Your morning jolt: James Earl Carter IV and the ‘poetic justice’ behind the Romney video
Updated at 5:30 p.m. with link to WABE (90.1FM) interview:
One of the most ironic notes of the 2012 presidential campaign was sounded last night when a video surfaced — courtesy of liberal magazine Mother Jones – in which Republican nominee Mitt Romney told a group of California fundraisers that he considered nearly half of all Americans to be unreachable moochers who can’t be weaned away from President Barack Obama.
The fellow who dug that video up was James Earl Carter IV of Dunwoody, 35-year-old son of Chip and grandson of the former president. “There are some people on Twitter and other places who are saying it was poetic justice that it was a Carter that found this, because of the way the Romney campaign has treated my grandfather,” Carter IV said. “I completely agree with that sentiment.”
Carter IV, who is currently unemployed and trying to break into the political research business, said he conducts daily searches on YouTube and other sites, looking for ground-breaking video. “At the end of August, I came across a video of Romney at a fund-raising event, talking about a factory he visited in China,” he said. Much of it had been blurred out, but it looked promising.
The video was posted – falsely – under the name of Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host, but then disappeared after Maddow’s people filed an objection with YouTube. Shortly afterwards, the video popped up again – this time under the name of Anne Onymous.
Carter IV sent messages to the originator of the video through YouTube, then Tumblr. He soon had a new Tumblr follower named Anne Onymous. Direct contact quickly followed.
The video that had been posted so far had not included the portion in which Romney declared:
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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.”
Carter IV didn’t know where or when the recording was made. “The first thing I asked was can you tell me where this was filmed,” Carter said. “They wouldn’t tell me this, but they did respond to me.” (The video was made May 17 at the Boca Raton, Fla., home of financier Marc Leder, as part of a $50,000-a-person fund-raiser.)
As it turned out, the shooter of the video was associated with Global-Tech, a Hong Kong-based firm that a Bain Capital affiliate had acquired. Several weeks earlier, Carter IV had worked with Mother Jones writer David Corn on an article on the acquisition. Thus Carter IV was able to establish his bone fides with the source.
“They wanted to get the story out and they wanted to assure their jobs,” Carter said. And they wanted to make sure they weren’t running afoul of any privacy laws. So on Aug. 30, the last day of the Republican National Convention, Carter IV handed off the video contact to Corn of Mother Jones, who eventually obtained the whole of the video.
“Once I realized there was a lot more involved in this than I could personally deal with, my goal became to get the story out,” said Carter IV, who met Corn for the first time at the Democratic National Convention this month.
“I thought it would be a little bit of a story, but it has gotten a lot bigger than I would have ever thought,” said Carter IV, who picked up 1,500 Twitter followers overnight. He’s still looking for work, but things are looking up. “I’ve had some offers now. I haven’t accepted any of them yet, but that’s not a concern anymore, I guess,” he said.
Catch the Associated Press follow-up on the story here.
Denis O’Hayer of WABE (90.1FM) has posted a 14-minute interview with James Carter here. It’s worth checking out. O’Hayer asked him if revenge was a factor in his research. Said the president’s grandson:
“It wasn’t a part of the motivation, but it was definitely a part of the satisfaction.”
***
Walter Jones of Morris News Service says Republican Lee Anderson of Grovetown has declined yet another opportunity to debate U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Augusta:
A spokesman for Republican challenger Lee Anderson told the nation’s second-largest press club that he is declining an invitation to debate the man he wants to unseat, Democratic Congressman John Barrow.
The Atlanta Press Club’s Oct. 21 debate would be televised throughout the whole district on Georgia Public Broadcasting, unlike local media outlets that only reach voters in various parts of the 12th District. Anderson participated in the club’s debate during the primary.
***
Meanwhile, the AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at Republican charges that U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, “left taxpayers on the hook for $950k study on genetic makeup of ants.”
***
And Lori Geary of Channel 2 Action News looks at complaints that the preamble to the proposed charter school amendment on the November ballot has been tweaked to encourage approval:
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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291 comments Add your comment
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
1:30 pm
kerryb, GM wants to buy back the gov’s share for less than the taxpayers paid. That is why he is saying no. He will not lose taxpayers money like the 8 billion that disappeared in Iraq under Bush, Paul Bremer,and Dan Senor.
kerryb
September 18th, 2012
1:31 pm
Leftinthesouth, you are living in that delusional leftist world. The real story is that the Seals got Osama Bin Laden and according to one of them he killed himself. Why should someone that’s 25-26 years old stay on his parents insurance? He should have a job of his own (oh, I forgot, he can’t find a job because of the Obama economy). You apparently made that up about the top Al Qaeda leaders or got that from a pro Democrat site that’s prone to lying like all Democrats do. He also is going to sit on his hands until Iran has a nuclear missile and they are crazy enough to use it. The reason right now that the Muslim world is going crazy is because of him and Biden bragging about killing Bin Laden during their convention. They couldn’t quit reminding everyone of that. The protesters climbing the wall in Egypt were chanting “we are all Osama, Obama” Why would they be saying that about a movie like this amateur administration keeps telling us.
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
1:34 pm
A dad, in 2006 Bush said that getting Bin Laden was not one of his priorities or concerns! Obama made the call to get him whether you like it or not! I will not stoop to your level and call you names!
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
1:36 pm
kerryb, Google it!
A dad
September 18th, 2012
1:37 pm
Leftie – as far as name calling, all I said was claiming Obama “got” bin Laden was a complete fabrication. One of the most basic tactics for trying to avoid discourse when one knows they have no support is to impose a oral high ground and divert. Nice try, but you beat yourself.
Carol
September 18th, 2012
1:39 pm
kerryb
Why should someone that’s 25-26 years old stay on his parents insurance? He should have a job of his own (oh, I forgot, he can’t find a job because of the Obama economy).
+++++++
Oh or maybe he’s continuing his education and hasn’t started looking for a job yet.
If it walks like a duck........
September 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
Sometimes the truth isn’t “elegantly stated”. This country is weak and dumbed down. Looks like it will be more so in 4 more years. We don’t have what it takes to get out of this mess. It’s always someone elses fault. But that’s what society has been telling us for decades. Rome is burning…………..
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
1:43 pm
A dad, So calling me Leftie is a term of endearment?
Wilbur
September 18th, 2012
1:46 pm
Romney walks like he has a wedgie. His magic underpants must ride high.
Lane
September 18th, 2012
1:49 pm
Most of these 47% are seniors who vote GOP and don’t pay taxes because they are on Social Security and are retired. Thanks for trashing talking your last reliable voting block, Mitt. How’s that working out for you?
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
1:52 pm
KerryB, good words. Very succinct. I beleive that someone that is 26 should not be on their parents insurance. Get a damn job. Maybe if I didnt have the drive or the skills, I would stay on my parents insurace as well. Wrong, I have pride. I like to make my own way. Work for it. Unfortunately many people rely too much on other than providing for themselves. Get a job. Make your own way. Quit leaching.
Also, it is a complete discgrace to the men and women to say that Obama got Bin Laden. I have never in my life seen a president risk his life (democrat or republican) to complete a military mission. Yet, Obama continues to take credit for getting obama. Last I say his presidential butt was around a conference table several thousand miles away. Yet he continues to dishonor the men and women in the armed forces by saying that He got Obama. What a joke of a president.
Brian
September 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
LOL, I love ready all of the liberal messages. It’s clear anyone who votes for Obama doesn’t have a clue what they are doing. Like the bumper sticker says, “stupid people shouldn’t be allowed to vote”. I will vote for Romney and I will sleep very well for doing so. But just remember, if Obama wins this election, in four years, you all will be the one’s with the “what the hell happened” look on your face and those of us who voted to make America better will be saying……..say it with me, you can do it…….We told you so!!!
Obama said he would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Hmmm, mission accomplished? NO, he has added at least $5 trillion to it and it’s still climbing. And before you spout off blindly and try to blame the Republicans, let’s not forget that we have a D E M O C R A T I C Senate. Ooops, can’t blame the Republicans, oh darn. Yeah, and about that GM bailout, well zI would like to say you had a hand in that but most of you don’t pay taxes so you can’t take credit for the GM bailout, that falls to us who work for a paycheck. I can assure you we didn’t get our money’s worth out of that loan and will never see a dime of it back either. From a company that can’t even sell “green” cars? Oh yeah, didn’t know about the $50,000 per car subsidy that we are footing for THAT mistake……google it. Educate yourself before you blindly spew things you know nothing about. And some brainiac stated that Romney wants to gut Medicare. LOLOLOL, seriously? Why don’t you ask YOUR President why he has ALREADY gutted Medicare to the tune of $719 BILLION dollars. Yeah, the Obama that YOU voted for and declare you will vote for again, good job, well done. Will you feel good when he guts it even more and tries once again to blame Bush or ATM’s or Las Vegas? Has he taken credit for anything? Hmmm, oh yeah HE killed Bin Laden, forgot about that. Ouch, sorry about that but Romney can’t gut Medicare because Obama already did. What Romney said in that video is true, too many people want hand outs and aren’t willing to work for it. Those people will vote for Obama. Those of us who work hard for what we have, and are proud to proclaim “I did that”, “no one helped me” will proudly vote for Romney/Ryan. God Bless the small business owners of this country, the people that keep this great country going, God bless them, because a vote for Obama is a vote for them to close their doors.
Wilbur
September 18th, 2012
1:58 pm
somewhere in texas, probably crawford, a sad lil’ x-prez name gw is clearing brush and mumbling Obama got Osama.
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
1:59 pm
ConcernedAmerican, dis honoring the armed forces is sending them to war without the appropriate armor and weapons to do the job. Dis honoring the armed forces is flying in jet fighter on A battleship and traipsing out in pilots uniform under a banner reading “mission accomplished” (which was a utter lie)!
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
2:07 pm
Wow, even after four years Bush still gets to you. Last I checked, Bush is not running for President. Secondly, I believe that Bush was very, very qualified to fly in that jet; I mean given that he was a PILOT. But, again, this is about the shortcomings of Obama. But I cant really blame you for brining in other former presidents since our current one really is indefensible.
Who Cares?
September 18th, 2012
2:08 pm
Oh crap. You mean there are more “Carters” that we’ll have to deal with. One idiot was enough. Please…….. Billy was the only one with any sense.
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
2:10 pm
But is ok for you guys to bring up Jimmy Carter 32 years later! Ooh burn…….NOT!!!
Food day everyone. This Moocher has to go to work.
Leftinthesouth
September 18th, 2012
2:11 pm
Good day!
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
2:12 pm
No, carter has a way of bringing his own self up. But was good talking to you. Have a good day at work.
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
2:15 pm
Who cares, I couldnt agree with you more. That was until the libyan fiasco….LOL
luangtom
September 18th, 2012
2:15 pm
Truth does hurt, Galloway. These are the people that would not have voted for Romney anyhow. When the Dems speak of “entitlements”, it is not Social Security or Medicare that comes to mind. It is the freebies for those that pay little or no taxes and expect even more from those of us that do pay taxes. This sector of people feel they are “entitled” to government hand-outs. I am just happy to see and hear the truth for a change. Good on young Carter for bringing the truth to light.
S
September 18th, 2012
2:21 pm
A Romney/Ryan ticket, is disaster waiting to happen. Isn’t it ironic most of those Romney dissed live in the South where he gets the most votes. I wonder, since most of them watch Faux and listen to loud mouth right wing talk show hosts, if they know Romney just threw them under the bus…Romney thinks were all Moochers y’all..doesn’t that make you feel just swell..
RGB
September 18th, 2012
2:22 pm
Jimmy Carter is an anti-Semitic loser who plunged America into intractable recession and a multiplicity of foreign policy horrors we’ve not seen (until Jimmy 2.0 appeared in 2008).
And, JEC IV, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The best thing you can do to help you and your family is to never remind us that any of you ever existed.
kerryb
September 18th, 2012
2:24 pm
luangtom
September 18th, 2012
2:15 pm
Truth does hurt, Galloway. These are the people that would not have voted for Romney anyhow. When the Dems speak of “entitlements”, it is not Social Security or Medicare that comes to mind. It is the freebies for those that pay little or no taxes and expect even more from those of us that do pay taxes. This sector of people feel they are “entitled” to government hand-outs. I am just happy to see and hear the truth for a change. Good on young Carter for bringing the truth to light.
_____________________________________________________________________________
You are exactly right. Romney’s not scared of his statement. He said let’s show the whole thing and the question that was asked so you can get the real context instead of just snippets. The Democrats love to just show edited versions of a statement so they can influence their cattle to the mind set that they want.
kerryb
September 18th, 2012
2:24 pm
S
September 18th, 2012
2:21 pm
A Romney/Ryan ticket, is disaster waiting to happen. Isn’t it ironic most of those Romney dissed live in the South where he gets the most votes. I wonder, since most of them watch Faux and listen to loud mouth right wing talk show hosts, if they know Romney just threw them under the bus…Romney thinks were all Moochers y’all..doesn’t that make you feel just swell..
___________________________________________________________________
The disaster is what we have now.
kerryb
September 18th, 2012
2:27 pm
I just heard that they contact 10,000 people to get their reaction to what Romney said and 75% agreed with him
cc
September 18th, 2012
2:43 pm
Baron DeKalb@12:36 pm:
I didn’t have to “swear off” doing anything, Baron. Someone posted several cute little tidbits under my name, though. Perhaps you would know who the guilty party is?
Buckhead Boy
September 18th, 2012
2:44 pm
I thought that Mr. Santorum showed himself to be much more astute when he said earlier this week that it is the “elite smart people” who will never support the GOP.
JBT
September 18th, 2012
2:47 pm
Romney is right..alot of BS coming from democrats as always.
JBT
September 18th, 2012
2:50 pm
kerryb did your mother drop u on your head when u was a baby?
cc
September 18th, 2012
2:51 pm
JBT@2:47 pm:
If you expect anything other than BS to come from a dimocrap, you’ll be waiting a very long time for it!
JBT
September 18th, 2012
2:51 pm
sorry KERRYB I typed wrong name..you are right!!! Sorry Man.
The Truth Hurts~
September 18th, 2012
2:51 pm
Everything he stated is the truth, and nowhere in his statements did I hear the word MOOCHERS! Get the facts streight or don’t report it. Too many lies already to add any more!
JBT
September 18th, 2012
2:52 pm
agree cc
Baron DeKalb
September 18th, 2012
2:54 pm
CC, you claim you never posted anything under another person’s name. You can deny that ’til the cows come home (just like you denied that you plagiarized when the proof was irrefutable), I couldn’t care less whether you are willing or able to be honest with yourself and with the readers of this blog. Impersonation and plagiarism are for uncreative and ideologically impoverished losers, those are not in the Baron’s playbook.
Michele
September 18th, 2012
2:58 pm
Romney is unqualified for the position of President of the United States. These comments he made to a group of his rich business friends clearly shows how out of touch he is for the top position in America. The President of the United States has to represent everyone in the nation. He cannot block out close to half of the nation as unreachable. This comment also steadfastly establishes his other comment this week that middle class means having a family income of $150K to $250K per year. I guess I just thought I was middle class. Why am I paying any taxes at all? For Mr. Romney’s ignorant mind, I wish to tell him I never made over $65K in all my careers in the Unites States Military and as a teacher. For the idiot’s fact checkers, I have paid taxes every year since I was 16 years old, and that is now over 58 years of honest tax payments to the government. Whatever I get from the government in my older ages, I DESERVE. I paid my dues. I can guarantee that Mr. Romney has not paid fair taxes his entire life. Get over yourself, fool, and go back to the silver spoon life you came from.
AnotherSoldier
September 18th, 2012
3:01 pm
Too funny to see all the RWNJs trying to parse the meaning of the word “moocher” rather than the substance of what Mitt said – he “doesn’t work for 47%” of the country because they don’t pay taxes.
You know when I got away with not paying taxes? When I served in Iraq. Mitt has once again crapped on the military. He might know that, but heck, he couldn’t be bothered to thank the troops during the GOP convention, either.
The next time I go to Home Depot, I will go to the tool section. I fully expect to see Romney in the display case.
ideas
September 18th, 2012
3:02 pm
The world is full of MOOCHERS. When I turned 64 I went to sign up for Social Security since I had retired from my job. I could not find a parking place and the line was out the door. Not one of those persons was 62 or over. I did not understand that. So I called the office in Birmingham. The lady told me on the phone “Oh those were people trying to disability from Social Security. I was flabbergasted. What, I said. They were running from their cars, standing around talking, joking, etc. None of them was disabled. Some were super fat because they were on food stamps, but none were disabled. I have always wondered why some newscasters refer to Social Security as an entitlement. It is NOT. I have paid into that fund now for 51 years. I still work at 71 on a part time job and pay into the SS fund. It was and is a paid in pension plan. Not much money out of it but it was paid for. I paid for mine. No way any of those lazy jerks paid anything. So the only entitlement is from those trying to draw as disability and never working and paying into the program. THOSE MY FRIENDS ARE THE MOOCHERS ALONG WITH A LOT OF GOVT EMPLOYEES.
GaBlue
September 18th, 2012
3:05 pm
Michele,
Thank you for your service in our military AND as a teacher! Well-stated at 2:58.
Music City Dawg
September 18th, 2012
3:06 pm
Any one who was alive when Jimmy Carter was president will understand the comments Romney made about Carer’s presidency to be true. Carter was a LOUSY president. The economy was in the tank (double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, etc,) . Further, Carter’s foreign policy was abysmal especially his handling of events in Iran which led to the imprisonment of a number of Americans by Iran. Jimmy Carter clearly displayed his lack of understanding mid-eastern culture, politics and religious interests and should have never left his peanut farm!!! In my opinion, of all of our former presidents, he was the worst one yet!!!
The Truth
September 18th, 2012
3:10 pm
As if the Carter family had not done enought damage to the USA already. I think 35 years old and unemployed says it all.
The Truth
September 18th, 2012
3:10 pm
As if the Carter family had not done enought damage to the USA already. I think 35 years old and unemployed says it all.
The Truth
September 18th, 2012
3:10 pm
As if the Carter family had not done enought damage to the USA already. I think 35 years old and unemployed says it all.
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
3:13 pm
@ Michele – 2:58. Where / When did Romney state that middle class was making $150k to $250k / year? I have not found that. I would love to read that.
Scott Fresno
September 18th, 2012
3:19 pm
Moocher means “a person who is supported by or seeks support from another without making an adequate return” or “to get or take without paying or at another’s expense; sponge: He always mooches cigarettes.”
Romney: “There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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.”
Sounds to me like he is calling them moochers.
RAMZAD
September 18th, 2012
3:21 pm
Romney is a particularly rabid kind of industrial slime. 47% of Americans who served in the military, worked in coal mines, who were cops on the beat, who were poisoned in nuclear power plants- now must stay home and collect some kind of benefit to survive are being characterized as government dependent economic scabs. I hope the 10% in the middle sees what kind of low life Romney is and
keep him locked in the latrine this November.
ConcernedAmerican
September 18th, 2012
3:23 pm
Scott, sounds like you are calling a mooch a mooch.
honested
September 18th, 2012
3:26 pm
I have learned something today.
In wingnutland, the Commander in Chief isn’t responsible for actions he orders the military to undertake……..unless those actions are to sacrifice 4,000 people seeking imaginary WMD’s.
That people who don’t make enough money on their 1, 2 or 3 jobs to pay a substantial amount of Federal Income Tax are somehow receiving an ‘entitlement’. If we change the tax system to a consumption tax and tax EVERYTHING consumed, will the robme supporters complain because the taxes paid on their mansions far exceed the taxes the majority of us pay to buy the hovels where we have the audacity to reside?
Republicans must suffer from self-enforced madness.
SMH
September 18th, 2012
3:27 pm
@Columbus …you like many others on here missed the memo that the Republicans are no longer aligned with the moral majority. Actually never were, just wanted the vote. They have moved on to a new group, the tea partiers, but don’t agree with them either, just want their votes. To believe that people who vote for a Democratic candidate don’t believe in God is insane. Jesus charged us with looking after the poor. I guess what amazes me most of all is your misguided take on poor or struggling individuals. There is a large class of us called the working poor. We go to work everyday, but never get ahead. Where I work, they cut out the custodial staff that was making very little money, but did receive sick and vacation pay and could pay for their health insurance. Now, they have hired an out of state private company who hired half of the former staff, pay them $8.00/hour, they are not allowed to work more than 6 hours a day, no sick leave, no vacation, and their health insurance premiums would take more than they make. Now you are left with hald the staff not hired and eligible for unemployment while hoping to find another job in a state lagging behind most others in the recovery effort, and workers employed by this out of state company now qualify for food stamps and medicaid becasue their wages are so low. So you have taken a group of self sufficient people who had taken responsibility for themselves, paying their own way and taken their job and replaced it with a job that no one could be self supporting in. $240 a week before taxes doesn’t leave enough for food and shelter..And read my lips, we are paying taxes, federal, state, local, and sales. If like so many of you believe that just being Republican magically makes everything better, why is Georgia in such bas shape? Republicans have been in charge for 10 years, it should be the land of milk and honey. Oops, not so fast. That’s just if you are in the inner circle, not just regular folk. I’ve been working at the same job for 23 years, had no raise in 5 years, salary cut the last four years, given an additional job when another employee left 3 years ago, gas and milk are $4.00 a gallon, I’m probably going to lose my home because I can’t afford the payments anymore and I can’t sell it for what I paid for it but the tax assessment I received raised the assessment $112,000.00 ($130,000.00 more than I paid for it).It is disheartening to work 2 jobs everyday and keep losing ground. As hard as it is, I would never turn my back on another human being in need. Like my Pop always said, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
Thurston Howell Romney
September 18th, 2012
3:27 pm
Wow-all this Carter basing, when he inherited a GOP wrecked economy and turned around our offshore oil addiction like no other President ever. President Cater also didn’t start needless wars, like bust the Lesser’s three trillion fiasco–that has sure made a lot of government dependents for Romney to dispose, and profit from.
Good luck, GOP- Tea Party zealots, in sidetracking Amercan’s who have lost their jobs, retirements, standard of living, and seen their children’s futures put up for privatization or off-shoring. You can blame Obama, or CLinton, or Carter, but too many of us who aren’t dumb and weren’t born as elites know how the system works. We won’t be voting for your job killing, invest-against-Americans Mormon country club boy.
Can’t wait for the debates…RunMoney’s bets will be over $10,000 this time…
‘Thurston Howell Romney’ is conservative columnist’s David Brooks column today… next those GOP-TP Mormon money grubbers will be discounting ROmney’s book–with the arrogant title of No Apology.