President Obama thanked James Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, for his role in unearthing what may have been the most damaging piece of evidence against Mitt Romney in the 2012 election. In an interview on CNN yesterday, James Carter said Obama thanked him “many times” got unearthing what soon became as Romney’s “47 percent” moment. Carter also divulged some more details on the videographer, but stopped short of identifying the individual by name.
In the video, first reported on by David Corn of Mother Jones, Romney claims that 47 percent of Americans will never vote for him because they “believe they are victims” and they “believe government has a responsibility to take care of them.” The video helped reinforce the image of Romney as an overly rich investor who cared little for the poor.
Romney later said his words were “not elegantly stated,” but the damage had already been done. Romney lost the 2012 popular vote by four million votes and the Electoral College by 126 votes. A CNN exit poll found that 60 percent of people who make less than $50,000 per-year voted for President Obama.
According to Carter, he did not realize the significant impact of the video when he first obtained it, but did hope that it would “make a difference” in the campaign for President Obama.
Carter also said that the video was not recorded by one of the donors at the event, which raises more question about who might have gone through the effort of secretly recording Romney. If one of the donors did not make the recording, then the other options would include a server or cook. Ironically, the bombshell of the 2012 presidential election may have been produced by one of the members of the “47 percent” that Romney was disparaging.
Comments