How a bartender ruined someone's day in November

[Athos131]

Man who taped Romney's 47% comments speaks out

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/03/13/romney-47-percent-videotape-bartender/1984425/

WASHINGTON — The bartender did it.

Scott Prouty came forward to say he secretly taped the video last year in which GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney told donors that 47% of Americans are "dependent on the government" and "believe they are victims."

Prouty was revealed Wednesday night during an MSNBC interview with Ed Schultz. The Huffington Post also interviewed Prouty, a Florida man, several times and agreed not to disclose his name until after the TV appearance.

The secretly taped video was posted online by Mother Jones magazine in the fall, several months after the fundraiser in May in Boca Raton where Romney spoke. The video created a national uproar as President Obama and his Democratic allies used Romney's words to illustrate how the Republican was out of touch.

Obama defeated Romney in the election, and Romney ironically garnered about 47% of the vote.

Prouty, who worked for a catering company hired for the fundraising event, told MSNBC he wanted people to hear the candidate and make their own judgments about his motivation.

"The guy was running for the presidency, and these were his core beliefs. And I think everybody can judge whether that's appropriate or not or whether they believe the same way he does," he told MSNBC. "I felt an obligation to expose the things he was saying."

Prouty described himself as a "regular guy," who is middle class and hard working. He said he agonized for weeks about what to do, fearful that the video could be traced back to him because of where he positioned the camera at the fundraising event.

A clip of the video was found online by James E. Carter IV, a grandson of former president Jimmy Carter, who traced the source of the tape and gave the full video to Mother Jones. President Obama met the younger Carter in Atlanta last month and thanked him for his role in the tape's wide distribution.

In his first post-election interview, Romney told Fox News last week that his videotaped comments were "unfortunate" and "very harmful."

"What I said is not what I believe," Romney said. "My whole life has been devoted to helping people, all of the people. ... But that hurt. There's no question that hurt and did real damage to my campaign."

Romney will speak Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a high-profile gathering of activists held in a Washington suburb.

[Athos131]

That's why I treat liars and hypocrites like thieves.  You simply can't trust those sort of people, nor should you respect them.  Dishonesty to me is the among the lowest of the low in society.

[Janus]

Telling people what they want to hear as apposed to what a politician believes has been going on since the cave man. It is manipulation. A form of deceit carried on all over the globe and not just privy to the "Elite Class" Hell it's not just a politician thing either.....

[snowm]

I think the worst component of this exchange was how the original question posed to Romney was excluded. It got twisted to appear as if he is saying as president he would ignore 47% of the people. He was asked how will he win this election, and quite frankly, I think 47% will vote democrat no matter what is said or done. I do not think he was off on this. He gave these high dollar donors a little of the far right wing verbiage they want to hear and it got painted to be his core belief.

[Athos131]

I think the worst component of this exchange was how the original question posed to Romney was excluded. It got twisted to appear as if he is saying as president he would ignore 47% of the people. He was asked how will he win this election, and quite frankly, I think 47% will vote democrat no matter what is said or done. I do not think he was off on this. He gave these high dollar donors a little of the far right wing verbiage they want to hear and it got painted to be his core belief.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/full-transcript-mitt-romney-secret-video

Audience member: For the last three years, all everybody's been told is, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you." How are you going to do it, in two months before the elections, to convince everybody you've got to take care of yourself?

Romney: 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 that 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. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four years. 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 their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not, what it looks like. I mean, when you ask those people…we do all these polls—I find it amazing—we poll all these people, see where you stand on the polls, but 45 percent of the people will go with a Republican, and 48 or 4…

[snowm]

I think the worst component of this exchange was how the original question posed to Romney was excluded. It got twisted to appear as if he is saying as president he would ignore 47% of the people. He was asked how will he win this election, and quite frankly, I think 47% will vote democrat no matter what is said or done. I do not think he was off on this. He gave these high dollar donors a little of the far right wing verbiage they want to hear and it got painted to be his core belief.

Giving him all the benefit of the doubt possible, he's still saying he doesn't give a shit what 47% of the country thinks so long as the other 53% elect him. It's undemocratic to admit you have no intention of representing the views of almost half the electorate.

He did not say he doesn't give a shit about them while President. He said during the course of an election, spending time and effort on that 47% doesn't make sense.  Romney didn't go to inner city Chicago and Obama didn't go out to West Texas. There is no difference except Obama didn't get taped saying what he did.

[Athos131]

I think the worst component of this exchange was how the original question posed to Romney was excluded. It got twisted to appear as if he is saying as president he would ignore 47% of the people. He was asked how will he win this election, and quite frankly, I think 47% will vote democrat no matter what is said or done. I do not think he was off on this. He gave these high dollar donors a little of the far right wing verbiage they want to hear and it got painted to be his core belief.

Giving him all the benefit of the doubt possible, he's still saying he doesn't give a shit what 47% of the country thinks so long as the other 53% elect him. It's undemocratic to admit you have no intention of representing the views of almost half the electorate.

He did not say he doesn't give a shit about them while President. He said during the course of an election, spending time and effort on that 47% doesn't make sense.  Romney didn't go to inner city Chicago and Obama didn't go out to West Texas. There is no difference except Obama didn't get taped saying what he did.

That's not what he said.

[snowm]

I think the worst component of this exchange was how the original question posed to Romney was excluded. It got twisted to appear as if he is saying as president he would ignore 47% of the people. He was asked how will he win this election, and quite frankly, I think 47% will vote democrat no matter what is said or done. I do not think he was off on this. He gave these high dollar donors a little of the far right wing verbiage they want to hear and it got painted to be his core belief.

Giving him all the benefit of the doubt possible, he's still saying he doesn't give a shit what 47% of the country thinks so long as the other 53% elect him. It's undemocratic to admit you have no intention of representing the views of almost half the electorate.

He did not say he doesn't give a shit about them while President. He said during the course of an election, spending time and effort on that 47% doesn't make sense.  Romney didn't go to inner city Chicago and Obama didn't go out to West Texas. There is no difference except Obama didn't get taped saying what he did.

So it's ok then once the other side do it? Are the Republicans just waiting for the Democrats to get caught to take responsibility then or do you just think this kind of attitude from politicians is ok?

It is politics. So much is wrong about the system, I am not saying it is right or wrong, just how the 'getting elected machine' works.

Yeah I think it made sense for Obama not to waste time in parts of Texas, just like I think it was a good idea for Romney to not spend time in areas that have never voted republican. Just like in 2008 while in Ohio I had the opportunity to see both Obama and McCain speak. Ohio is more of an up in the air state so naturally there was an active presence from each candidate.