks, education, healthcare, veteran's benefits, etc., and I am willing to pay for them.
~ comment by blue jersey mom on Daily Kos

This was so stupid of Mitt to release today. The 47% klusterf*!k is baked in and dying down. The MSM has talked about it non-stop for the past week. The press was looking for a new shiny object to fawn over & this big dummy just added a new layer for MSM to talk about for the next few days. I think Mitt is working for the Obama campaign. I LOVE IT!!
~ comment by shevas01 on Daily Kos

if you listen closely you might be able to hear the sound of a nail going into a coffin, its the first nail but a nail none the less, more nails to follow i am sure, stay tuned america.
~ comment by PC on Daily Kos


































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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Ann Romney Thinks Her Horse is Classier than the 47% Dems

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My horse has more style and more class in its hoof than they do in their whole deal.
~ Ann Romney quoted by Lyn Mosbacher, a Romney large-money donor, via Washington Post

Now that wasn't very elegant.
~ comment by radiotherapy on Wonkette

I've never seen somebody put a horse's foot in their mouth.
~ comment by EatsBabyDingos on Wonkette

"Dynasty" has more class than the Romneys.
~ comment by radcoolcatdaddy on Wonkette

The horse received a tax deduction, so the horse is officially a "job creator" but if the horse had received food stamps or housing assistance, then it would be a an entitled, filthy, hobo victim.
~ comment by Eve8Apples on Wonkette











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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Obama Wins 47 States With Help of Moochers

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Previous Post: Romney Goes Totally Ayn Rand in Secret Video






























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Romney Goes Totally Ayn Rand in Secret Video

hell

Mother Jones:
Mother Jones has obtained video of Romney at this intimate fundraiser—where he candidly discussed his campaign strategy and foreign policy ideas in stark terms he does not use in public—and has confirmed its authenticity. To protect the confidential source who provided the video, we have blurred some of the image, and we will not identify the date or location of the event, which occurred after Romney had clinched the Republican presidential nomination.
[UPDATE: After a restriction was lifted, Mother Jones reported that this fundraiser was held at the Boca Raton home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder on May 17.]


Mitt's Quotes from the Videos on Mother Jones


...There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, 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. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

...There is a perception, 'Oh, we were born with a silver spoon, he never had to earn anything and so forth.' Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you can have: which is to get born in America.

..."Had he (my father) been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this."

...I have a very good team of extraordinarily experienced, highly successful consultants, a couple of people in particular who have done races around the world. I didn't realize it. These guys in the US—the Karl Rove equivalents—they do races all over the world: in Armenia, in Africa, in Israel. I mean, they work for Bibi Netanyahu in his race. So they do these races and they see which ads work, and which processes work best, and we have ideas about what we do over the course of the campaign. I'd tell them to you, but I'd have to shoot you.

...my own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see—without actually doing anything—we'll actually get a boost in the economy. If the president gets reelected, I don't know what will happen. I can—I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected. But my own view is that if we get a "Taxageddon," as they call it, January 1st, with this president, and with a Congress that can't work together, it's—it really is frightening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obama Campaign Response
“It’s shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives,” Jim Messina, Obama for America campaign manager, said in a statement. “It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”

Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy. As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work.
~ Statement from Romney Spokesperson Gail Gitcho


Mitt's Lame Apology
"Well, um, It's not elegantly stated let me put it that way I'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question and I'm sure I can state it more clearly in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that and so I'm sure ill point that out as time goes on."
Full Transcript Here


Off-the-cuff means 'this is what I really think.' It wasn't scripted, it wasn't prepared. It was 'off-the-cuff.' I'm just telling you what was in my head.
~ David Corn of Mother Jones on Last Word

It plays exactly into the views that people all ready had of Mitt Romney and his views of the American public.
~ Krystal Ball on MSNBC's Last Word

Surely there was an "elegant" way of stating that 47% of the population are bums.
~ Lawrence O'Donnell on Last Word

The contemptuousness and the condescension in that line is horrible, and ... it plays to the obvious stereotypes of Gordon Gecko meets Thurston Howell III.
. . . The worst thing that could happen to Romney would be if Republicans just decide the moment has come where he is lost, we're done, every man for himself, let him go, cut him loose, and let's focus on the house and Senate. And we're not that far from that point right now.
~ John Heileman of New York Times on Last Word

I don't -- I don't think the candidate's off message at all. I think that it's very true that, in America today and many colonies that are watching this right now the biggest employer 20 years ago in many of these places where big private business or manufacturing plant.
And now the biggest employer in many places around America is just the government. It's either the school board or the municipality. We have people that are -- we have an explosion in benefits and in subsidies from the government around the country.
. . . What I mean by that is, you know, there isn't enough money out there to pay for the monstrosity that we've created. And so we have a world -- or excuse me, a country that, when my son is my age, just like a lot of little kids, when they become our age, we're going to spend about 45 cents on every dollar made in America just to run the federal government.
The point of all of this is -- is that the size of government is too big, and if we don't do something about it we're going to really lose the very idea of America.
~ RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on CNN

Today Mitt Romney Lost the Election
You can mark my prediction now: A secret recording from a closed-door Mitt Romney fundraiser, released today by David Corn at Mother Jones, has killed Mitt Romney's campaign for president.
. . . Romney is the most opaque presidential nominee since Nixon, and people have been reduced to guessing what his true feelings are. This video provides an answer: He feels that you're a loser. It's not an answer that wins elections.
~ Josh Barro on Bloomberg

Thurston Howell Romney
[Romney] really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?
. . . The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own.
~ David Brooks on New York Times

























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