MOTHER JONES
Full Transcript of the Mitt Romney secret video
Below is a complete transcript, produced by Mother Jones, of the entire unedited Romney videos that we published on Tuesday. (See our exclusive coverage of Romney writing off Obama voters and trashing the Mideast peace processat his recent fundraiser in Florida.) Read on, or jump directly to these highlights from Romney:
- On the 47 percent of Americans “who will vote for the president no matter what.”
- On the dividends of his anticipated November 6 victory: “we’ll see—without actually doing anything—we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.”
- On the “almost unthinkable prospects” for Mideast peace: “I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway…and I say there’s just no way.”
And here are some telling moments you may not have heard about yet:
- Mocking immigration in the United States: “[If] you have no skill or experience…you’re welcome to cross the border and stay here for the rest of your life.”
- Envisioning a pre-election hostage crisis, à la Iran and Jimmy Carter: “If something of that nature presents itself, I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.”
- Claiming that “the Fed is buying like three-quarters of the debt that America issues.” (Which, despite Romney’s expertise in finance, is plain wrong.)
- Joking about media strategy and his reputation as a “rich, rich guy”: “You know that I’m as poor as a church mouse.”
- Making enemies on the late-night talk show circuit: “Now Letterman hates me because I’ve been on Leno more than him.”
- An odd rant from an audience member: “How are you going to win if 54 percent of the voters think China’s economy is bigger than ours? Or if it costs 4 cents to make a penny and we keep making pennies? Canada got it right a month ago. Why isn’t someone saying, ‘Stop making pennies, round it to the nearest nickel?’ You know, that’s an easy thing, compared to Iran.”
Romney: …And I guess everybody here is a dignitary, and I appreciate your help. And by the way, I am serious about the food. Bring that…clear the place, but Hilary has to eat her beets. [Audience laughs.] I’m gonna—because the table is small enough and the room is intimate enough, I’d like to spend our time responding to questions you have, listening to advice you might have. Occasionally, as I did just a moment ago, I get envelopes like that, which is, and I’ll open this and there’ll be campaign ideas—”Why don’t you talk about the following issues…”—so I’m happy to take advice and then we can all vote on it, whether it’s a good piece of advice or bad advice. ]
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