A video taken secretly of presidential candidate Mitt Romney shows the Republican speaking behind closed doors to 30 of his major donors earlier in 2012. In the video, Romney is heard saying that voters backing President Obama give him their vote because they are “dependent on government” and “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”
Romney is seen speaking openly about the president, immigrants, privilege and other issues of controversy, according to the Huffington Post.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney said in one clip. “All right — there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”
In response to the video, a spokeswoman for Romney, Gail Gitcho, said the following in a statement: “Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy. As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work. Mitt Romney’s plan creates 12 million new jobs in four years, grows the economy and moves Americans off of government dependency and into jobs.”
Quite a few videos have surfaced recently online of Romney, one of which shows him discussing conditions at a Chinese factory. In the video, Romney compares conditions he saw during a trip to China to conditions in the United States, saying, “Ninety-five percent of life is set up for you if you were born in this country.”
Now, there are close to 10 videos making their way around the internet that reportedly come from the same fundraiser. One of the videos shows Romney joking that he wishes his father was born of Mexican parents, instead of white parents who were living in Mexico.
“My dad, as you probably, know was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico … and, uh, had he been born of, uh, Mexican parents, I’d have a better shot at winning this,” Romney said. “But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. … I mean I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino.”
Another video has Romney discussing his success in life: “Both my dad and [wife] Ann’s dad did quite well in their lives. But when they came to the end of their lives and passed along the inheritance to Ann and me, we both decided to give it all away. So I have inherited nothing. Everything that Ann and I have, we earned the old-fashioned way.”
Then there is another video where Romney discusses the silver spoon:”There’s a perception that all of you were born with a silver spoon. You know, you never had to earn anything and so forth,” Romney said to the donors. “Frankly, I was born with a silver spoon, which is the greatest gift you can have — which is to get born in America.”
