Full video of Romney fundraiser remarks released

(CBS News) The liberal publication Mother Jones on Tuesday afternoon released the full 49-minute video, in two parts, of Mitt Romney's remarks at a May 17 fundraiser at which he described President Obama's supporters as people who are "dependent on government" and "believe that they are victims."

The magazine on Monday released a clip of the event at which he said, "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."

Mother Jones released a series of other clips, including one in which Romney says peace in the Middle East isn't possible. "I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and I say there's just no way," he is heard saying.

Left on defense after the video clips were released, Romney on Monday evening did not apologize for his remarks but conceded they were "not elegantly stated." He called on Mother Jones to release the full video, so the magazine did just that.

The 49 minutes of footage shows that Romney's remarks were not taken out of context. Mother Jones, unsurprisingly, chose to highlight the most controversial parts of Romney's remarks.

Romney talked about foreign policy issues beyond the Middle East, telling his supporters that President Obama "speaks loudly and carries a tiny stick." It's no wonder, the Republican said, that North Korea isn't afraid to announce new missile tests when the U.S. president isn't going to do anything about it.

He also addressed a supporter's concern that the public hasn't gotten to know him, pointing out that he's appeared on several talk shows. He called going on ABC's "The View" a particular "risk," since only one of the show's hosts is conservative. Romney also agreed with a supporter that voters like his wife Ann Romney but said the campaign is using her "sparingly... so that people don't get tired of her."

[slouisedavis]

Most of what Romney said, I agree with completely. His discussion of the national debt and the Fed was very accurate. We cannot continue QE indefinitely.The Fed is lowering interst rates and this has a negative effect on people saving for retirement. Romney is right, eventually the cost of our debt will become due and that is a scary thought. I am jewish and also agree with what he said about the palestinians. Obama has no policy in the middle east except to back stab Israel eventually regarding the palestinians and Iran.I could agree with everything except for romney's comment on the 47%. Obama is a failed president. Alot of people are underemployed or unemployed and want a chance to get back in the work force. Alot of us do not believe in Obama's wealth re-distribution scheme or like Obamacare. we do not want to be forced to buy insurance or pay a tax. Another issue is elederly people on SS may not pay much in income tax. Most of what they pay are taxes on dividends and capital gains.They have worked hard and deserve their retirement. Obama wants to raise the dividend tax and capital gains tax and the elderly are upset with that. I think the real issue are people who never paid into the system who are suddenly get SSDi for no real reason- or are on medicaid. Many people abuse the SSI system and it is too easy to get on disability if you are chronically unemployed. Medicaid is constantly abused. Illegal aliens get medicaid. It is ridculuos. I was disappointed that Romney chose to refer to people who dont pay taxes as folks who wouldnt vote for him. That obviously is not true. I do think from watching these videos that Romney has a real grasp of the issues. I would like to hear him talk more about the debt and the Fed, and his plans to bring more business into the US. Like alot of people I am concerned about the manipulation of world currencies by agencies like the fed and what that will do to inflation in the future.

[JoAnn_Cornelius]

Thank you Mr Romney. I for one am very tired of my taxes going up to support the people that feel like America owes them a life. I' m one of the 53% that get up and go to work and make a check and pay for them to set at home and have babies, do drugs, drink and God only knows what else. For 8 years I supported 4 children without state help working 2 or 3 jobs what ever I had to do. So why can't they. Keep it up Mr. Romney you have my vote.

[reenilou]

My favorite, quintessential line:

"We use Ann sparingly right now."

What a lovely thing to say.

[zenia5]

Exactly....and he even added, "so that people don't get tired of her." What a JERK and pompous a$$.

[reenilou]

The cynicism is breathtaking. I feel as if I am watching "The Manchurian Candidate" or "All the King's Men." Ick

[wayneonly]

First let me say, "The utter arrogance of Mitt Romney is amazing. He has shown his contempt for the "working poor", the elderly, and those who have been disenfranchised by the policies of the Bush administration and the Bush recession. Make no mistake, most of the increase in "entitlements" such as food stamps and unemployment compensation and even those taking early retirement are a direct result of G.W. Bush's allowing banks to run wild and feed their greed until they could not survive without government "bailouts" (welfare) and Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. Let me give you a fact: "TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS" has not been responsible for ONE SINGLE job in the U.S. (other than the jobs of the politicians who have espoused it).

Now let me give you another fact: Since the Great Depression there have been ONLY two presidents who have had a negative job creation rating. They were Herbert Hoover -5.41 (not surprising due to the depression) and G. W. Bush with a rating of -0.84. Both Republicans. The next two lowest job creators were Dwight Eisenhower and G.H.W. Bush with ratings of +0.69 and +0.68 respectively. Again, both Republicans. And Democratic presidents have the best job creating records with Kennedy-Johnson and Clinton leading the way. Even President Obama has a positive job creation rating of +0.84 even with dealing with the Bush recession and the 2010 GOP and Tea Party Republican House of NO. AND THEY DID NOT USE "TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS" to produce jobs.

Let me give you the source for this fact:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_created_during_U.S._presidential_terms

Voters, if you would research the facts, you would come to the same conclusion that I have: ROMNEY/RYAN/GOP is NO FRIEND TO THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!!

[cubscout09]

Romney's comments regarding: Palestinians don't want peace, may cause an international incident. Bravo, Mitt!

[kolbe41]

Besides wasn't taping Romney illegal under Florida law and shouldn't Mother Jones be prosecuted??

[dennisall77]

So what? Does that excuse Romney being a snobbish tool for the ultra-rich??

[reenilou]

What law? He's a public figure. Obviously, no one confiscated equipment.

[hhandyman]

The majority just want Mitt to put out what he intends to do to the nation if elected and no be so shy about it so we have an honest evaluation the more he shy's away from truth the less likely he will get more support than the corporate money coffers splashing out cash to save paying a bit tax bill later Only Fox or other news sources will make the big bucks on that it wont increase employment that much. If that film was an Honest portrait of Willard s Way with Words we need him in office as much as we need to give China the rest of the factory's that Romney didst sell them.

[novotesobozo]

This is BS it's right out of the chicago bag of drity tricks just see hoe the camra was hidden.And the man told no lies

[dennisall77]

So is it true that 47 percent of Americans don't pay income tax? Essentially, yes, according to the the Tax Policy Center, which provides data showing that in 2011, 46.4 percent of American households paid no federal income tax. The same data shows, however, that nearly two-thirds of households that paid no income tax did pay payroll taxes. And most people also pay some combination of state, local, sales, gas and property taxes.

In order to assess whether or not, as Romney claims, these non-income tax payers "will vote for the president no matter what," it's helpful to look at a breakdown of who they are. According to 2011 data from the Tax Policy Center, more than half of the filing units not paying income taxes are those with incomes less than $16,812 per year. Nearly a third - 29.2 percent - of those paying no income taxes are tax filers earning between $16,812 and $33,542, and 12.8 percent are those with incomes between $33,542 and $59,486. In other words, the poor are least likely to pay federal income taxes, but many middle-class families are also exempt. Smaller but significant numbers of the higher-income earners are also exempt: The same data shows that in 2011, 78,000 tax filers with incomes between $211,000 and $533,000 paid no income taxes; 24,000 households with incomes of $533,000 to $2.2 million paid no income taxes, and 3,000 tax filers with incomes above $2.2 million paid no income taxes.

[morgankelly]

Yeah!! Those dirty democrats used to following dirty tricks:

1) Inserted lots of words in Romney's mouth that he really didn't say,

2) Sliced, diced, and spliced film of Romney in a 1,000 ways to make it appear as though he said the opposite of what he really said/meant,

3) Used Billionaire-financed Super-Pacs to spread all the above distortions of Romney's actual comments, or

4) None of the above. They just let "Romney be Romney" and let the film speak entirely for its unvarnished self in full context without even an iota of editing.

tic toc tic toc tic toc

[dennisall77]

This guy is hopeless....