Fantasy Politics USA

Mother Jones, and now NBC are both pushing a “new” video with Mitt Romney telling supporters that he doesn’t even care about half of America. At a private fundraiser “earlier this year” Romney answered a question from a donor saying, “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.” Romney added, “my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” This tape is the lead over at Mother Jones and MSNBC this morning, but it is over 4 months old. According to an update at Mother Jones, “this fundraiser was held at the Boca Raton home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder on May 17.” And, they have more of the “secret tape” to release at a later date when they feel it is appropriate. In the next installment, “Romney tells his donors he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that resolving this conflict is ‘almost unthinkable,’ and that he would merely ‘kick the ball down the field.'” For more snippets of the tape check out Mother Jones. I wonder what dictates the timing of the release of these tapes. Why did they hold on to this for over 4 months, and why now? Maybe they want to detract attention away from the economy and the crisis in the Middle East, and create a new non-story about Romney. The Obama campaign is even using this video to raise money. In a letter to supporters, Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina says,

Today we learned that Mitt Romney said this about Obama supporters to fellow millionaires at a closed-door fundraiser:
“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.”
The man who spoke these words — who demonstrates such disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans — is the other side’s choice for president of the United States. He wants to lead our country.
If we don’t come through for President Obama right now, this will be the guy making big decisions that affect us and our families every single day.

UPDATE: For more on the second tape please see this article from the Jerusalum Post which includes the next video.