Election 2012

The liberal magazine Mother Jones has released video clips of Mitt Romney making controversial remarks to a group of donors. The Romney campaign is scrambling to address the political fallout. Host Michel Martin discusses the comments with U.S. News and World Report columnist Mary Kate Cary and Voto Latino's Maria Teresa Kumar.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. We're going to start the program today talking about that secret recording of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney making what he, himself, has now called inelegant remarks to a group of wealthy donors about Obama voters, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his connection to Mexico.

The emergence of video secretly recorded in May, in which Mitt Romney speaks scornfully of President Obama's supporters, has sparked the inevitable comparisons to controversial comments President Obama made in 2008.

Watching the first 20 minutes of Saturday Night Live's season premiere in Denver, I counted at least four ads by the Obama campaign and liberal groups backing the president. Just one ad countering their message was aired in the same span by the Romney campaign.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told supporters that "there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what" because they are "dependent upon government ... believe that they are victims ... believe the government has a responsibility to care for them ... these are people who pay no income tax."

Who was he talking about?

The liberal news outlet Mother Jones has followed Monday's leaked video of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney saying that 47 percent of Americans will vote for President Obama because they are "dependent upon government" and "believe that they are victims," with another clip in which he says Palestinians have "no interest whatsoever