Yesterday one of my favorite reporters, David Corn of Mother Jones, broke a story that seems to have been building for some time. On May 17th Willard spoke at a $50,000 a plate fund raiser in Florida, unbeknownst to him the comments were secretly recorded by someone who remains unknown. Audio snippets began appearing on YouTube a few weeks later and video in August but there was doubt about their authenticity and they were mainly overlooked by the msm. However Corn, along with Democratic Party video researcher James Carter (grandson of ex-President Jimmy Carter), had been pushing the mysterious owner for the complete videos since the beginning of August.
Since Corn released his original story yesterday there has been so much written about the videos and what they mean so I'll spare you repeating any of it. At the end I'll post some of the main links if anybody is interesting in reading Corn's articles or watching the videos.
I will say that I received an email from a friend this morning in which she commented on Willard saying; "cause you just don't know whether he truly believes this stuff (which is scary) or whether he just says it to get elected (which is scary)." She was commenting on the following segment of Willard's chat that explains where all the 47% headlines are coming from. For the record almost half of those he is talking about are retired seniors on Social Security.
"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 ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Like I said so much has been written about it all does or does not mean but there is one thing I haven't heard anywhere. To me at least it's just another example of how out of touch Willard is in these newfangled times we live in. I can walk down the street and take a hi-def video with my phone yet this man is running for President of the United States and doesn't seem to realize his every spoken word may be recorded. To me this total ignorance says more about the man than all the words he spouted to his rich donor friends.
Last night, after Mother Jones had released the first pieces of the video, Willard hastily called a press conference at which he called for the release of the complete video. He evidently thought that would be a good thing. Also, this morning, a reporter asked him if he would like to retract anything he said, he declined. Like I said, ignorant.
Maybe we should take it easy on him. Maybe Willie just spent too much time hiding out in France during the Vietnam War because the video appears to be the "let them eat cake" moment of his quickly sinking Presidential campaign.
David Corn's page at Mother Jones
Full Willard video Part 1 and Part 2
9/19 update - Dana Milbank had a good column in today's Washington Post, "Media should go easy on Romney, for their own sake," that includes a list of some of Willard's finest, shall we say, comments. "I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners" is a personal fav of mine. Also Mother Jones released a full transcript of the Willard video that you can find here.
Since Corn released his original story yesterday there has been so much written about the videos and what they mean so I'll spare you repeating any of it. At the end I'll post some of the main links if anybody is interesting in reading Corn's articles or watching the videos.
I will say that I received an email from a friend this morning in which she commented on Willard saying; "cause you just don't know whether he truly believes this stuff (which is scary) or whether he just says it to get elected (which is scary)." She was commenting on the following segment of Willard's chat that explains where all the 47% headlines are coming from. For the record almost half of those he is talking about are retired seniors on Social Security.
"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 ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Like I said so much has been written about it all does or does not mean but there is one thing I haven't heard anywhere. To me at least it's just another example of how out of touch Willard is in these newfangled times we live in. I can walk down the street and take a hi-def video with my phone yet this man is running for President of the United States and doesn't seem to realize his every spoken word may be recorded. To me this total ignorance says more about the man than all the words he spouted to his rich donor friends.
Last night, after Mother Jones had released the first pieces of the video, Willard hastily called a press conference at which he called for the release of the complete video. He evidently thought that would be a good thing. Also, this morning, a reporter asked him if he would like to retract anything he said, he declined. Like I said, ignorant.
Maybe we should take it easy on him. Maybe Willie just spent too much time hiding out in France during the Vietnam War because the video appears to be the "let them eat cake" moment of his quickly sinking Presidential campaign.
David Corn's page at Mother Jones
Full Willard video Part 1 and Part 2
9/19 update - Dana Milbank had a good column in today's Washington Post, "Media should go easy on Romney, for their own sake," that includes a list of some of Willard's finest, shall we say, comments. "I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners" is a personal fav of mine. Also Mother Jones released a full transcript of the Willard video that you can find here.
