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Obama Thanks Man Behind Release of the '47 Percent' Video

Video widely credited as pivotal in his re-election

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

President Barack Obama met and thanked the man responsible for releasing the damaging video of Republican opponent Mitt Romney saying "47 percent" of Americans would never vote for him since they are dependent on the government.

It turns out that person was opposition researcher James Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. The two met Thursday at an event in Decatur, Ga. Politico reports.

Carter unearthed the footage of Romney at the Florida fundraiser and released it to the media. He and his wife run an opposition and policy research firm based in Atlanta, the liberal leaning news site Talking Points Memo reports.

He said his cousin, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, D, told the president about his role in the video while they were waiting in line for a photo. "Get over here," the president said, according to Carter. Obama threw his arm around Carter and thanked him several times, TPM wrote.

"You know, I've been looking forward to meeting him for a long time. It was just great," Carter told TPM. "I was just kind of in a daze. He doesn't seem real. I see him on video all the time, so it was just a strange thing to see him in person."

Via Politico and Talking Points Memo
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Did the "47 percent" video help Obama win his second term in office?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • PNWest
    !
    And the delicious irony. Some poor almost certainly minimum wage or less wait staffer with a cellphone overpowered half a billion dollars of billionaire funded negative GOP advertising. Here's to you anonymous wait staffer with the cellphone. And here's to you too Jimmy Carter's grandson. You did America a great favor.
  • PNWest
    !
    @DARSB ABSCAM - My old home state boy Ozzie Myers - "Money talks and bullsh%t walks" Those were the days.......
  • View all 23 replies >
  • u
    BobHouse
    !
    I think the 47% remark badly hurt the Republicans. Their other 2 primary mistakes were attacking women, followed closely by alienating minorities.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    The guy deserves more then a handshake. He saved the country and exposed the truth. Invite him to a white house ceremony, and make bohner sit there and watch!
  • Malitia_Man
    !
    Romney, Obama, Romney, Obama, Romney, Obama, Romney, Obama, Romney, Obama, Romney, Obama, Robama, Obamney, Robama, Obamney, Robama, Obamney... Confusing!!!

    Are we still talking about that election were those incompetent people voted for that one guy who had the same ideas as that other guy???
  • Fishbone345
    !
    The first part of your post was a little odd. Loved the second part. Absolutely the truth. Too bad the rest of America saw them as different dudes huh?
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    It was a very close election. That video, as much as anything else made the difference in letting the voters see exactly who mitt romney really was. No doubt it cost romney the election...
  • bsking
    !
    Maybe Barry can give him 500,000,000 dollars of taxpayer money for a new start up an alternative energy.... how to harness wind created by butterflies flapping their wings...
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    So Obama is still responsible for everything you don't like about the world?
    Who did you blame when Bush43 was Pres and busy getting us into the mess?
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    @bsking
    I didn't mean to imply that he acted alone, in fact it's good to remember the times when parties who disagreed could still accomplish something useful, as opposed to the teabaggers, whose only goal is obstruction.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    There is no 47%. Not the way he meant it.

    Kids in school who didn't pay taxes but used public money to be educated are included in that group, as are retirees on social security.
  • u
    Yank
    !
    @harold_lloyd kids are not included (unless they have an income), and there were two 47% group. There was the 47% of people with an IRS income return filed that paid no federal taxes, and there was 47% of Obama supporters polled who said they would vote for Obama no mater the economy. I am fairly sure Romney some how got the two combined, as I doubt he would say his job was to not care about a group that included retires, which is a top Republican demo.
  • u
    Buckfan4life2
    !
    That with along with the rest of the lies the Obama camp told. They painted Romney out to be the evilest man on earth whiich were all lies on top of that. Romney was and is a very good man and very big hearted, way more than Obama could ever be.It was Obvious to see who the better man was just by who played and hit below the belt with the adds. Romney could have did the same to Obama and with facts backing up the claims but Romney was way more than a gentleman than that. I was so pissed off that Romney wouldnt go for Obamas jugular after watching some of the dirt Obama camp was doing. And this here is bullshit to. Carters cousin or who ever he was, was all a plant and the Obama camp was the ones who paid for the ticket for him to get in. Just shows you what liars they are. People are stupid. Everything Romney said was the flat out truth and Iam now also one of the 47% thanks to Obama. I take that back,its probably up to 75% by now. All Romney meant was that they were no sence trying to win these peoples votes because Obama has already bought them which is the truth which you democrats hate the truth.
  • Keyjo
    !
    Naw, Dick Cheney is evilest man on earth.
    But the man with the camera phone was a waiter so there was no need for a ticket.
  • JimCO55
    !
    LOL ... really, Romney the gentleman, ask Newt about that?

    Romney Ramps Up Attack Ads Against Gingrich to Unprecedented Levels
    by John Avlon Jan 31, 2012 4:45 AM EST
    In the most negative primary season ever, Mitt Romney is outspending Newt Gingrich 5 to 1 on attack ads ahead of today’s primary in Florida, stopping the ex-speaker’s momentum coming off a South Carolina win.

    Turn on the TV or radio in Florida these past few days and you’ll soon be subjected to the avalanche of negative ads, most of them purchased courtesy of Romney Co. The attacks come in a bewildering variety—from accusations that Newt worked with Nancy Pelosi “to support China’s brutal one-child policy” to Spanish-language ads that say Newt called Spanish “the language of the ghetto.” Fannie and Freddie have become household names. Both candidates are accusing the other of being insufficiently conservative and secretly pro-abortion. There has been public wrestling for a photo op with Ronald Reagan’s ghost, trying to claim closer association. Even Romney’s Get Out the Vote mailers are anti-Newt.
  • frigginhell
    !
    Romney ran a dirty mudslinging campaign. I live in Ohio, god help me I remember it. I'm not saying Obama ran a nicer one. I'm saying you are mistaken. There were no lies in this video. That was the man talking for himself.
  • u
    commonsense51
    !
    There is your biased Liberal media getting their man Obama elected. They played the 47% comments NON STOP right up to the election. They REFUSED to speak of Obama's gaffs, his lying and allowing four men to die in Benghazi with no help from our military. It is horrendous how our free press has become corrupt tools of the left. If it were not for Fox news we would never hear the other side of the stories.
  • Keyjo
    !
    When a Presidential candidate shows such contempt for the American middle class, the media is obligated to show it over and over. We deserve to know the truth before an election, before we make a bad mistake.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    Yes, they ran with it. What do you think Faux News would have done if they'd caught Obama in the same way?
    If it were not for Fox News, you might have to think for yourself. Thank God for Rupert Murdoch, he helps you decide...
  • u
    commonsense51
    !
    @Keyjo LOL, are you out of your mind?????????? FOUR MEN DIED from a terrorist attack and the public does not have the right to know what happened? IGNORE!!!!!!!!!
  • View all 14 replies >
  • Keyjo
    !
    Thank God for the candid exposure.
    Can you imagine if Romney had won!? The country would be falling faster than a meteor over Russia and with a lot more damage!
  • u
    Romney_Rube
    !
    The imbecile electorate & the worthless media have never asked the most obvious question about the 47% tape. Who, exactly, was able to surpass Romney's security for this high dollar donation extravaganza and allow a hidden camera to have an unabated view of Romney in action deep-sixing his campaign? Moreover, the video release had conveniently blurred the faces of the donors while exposing Romney as if those donors would continue to serve an important donor role for REPS in the future. Considering that 70% of Romney's top advisors were former Bush crones, I'm confident that they were the source of that tape. Romney never had a chance of winning because he was supposed to be a sacrificial lamb in the continuing duopoly drams of both parties simply trading the White House back and forth every 8 years. From 2017 to 2025, the 45th president in all likelihood will be Jeb Bush. America truly has become a banana republic.
  • u
    Romney_Rube
    !
    @Keyjo A cell phone that can record with that quality for a full hour? Come on! And Carter's grandson's involvement is a smokescreen to deflect away from the more difficult questions already posed.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    "The imbecile electorate & the worthless media..."
    So...everybody but you?

    BTW, your vocabulary is pretty random, do you know the definitions of the words you used?...surpass, unabated, crones?
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    @Romney_Rube
    So you're pretty much unfamiliar with today's technology?
    So was everyone in the room with Romney, except the ones beneath notice, who used it.
  • u
    Romney_Rube
    !
    @harold_lloyd I cannot think of one cell phone that provide the quality of audio and video seen in that video for a full hour. Of course there are alternative, cheap recording devices that might be able to persist for some period of time. But even you neglect to answer the question of access. I don't buy the argument that a young 20-something just rolled on into the Romney $25,000 a plate dinner to play waiter, largely unchecked, and then spontaneously decided to RECORD the event. The quality is superior. Clearly there were preparations for this event. Plus, the event occurred in May but the tape, fully edited, wasn't released until September.

    Many thanks for letting me know that you're an easy sell.
  • View all 10 replies >
  • u
    BelinKS
    !
    President Obama was going to win this election with or without that video. I'm sure President Obama was just being nice by thanking Mr. Carter and his liberal group that's job it is to try to make sure liberals make it into office. That was kind of the President to make this man feel special. I'm sure a lot of people would love to have an exchange like that with President Obama. He should be like that to every person who voted for him. The voters are who put him in office, they are just as responcible for getting him there. Though not a liberal(I vote my conscience), I would love to meet President Obama and actually have a chance to speak with him. I would like to hear from him his true ideas without the worry of the media and that anything said would not be heard by anyone except the President and myself(and maybe my husband). I don't know that I could actually speak to the President and not be able to share it with my husband. My husband keeps all conversations between us completely confidential unless I say it is ok to tell others and vice versa. Who wouldn't want that chance? I met President Reagan as a child. I met President H.W. Bush. I also met President Bill Clinton numerous times throughout my life. As a child we went to the same church. My father had dealings with Bill and Hillary when Bill was Governor of Arkansas. My first actual conversation with him was when I was in ninth grade while he was governor. My class had taken a trip to the Capitol building and I was pulled aside to see if I would do a photo with him. My teacher said it was ok, so I did and got to speak with him for a few minutes. I was not old enough yet to ask him any questions of consequence, he did most of the talking. I met President Clinton again once in my early 20's. He actually remembered me, but knowing my father may have helped with that. I really didn't look much different either. I was able to speak with him semi-privately. We were alone speaking, but others were in the large room. If only I knew then the things I know now, the conversation would have been much better. Not so superficial. Now we have a President I don't really understand and no way to ever speak with him. If only....
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    Hypocrisy in a candidate is always going to be damaging, and seldom was hypocrisy so openly exhibited.

    But the hypocrisy wasn't just Romney's, but the whole top tier of Republicans.
    They are happy, eager even, to sell out the middle class to the highest bidder in the quest for political dominance.
    The fact that they are willing to do that suggests that the Republicans themselves have little faith in their ideas.
  • JimCO55
    !
    Well I'm sure the repubs learned some valuable lessons from this little fiasco:
    1) Only hire republican minimum wage earners
    2) Confiscate all electronic and recording devices
    3) When the speech begins, only donors allowed, kick out everyone else!
  • mimi57
    !
    Yep, between the good ol peanut farmer's kin doing espionage, and the 'big storm',
    that sent a tingle up Chris 'T Ball Matthews' leg, almost as much as Obama does...
    he had to win, I mean the storm "is just what they needed".. Too bad for the people
    who had to suffer through it. Oh, those kind hearted Libs. LOL
  • Vance1
    !
    Romney was a Chicken Shyt...He should have drove this "47 percent" comment Home!!! Because anyone will tell you that it is true!!!!
  • MadAmerican
    !
    Until Obama ends the programs for these free loading, cell phone junkies, not willing to work, lazy, scum sucking bastards, there will always be a democratic president. The 47% will always vote for the person who is going to allow them to continue to be scabs on the ass of society.
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