The bartender who secretly filmed Mitt Romney’s infamous “47 percent’’ remarks — scuttling the Republican candidate’s White House bid — said on Wednesday that he did it because “the people needed to hear what someone really believes.”
“They needed to hear what he really thinks,” the bartender, Scott Prouty, told “The Ed Show” on MSNBC. “He was saying the absolute opposite in public. I would watch him on TV, and that was just not what he was saying in public. Everybody needed to hear that.
“I thought it could be a game-changer,” Prouty told host Ed Schultz. “I thought it could take him out. I thought he would maybe leave the campaign at that point.”
Prouty was working for a private catering company that serviced the private fundraiser in Florida last May. “We were never told that this was a private meeting, a secret meeting,” he said.
He told Schultz that he at first thought that Romney’s comments about touring a Chinese factory as president of Bain Capital would make news. In the clip, the former Massachusetts governor told of a factory crowded with workers who were placed behind barbed wire and paid a slight fraction of American wages.
But it was the “47 percent” remarks that sparked the most controversy.
In the clip, Romney said: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what . . . who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them . . .”
“I knew where he was coming from,” Prouty told Schultz. “He was born with a lot of advantages that few people have: the son of a governor, CEO, prep-school educated, Harvard-educated.
“I don’t think he has a clue of what a regular American goes through on a daily basis,” he added. “The day-in, day-out struggles of everyday Americans. The guy has no idea.”
Prouty told Schultz that he decided to become known now because Romney is becoming more visible. He was recently interviewed by Fox News, and he is speaking this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
“I think the guy needs to respect the will of the voters,” Prouty told Schultz. “He needs to take personal responsibility” for his words.
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