Mitt Romney

President Barack Obama stopped by the Late Show With David Letterman last night, and had barely sat down before being asked about the Mitt Romney video.

The secretly-recorded-calling-Obama-backers-entitled-irresponsible-drains-on-society video, which Romney stands by, while acknowledging poor word choice.

Letterman asked Obama for his take on Mitt describing "47 percent of Americans" in this manner, to which he said, "One of the things I learned as president is you represent the entire country ... if you want to be president, you have to work for everyone."

President Obama on Letterman

Obama noted that in 2008, 47 percent of America voted for his rival, John McCain.

"This is a big country. And people disagree a lot, but one thing I've never tried to do and I think none of us can do in public office is suggest that because somebody doesn't agree with me that they're victims or they're unpatriotic," he said.

"There are not a lot of people out there who think they're victims. There are not a lot of people who think they're entitled to something."

"We've got some obligations to each other, and there's nothing wrong with us giving each other a helping hand so that that single mom's kid, after all the work she's done ... can afford to go to college, go cure the next disease, go start the next Google."

"I think that's a good investment for America."

Election 2012:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney admitted his comments captured on hidden camera at a fundraiser earlier this year were "not elegantly stated," but did not back away from the broader point he was trying to make.

In the video, which leaked Monday, he is seen telling donors that 47 percent of voters are "victims" reliant on handouts and will support President Obama regardless. Last night, Romney called his remarks "off the cuff" but wouldn't disavow them.

Mitt Romney on Obama Voters

"It was not elegantly stated, I'll put it that way," Romney said, noting that he was merely talking about the "political process of drawing people into my campaign."

"I'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question, and I'm sure I can state it more clearly in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that," he added.

However, "It's a message which I carry and will continue to carry."

Asked what he meant by the word "victims," Romney tried to cast the remarks as simply accentuating the differences between his campaign and Barack Obama's.

"My campaign is about helping people take more responsibility and becoming employed again, particularly those who don't have work," the challenger said.

"Do you believe in a government-centered society that provides more and more or do you believe in a free enterprise society where people pursue their dreams?"

The full text of Romney's remarks from the clip appear below. Do you think this will hurt his campaign? Leave a comment and vote in our poll:

Continue Reading...

A secretly recorded video has emerged in which Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can be heard apparently disparaging voters - specifically those who support President Barack Obama - at a private dinner with donors.

The GOP nominee can be heard (and seen, albeit far away) positing that "47 percent" of Americans do not pay any income taxes, consider themselves victims, feel entitled to handouts and would never even think about voting for him anyway.

"I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives," Romney says of Obama's "huge advantage." Take a look below:

Mitt Romney on Obama Voters

Responses to this will likely fall into one of two categories:

1. The truth hurts! He's just stating facts! People are such leeches!
2. Wow, what an out of touch monster! He hates half the country!

The truth is probably somewhere in between, with the main takeaway being that Mitt's words were not chosen particularly well, especially in this media age.

Whether or not he harbors disdain for 47, 48, 49 percent of the country ... did he learn nothing from Obama's "cling" controversy four and a half years ago?

What do you think of Mitt's remarks, and who are you voting for in 2012? Share your thoughts, opinions and commentary on the campaign with us below...

UPDATE, 9/18: Addressing the controversial video, Mitt Romney stood by the comments, while conceding that he did not articulate his point very elegantly.

A comedian pretending to be a disillusioned former supporter of President Barack Obama appeared on Fox & Friends today and gave an utterly ridiculous interview.

Max Rice appeared via satellite during a segment on the staggering unemployment rate for people ages 18-24 and its impact on Obama in November's election.

Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson introduced Rice as a "recent college grad who voted for President Obama" and who "just moved out of his parents' home."

Quickly, it became obvious that Rice was pulling one over on Fox News.

Max Rice Punks Fox and Friends

Rice interrupted Carlson's introduction, saying "S'up," and then told her, "Miss USA, it's an honor." Carlson noted that she was actually Miss America, not USA.

"Miss Universe in my book," he said, going on to state that "I was a huge Obama supporter in 2008 ... I met him in third grade. I met him when I was little."

Asked why he is now supporting Mitt Romney, Rice claimed he lost a bet in a pickup basketball game. "Are you being serious about this or not?" Carlson asked.

"Yeah," Rice said. "I can't see your face right now. This is so weird."

Not to mention hilariously random. It's unclear how "not ready for prime time" Rice finagled this gig in the first place, but hopefully they have him back on.

Election 2012:

Poor Mitt Romney.

First, it comes out that Nicki Minaj is actually not voting for him in November. Now, in the track "To the World" (off the compilation album "Cruel Summer"), Kanye West takes a shot at the Republican nominee for President by hitting him where it counts:

In Romney's tax returns.

“Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax,” West decrees in a line from the single, following that quip with: “Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax.”

Yes, again. We think he has a point he wants to make. Listen for yourself:

Kanye West - "To the World"

This isn't the only time West has been critical of someone running for office or already in the highest office in the land. He said George W. Bush doesn't care about black people during the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

We wonder what Kim Kardashian thinks of this whole thing. Oh... right: Whatever her mother tells her to think.

An anonymous individual or group claims to have obtained "all available" tax returns associated with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The alleged hackers claim to have accessed them via computers in the Franklin, Tenn., office of professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

An anonymous posting on a file sharing website claims PwC was hacked; the same site has been used to boast of other high-profile corporate hacks.

How'd they pull it off, allegedly? The posting states:

"[Romney's tax returns] were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building."

Bribes go a long way, apparently.

President Obama's 2012 election opponent has faced calls to release his tax forms prior to 2010. The former CEO of Bain Capital has refused to do so.

Wonder if this will change his mind.

After "all 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied," the perpetrators claim, having sent Mitt's tax returns "to Democratic and GOP offices in the county."

"A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages," which are almost entirely encrypted.

That's where the fun part comes in.

The group claims it will "release all available files to the public on the 28 of September, 2012," unless someone coughs up $1 million ... in Bitcoins.

Continue Reading...

One of the more outspoken artists in the music business, Nicki Minaj makes her political leanings very clear in a verse from the track "Mercy," which is included on Lil Wayne‘s "Dedication 4" mixtape.

So, who has Minaj poetically endorsed?

“I’m a Republican voting for Mitt Romney," she raps in the following video, adding (we presume) of the Democrats: "You lazy bitches are f-cking up the economy."

Nicki Minaj Endorses Mitt Romney

Minaj isn't the only celebrity who will be pulling a lever in Romney's direction in November. Chuck Norris worries that another four years of President Obama will send the nation into darkness, while Clint Eastwood expressed his concerns by talking to an empty chair.

Who will YOU be voting for in this election?

Movie icon Clint Eastwood delivered an unscripted and bizarre endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday night.

Taking the stage before Mitt Romney's speech to the party's national convention, Eastwood carried on a rambling "conversation" with an empty chair.

A chair occupied by an imaginary President Barack Obama. Seriously:

Clint Eastwood Republican National Convention Speech

The Oscar-winning director criticized Obama for failing to turn the economy around and for wanting to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects.

"How do you handle the promises you've made? What do you say?" he asked the invisible Obama. "I know even some of the people in your party were disappointed."

At another, even stranger point, the 82-year-old Eastwood acted as if he were listening to imaginary Obama unleash a diatribe against Romney, poking Vice President Joe Biden and letting the convention audience "guess what the president said."

"He can't do that to himself. You're absolutely crazy!" Eastwood responded.

"You're getting as bad as Biden. Biden is the intellect in the Democratic Party. It's just kind of a grin with a body behind it."

At one point, Eastwood talked about the need for change.

"When somebody doesn't do the job, you gotta let 'em go," Eastwood said. Then the tough-guy actor of Dirty Harry fame drew a finger across his throat.

Backstage, stern-faced Romney aides winced for 10 minutes straight.

And the winner of this "debate" is ...

Mitt Romney accepted the Republican presidential nomination last night with a forceful promise to lead America to renewed prosperity after years of mediocrity.

Presenting himself as the turnaround artist we need to finally end the cycle of dashed expectations and broken promises, Romney told the Tampa, Fla., RNC crowd:

"How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America? Many of you felt that way on election day four years ago." 

"But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama?"

"You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president," Romney said, "when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him."

Mitt Romney Republican National Convention Speech

Romney's focus, like that of the nation's voters, was almost exclusively on the stubbornly sluggish economic recovery, and he touted his business experience.

He mocked Obama's famous 2008 line that his election could "slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet." After a dramatic pause, he pointedly stated:

"My promise is to help you and your family."

The former Massachusetts Governor's 38-minute speech was light on policy details, but it did offer more autobiographical detail than he usually delves into.

As Ann Romney helped him do Tuesday, Mitt sought to push back against the caricature of him as an aloof, ruthless, out-of-touch corporate chieftain.

Like his running mate, Paul Ryan, he made clear overtures to ordinary citizens (women) in particular, to upend the notion that the GOP stands only for the rich.

Did he make the sale? Romney was running just about even heading into the Republican National Convention; we'll see if this helps him make inroads against Obama.

Election 2012:

Yahoo News' Washington bureau chief David Chalian has been fired after a shocking remark he made about Mitt Romney and his wife Ann was caught on camera.

Chalian was overheard saying that the Romneys were "not concerned at all" about Hurricane Issac and are "happy to have a party with black people drowning."

Chalian seemed to be referring to the Republican National Convention taking place in Tampa just as the Category 1 storm barreled across the Gulf of Mexico.

Yesterday, Yahoo announced it was firing Chalian, "effective immediately."

David Chalian Fired

"David Chalian's statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo," the company said in a statement following the controversy.

"We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended."

Chalian released an apology Wednesday. He wrote that he was "profoundly sorry" and described his statement as an "inappropriate and thoughtless joke."

Chalian also apologized privately and publicly to the Romney campaign.

Ann Romney spoke Tuesday at the RNC, followed by V.P. nominee Paul Ryan last night. Presidential hopeful Romney takes the stage this evening.