Associated Press
Rose Mary Woods's recorder from the Nixon White House
There's a new tidbit of information surrounding Mitt Romney's "47 percent" video: there's a short gap between the first and second parts.
Mother Jones published Romney's remarks in two parts yesterday, which is how journalist David Corn says he received it from his source.
"When we put up the full video, the source said -- and I have no reason not to believe him -- that the device that was being used inadvertently shut down or timed-out," Corn told POLITICO. "As soon as he knew that, he turned the camera back on and, at most, one to two minutes were missed. The video came to me as two separate files, and that is how we posted it on the website."
So it's not as if Mother Jones removed some of the footage; it's just that the original source missed a minute or two.
The right seems really excited about this detail this morning -- I'll look forward to the Rose Mary Woods comparisons, if they're not already out there -- but I'm not entirely sure how this is supposed to help the Republican cause.
To be sure, I should concede that there is a chance that Romney, during this brief unrecorded portion, told the donors, "All that stuff I just said? I mean the opposite. And all the stuff I'm about to say? Yeah, I believe the opposite about that, too."
But since that seems rather unlikely, it's hard to imagine why this should be considered a mitigating detail.
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This is a great bit of clarification. I was assuming that MJ or the source had edited out portions of the video for other reasons. For example, the part where the cell phone was dropped, or the source was talking to the person next to them.
The fact that there is only one gap of whatever length, means that everything in the first part is good to go and only the first bit of the second part is suspect (and that only if Mitt was in the middle of answering a question we can't hear.)
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are missing their hearts, souls and consciences . . . Are the Right-Wing Republicans worried about this ?
Oh . . . I guess not.
What a surprise there hey ?
The right isn't worried about this tape at all, Mitt is speaking totally off the cuff and states a belief, which seems reasonable too, that lazy free loaders won't vote for him.
At least he is not caught on tape telling the Russians he can make back door deals after the election. The only story here is the Obama cheering squad are looking for any distractions they can find because, now that President Obama has a record, he has nothing good to show that he has done, so he is trying to make the other guy look worse.
If President Obama is so successful with his last four years then why isn't he up by 10 points in the polls? In 1980 Carter lead Reagan by 10 points going into the debates with the economy in a similar situation. The Obama camp is scared because at best they are a point or two ahead.
The second part might be questionable as Mike said.
But not the part after "Hello, my name is ...".
Testimony is testimony.
Yeah, nothing wrong with stating your beliefs. It lets EVERYONE know just how much of an ass you are and is worth getting out there to the public, ESPECIALLY when you are running for President!
Those "lazy freeloders" robme speaks about are families of 5 who earn 50,000 dollars a year, those who work but not enough to pay federal income tax but DO pay payroll tax, sales tax, and pay a much larger percentage of their income than the rich do while paying those taxes.
Those "lazy freeloders" robme speaks about are the elderly. But hey robme "speaks totally off the cuff and states a belief, which seems reasonable too, that lazy free loaders won't vote for him."
And your Obama "caught on tape" moment is a failed right wing talking point:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/27/right-wing-media-invent-controversy-over-obamas/185405
But once again, lies and half truths only suit right wing trolls.
And yes, Obama has a record. Something the GOP and robme can't run against, and instead try to use fear, women's rights, and voter suppression to try to win this election. Robme, the GOP, and YOU have got nothing. Nothing but lies.
And Obama is trying to "make the other guy look worse?" LOL!! Utter horse@!$%#. Robme is doing a good job of that all on his own.
A stupid question asked by a stupid troll. Despite the fact that Obama is up by 5 points is ignored by idiots like you and is a desperate attempt to grasp at straws because your guy is losing and is sinking his own campaign.
Keep spinning, troll. Keep spinning.
Obama/Biden 2012
Really people? Personally I don't believe a word of it, there's no reason to. It's already been demonstrated that the left will selectively edit audio to give a misleading impression, why not this time too? Especially after this story came up -after- the right noticed a disconnect? Trust Corn? Not a chance.
What was edited out of the video and how did it change the context of what Romney stated?
Well, it gives them something to say besides the working poor, elderly and the military personnel are scum sucking moochers he doesn't care about.
Where are the tax returns? But what's this I heard about Lenore Romney's Dad taking welfare?
Actually it was Mittens Grandfather, when they finally came back from Mexico and didn't have two pennies to put together.
Oh, sorry. I misread it, then.
No, actually it was Mitt's father, George, when he first came back from Mexico. Sheesh, you can go see the whole thing over at Salon.
On the other hand, last year Romney paid more income tax than 47% of the country.
But not as much as the other 53%!
@2.4, and he made more than 99%. But his totsal tax burden was less than many of those 47% moochers the right-wing is having a conniption about. And they participate out of their basic living need and Romney's is out of his excess.
Yes, it was George Romney, Rmoney's Dad that took welfare relief, but I guess it was in his early years, which means… George's childhood?
http://www.salon.com/2012/09/19/george_romneys_welfare_relief/
Yeah, those lousy moochers that live on Government money, like Governors and Congress people such as Rmoney and Ryan?
"...it's hard to imagine why this should be considered a mitigating detail."
It's not difficult, when flailing cling to anything in the desperate attempt to save your life! But considering how the rest of that video goes, it's hard to imagine that Robme said "I was only joking, haha".
Oh my god! Poor Mitt is the new Shirley Sherrod? Who could have guessed?
No need to worry about that. Willard's already doubled down on his statements in the never-let-em-see-ya-sweat-and-never-admit-you're-wrong MO of the towering CEO that he is. So Mitty's already copped to this.
I guess he's still got the etch-a-sketch, though.
For the undecided voters, I think Romney has a serous problem as he has stated several times. That is, Romney's polling indicates that folks are not happy with Obama. His polling also shows that if he gives SPECIFICs, then folks will not vote for Romney including many of the elderly and working class white males.
I do not think many on the right understand this point. I'll say it plainly. I think Romney's polling indicates that if he details the Ryan/Romney plan with specifics to meet his goals, the polls show that he will lose!!!! Yet many on the right believe that if everyone would only be allowed to listen to their words, then they would vote for Romney.
Folks that talk with independents and look at the polling understand this.
Actually, the two minutes that were missing had the part in it where Romney told everyone he really didn't mean all the things he was saying and was just joking.
He also said how much he loved ALL the people in this country and how he REALLY was going to help everyone, especially those in need!!
Then he went on to say how much he was going to bring his party in line and get them to stop doing all the crazy things they've been doing in Congress.
And finally, in this two minutes, he asked all those rich guys to stop being so money-grubby and to not make any profit in the next year and spend half their time helping the people of Haiti and New Orleans rebuild their houses.
<snark> Why are the Republicans so "upset" about these "two minutes"? Do they REALLY think Romney undid everything he said???
The way Romney was standing up there holding forth like a love child of Gordon Gekko and Leona Helmsley, he's probably grateful those couple minutes have been lost to posterity.
LOL!
Mr. Romney can afford all the quants he needs to hide risk. I'm sure the environment in which he has lived most of his life must have some influence here. Anyway, the impact is the the disguise of risk. There's a great video that all should watch about the quants, the alchemists of Wall Street as we get to hear from the other side. Who ever writes the code controls the world and the money and folks a smarter than me have been saying that on the web. I just said 3 years ago we need a Department of Algorithms to get accurate information out there and when you watch and listen to a quant and the teacher of quantism talk about the fantasy world and how they are told the numbers work to hide risk you'll get the picture.
They flat out warn about this and say if we don't do anything about the flawed math and data then we deserve it. Remember Jamie Dimon had no clue on their business model and we all saw him on video saying "I don't know"...models written by the quants and you hear them say that the financial world is way to complex with math and that's how things are hidden, due to complexities..video says all..Attack of the Killer Algoirthms...explained
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.gr/2012/09/quants-alchemists-of-wall-street-video.html
Hi Quack,
This blunder is only one of a collection that can be made entitled "How wealthy people talk about the nonwealthy people when it's 'just between us in this room'." Like in school when you find out that teachers say bad things about the kids in private.
The missing two minutes is screaming for a Kent Jones blog thread inviting contributions/explanations. Please!
How truly sad this all is, it's hard enough to believe that Mitt Rmoney is the GOP candidate but this latest tryst with Mitt and his mouth (via Mother Jones) pulls at the heartstrings of teh stupid. This Clown is going down!
-or-
This is an intentional ploy to overshadow the fact that D-bag still has not disclosed his tax returns.. Hell, sounds crazy enough to me!
We need to have the "redistribution" discussion. The word is being thrown around a lot today, and there seems to be little undertanding of its meaning.
--
When conservatives speak of "redistribution of wealth", are they referring to the appropriation of tax revenue? If so, shouldn't we perhaps be somewhat concerned with the redistribution of wealth into the military. Shouldn't we focus on making military spending more efficient?
--
I just spent a few minutes in the car, and gave 15 minutes of my time listening to Sean Hannity. It scared me. He has introduced new buzzwords and catch phrases. He kept referring to, "Obama's society of entitlements" and the "overwhelming sense of entitlement" in our country.
---
I want republicans to clarify their position. There are speaking out of both sides of their mouth.
WHICH IS IT?
--
Are people out of work because of "Obama's bad economy?"
OR,
Are the unemployed essentially a population of lazy, unmotivated, opportunistic, entitlement seekers?
----
It can't be both ways! Take a position, stand by it, and make your case. OBAMA'S SOCIETY OF ENTITLEMENT???
--
WHERE YOUR TAXDOLLARS ARE ACTUALLY GOING:
http://tinyurl.com/92stu5u
Sure, Romney said a lot of really reprehensible things...but we didn't hear the whole thing...and Obama once said he approved the redistribution of wealth, or something like that...politicians...you can't trust any of 'em...I don't know who to trust...I'm just not gonna vote this time...
And that's how Republicans win.
I'm not sure the republicans want to remind everyone of Nixon. Hmmm . . . maybe we should . . .
The "missing 2 minutes" will do nothing- but keep the story alive for a few more days as Mitt & Co. do their PretzelMan impressions.
But, the real import of this video is that we get a glimpse of Romney's campaign tactics. "Write off the 47% that won't vote for me, anyway. Give me $50K. And quick, please- I have another fund raiser in some safe red state! I like talking to my peers, and detest mingling with the Help. Like Rafalko, who was bred for dressage, I was bred to be president."
Looks like a pasty loaf of "whitebred" to me... ;-)
I'm sure some adoring admirer taped that 2-minute portion and can fill the gap, providing it also contains footage before and after to confirm it's authenticity.
Any takers? I doubt it. Better to leave it blank to feed the conspiracy theories.
It is shocking that anyone could still think that Mitt Romney is qualified to be president after repeatedly asserting that half of the country is worthless, shiftless, parasitic and ought be ignored just because they are of meager wealth or did not vote for him. This is the likes of which we have never seen in modern American politics, a candidate writing off most of the nation as ungovernable and not worth his time. Being President means that you are President of all the people, even those that make less than a million bucks or did not support your campaign with fat checks. Since Romney has refused to offer any specifics of his prospective policies, this horrific series of closed-door rants is all we have to go on, and we have to assume this is the real Mitt. - PP
Pseudologia fantastica - the 1% disease
Why are republicans loosing? They have lots more money so they should be winning (click links to observe a supporting reference from National Library of Health).
This is a form of lying that involves delusions in otherwise healthy individuals.
Paranoid schizophrenia is far more serious and debilitating illness that can render one unable to function as a result of deeply held delusions that often manifest as greater religiosity that draws them to seek comfort in church.
Romney is not mentally disabled as would be the case with schizophrenia.
By the same token, it is obvious to the causal observer that Romney is not normal.
About half the population is sufficiently mentally ill to be susceptible to this phenomenon, and this is profoundly disturbing when politicians begin exploiting this using mass media.
Common urban legends involve birth certificates, "tax moochers" like handicapped, elderly,and mentally ill, as well as the idea that immigrant farm workers are "stealing farm jobs" from US citizens despite the fact no US citizens make a living picking fruit and vegetables.
This kind of delusion is overcome by confronting individuals with truth linked to credible sources like universities and credible news organizations that report facts like MSNBC.
The 10 poorest states are the Republican voting base and they dominate the 47%.
The harsh reality of truth provided by Romney this week has slapped people hard enough that some are no longer deluded by fantasies.
Romney has repeated delusional fantasies so often and so hard that he is being to believe the lies that are being used to win votes.
It is now clear that this is costing him votes.
While a licensed psychologist may not wish to risk their license discussing this, an elderly financially independent "tax moocher" may have no problem doing that with the proper enticement.
Love the show.
My 2 cents.
Republicans wake up! You are riding a dead horse.
More on Romney! Obama for President!
( The 99% ers ) Darryl / Founder
Considering Mr. Romney has so little respect for the 47 percent or 99% (pick a number), I am concerned he might be more apt to embark on war, believing he has a supply of "per-centers" to serve as expendable soldiers.
Hypocrite says Obama is divisive. Excuse me Rmoney, when you say I don't worry about the 47% who don't pay taxes (excuse me-even that is a lie) you divide, arithmetic … divison... 47% of 100%
Your supporters go on and on about the debt, so we look at the numbers and we look at the only example of a plan we have. Ryan plan, nearly identical to Rmoney's the wealthy would get more tax cuts for upper incomes and cut the Medicare, SS and close loopholes without telling us which ones.
We want people to work, not be on Welfare, so making the lower incomes pay more tax is not conducive to that. Plus, we need some f' in jobs bills a-wholes!
Yes, he would probably start more wars, plus stay longer in Afghanistan, meaning more military spending, injuries and deaths. These people want power to further take away domestic opportunities and open doors to military enlistment. We have plenty for our military to do without sending fresh troops like we kept seeing in Vietnam.
Someone said it earlier… the 99% or 47% are viewed as the help (I add cannon fodder and/or moochers). Granny can't work or carry a rifle and crawl through the desert at age 84, so she is considered a moocher, I guess.
So the people who lionized Breitbart's hack jobs on ACORN, NPR, and Shirley Sherrod are now whining about misleadingly edited video? They truly are beyond parody.
It would be irresponsible not to speculate about what he talked about in those two minutes.
My guess is that he reassured his donors that while those parasitic vermin will not vote for him there are efforts under way to prevent them from voting at all ever again.
Well now if there is one thing the republicans know about it is missing minutes on tapes.