MOTHER JONES: During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don’t assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them. Fielding a question from a donor about how he could triumph in November, Romney replied:
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 went on: “[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” MORE
BUSINESS INSIDER: Mysterious YouTube videos that reportedly show Mitt Romney addressing high-level donors at a private fundraiser have started to circulate around the Internet this week, and the contents could be very damning for the Republican presidential nominee. The videos — which feature an audio of Romney dismissing Obama voters as entitled freeloaders and lamenting his problems with Hispanic voters — were apparently all taken at the same fundraiser, and were first posted on YouTube by two anonymous users. Today, David Corn of Mother Jones reports that he has seen the whole video, which he said was taken sometime before the convention, but after Romney was the presumptive nominee. The most inflammatory line from the videos refers to 47 percent of Americans who, according to Romney, “will vote for the president no matter what.” “All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe 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’s an entitlement. And that government should give it to them.” MORE