Below is a complete transcript, produced by Mother Jones, of the entire unedited Romney videos that we published on Tuesday. (See our exclusive coverage of Romney writing off Obama voters and trashing the Mideast peace process at his recent fundraiser in Florida.) Read on, or jump directly to these highlights from Romney:
- On the 47 percent of Americans “who will vote for the president no matter what.”
- On the dividends of his anticipated November 6 victory: “we’ll see—without actually doing anything—we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.”
- On the “almost unthinkable prospects” for Mideast peace: “I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway…and I say there’s just no way.”
And here are some telling moments you may not have heard about yet:
- Mocking immigration in the United States: “[If] you have no skill or experience…you’re welcome to cross the border and stay here for the rest of your life.”
- Envisioning a pre-election hostage crisis, à la Iran and Jimmy Carter: “If something of that nature presents itself, I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.”
- Joking about media strategy and his reputation as a “rich, rich guy”: “You know that I’m as poor as a church mouse.”
- Making enemies on the late-night talk show circuit: “Now Letterman hates me because I’ve been on Leno more than him.”
- An odd rant from an audience member: “How are you going to win if 54 percent of the voters think China’s economy is bigger than ours? Or if it costs 4 cents to make a penny and we keep making pennies? Canada got it right a month ago. Why isn’t someone saying, ‘Stop making pennies, round it to the nearest nickel?’ You know, that’s an easy thing, compared to Iran.”
Romney: …And I guess everybody here is a dignitary, and I appreciate your help. And by the way, I am serious about the food. Bring that…clear the place, but Hilary has to eat her beets. [Audience laughs.] I’m gonna—because the table is small enough and the room is intimate enough, I’d like to spend our time responding to questions you have, listening to advice you might have. Occasionally, as I did just a moment ago, I get envelopes like that, which is, and I’ll open this and there’ll be campaign ideas—”Why don’t you talk about the following issues…”—so I’m happy to take advice and then we can all vote on it, whether it’s a good piece of advice or bad advice. And so we’ll get a chance to do that, but I’m looking to get your perspectives. Just to tell you a couple of things you may not know about me. You probably know that I’m father of five and grandfather now of 18—my oldest son just had twins just last week, and so our grandchild nest is getting larger, and they’re a source of great joy. When I was probably halfway through my career at Bain Consulting, I met with a lawyer to draft a will, and she said, “How do you want to divide what estate you might eventually have?” And I said—I didn’t have anything at that point—I said, “I want to divide it equally among my five sons.” And she said, “Well, how much will you want to give to the grandchildren that they will ultimately have,” and I said, “Well, I don’t want to give anything to the grandchildren—I’ll give it to the sons, and they in turn will give it to their children as needed.” And she said, “You’ll change your mind.” And I said, “No, I don’t think so.” So I saw her not long ago, and I said, “I don’t want to give anything to my sons, I want to give it [to all to my grandchildren.] [Audience laughs.]
Audience member: You lost Samantha’s vote. [Audience laughs.]
Romney: This, uh, it’s not as…
Audience member: This is my daughter. [More laughter.]
Romney: It’s not just because I love my grandchildren, as I do, and I love my sons and [unintelligible], it’s that I’m very concerned about what the nation is gonna be like over the coming decade or two. And I really do. As I said in my remarks earlier, I see these two very different scenarios. One is as America really powering the world economy, with an extraordinary economy here, with China working with us, wanting to see stability in the world, and a very vibrant America, with freedom and prosperity for the great bulk of the American people. On the other hand, I really do see something like Europe. And I think that’s the path we’re on right now. So that’s why I wanna make sure what little I’ll have left after the campaigns goes to you know, goes to my grandchildren. That’s one piece about me that you may not know. The other is just about my heritage—my dad, you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company, but he was born in Mexico. And had he been born of Mexican parents I’d have a better shot at winning this, but he was [audience laughs] unfortunately born of Americans living in Mexico. They’d lived there for a number of years, and, uh, I mean I say that jokingly, but it’d be helpful if they’d been Latino…
Audience member: Pull an Elizabeth Warren!
Romney: Pardon?
