NJ
“I know what it’s like to worry about whether you’re going to get fired”
“I know these are tough times,” Romney told hundreds who gathered here to see the front-runner in the Republican nomination race. “I’ve learned what it’s like to sign the front of a paycheck, not just the back of a paycheck. And to know how frightening it is to see if you can make payroll at the end of the week. These are experiences that many of you know.”
Romney went on to say that he personally had experienced the same anxiety many Americans have over losing their jobs. “I know what it’s like to worry about whether you’re going to get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip,” Romney said, but he didn’t elaborate.
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How offensive. If he lost his job, he didn’t have to worry about losing his home or not being able to pay his bills.
Blake on January 8, 2012 at 8:10 PM
Eh, need some context.
Bishop on January 8, 2012 at 8:13 PM
‘I feel your pain’ coming from a silver spoon multi-millionaire just doesn’t have that ring of authenticity.
sharrukin on January 8, 2012 at 8:14 PM
Things never said by Tim Tebow?
lorien1973 on January 8, 2012 at 8:15 PM
Mitt Romney, are you freaking kidding me???
See, that’s the type of moment that can really cost someone the state of New Hampshire.
Ask Bob Dole.
JohnGalt23 on January 8, 2012 at 8:15 PM
This guy is an ass. Seriously?
Oh no, I got fired.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDYYYYYYYY, I need a few million dollars to start a new buuuuuuuuusssssssssssinnnnnneessssssssssssss. /whine /cartman
thphilli on January 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM
Maybe he’s referring to the pink slip for his Rolls Royce.
Mark1971 on January 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM
While I’m sure he would never say it, “Suck it, John Elway!!” would be perfectly appropriate right about now.
JohnGalt23 on January 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM
Didn’t some other moron say something similar to this in the 2008 election?
JPeterman on January 8, 2012 at 8:18 PM
Was this hardship before or after he sent his off to fight for the nation by getting him elected? The man knows nothing but sacrifice. He actually kinda puts George Washington to shame, if you think about it.
abobo on January 8, 2012 at 8:25 PM
Yup, take overs were the in thing back then. Maybe wrong, maybe not. That was then, this is now. Good thing this has come up now to give people time to hash it out before O gets his grubby paws on it. However, the damage done by take overs far less than the damage O is doing to the country.
jeanie on January 8, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Why does Romney get a pass on stuff like this?
This guy is honestly one of the most shameless politicians I have ever seen.
YoungAmerican on January 8, 2012 at 8:27 PM
Well, either we’ve got a lot of DailyKooks folks who have joined this site, or the democrats are doing a pretty damn good job of moving their agenda across the nation:
Gay marriage? check
Christian bigotry? check
Everyone playing the race card and identity politics? check
Class warfare and hatred of the rich? check
Anti-capitalist? check
Moving on, now, to gun rights and free speech. A couple of years down the road the folks at HotAir will be screaming things at each other like: “You don’t NEED that many guns to hunt with!!!!!!” and “There have to be some LIMITS to free speech!!!!!”
Yup. It’s all going very well for the left. Very, very well. Now let’s get out there and find us a poor guy to run for president. A poor, gay, atheist, black guy…with charisma! THAT guy will be electable!!
Rational Thought on January 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
What else was he going to say? Suck it?
All of us have had some anxiety of job loss, even if we’re financially secure. He’s not lying. I can relate to him. The real world ain’t beanbag, even for some guy like Romney. You have to be able to consistently perform. Had he failed miserably in fixing the Olympics, he would have been kicked to the curb and scapegoated just the like the guy before him.
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
The worst part is that he is SO unscathed that he doesn’t realize or care that he is sounding like a complete ass saying something like that. Doesn’t phase him because he knows no one will probably even mention it.
thphilli on January 8, 2012 at 8:29 PM
Hey, Romney knows what it’s like to get a pink slip, because his Dad once threatened to fire him for shoveling the driveway when he was 12.
portlandon on January 8, 2012 at 8:30 PM
A poor, gay, atheist, black guy…with charisma! THAT guy will be electable!!Rational Thought on January 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
Add speaks Spanish and eats real Chinese food to the list.
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Had he failed at fixing the Olympics, he would have been kicked back to being a millionaire. If the supermarket you are working for decides that they are going to use Self Checkout instead of cashiers, then you are back to being broke and reliant on the government.
You are saying you don’t see a difference?
thphilli on January 8, 2012 at 8:31 PM
Add speaks Spanish, eats real Chinese food and dropped out of college to the list.
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:31 PM
I do see the difference, but the question is, what’s your master plan that would change that?
Wealth redistribution? Prevent self-checkout lines? Unionize cashiers to prevent layoffs? Pay cashiers as much as my pediatrician? After all there is dignity in all jobs, why shouldn’t a cashier make as much as a pediatrician?
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:34 PM
Every time I wonder why I can’t stand this guy………he opens his mouth and reminds me.
Talon on January 8, 2012 at 8:35 PM
You lie.
Y-not on January 8, 2012 at 8:35 PM
Walter Sobchak on January 8, 2012 at 8:35 PM
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir should be following Mitt around singing “Liar Liar pant’s on Fire” after this one…
SWalker on January 8, 2012 at 8:35 PM
Yeah, like reminding you why you really are a Democrat.
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:37 PM
No not even in your wildest dreams can you relate to him, you say you can purely out of ignorance.
SWalker on January 8, 2012 at 8:39 PM
The closest thing to a pink slip Romney has ever seen was when somebody washed a red sock with his white religious garments.
portlandon on January 8, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Not a surprise and not a first. A while ago Willard joked in front of a bunch of my fellow floridians who just lost their jobs, that he – the multimillionaire – is unemployed too.
This guy is not a candidate, he is a living and breathing stage prop for Obamas class warfare campaign.
Valkyriepundit on January 8, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Me thinks Mitt’s special Mormon underwear is made out of 100 percent asbestos fibers….
SWalker on January 8, 2012 at 8:40 PM
Thats not even part of the question. The reason this is ridiculous is because its a multi millionaire acting like he can relate to people who might bring home 30k a year if they are lucky. Its the utter fake-ness of Romney trying to act like he is just an “average american” when in fact he was dealt a pretty awesome hand in life. Don’t patronize us like we are children Romney.
thphilli on January 8, 2012 at 8:40 PM
LOL. He’s going to need them.
They are comfortable though. I used to wear them years ago when I was Mormon.
portlandon on January 8, 2012 at 8:43 PM
I got tens and hundreds of millions of dollars backing me up, and I am soooooo totally worried about losing a job.
A man of the little people. He is just like us.
astonerii on January 8, 2012 at 8:44 PM
I’m really tired of the class warfare here.
You guys sound just like the guy on dkos. You might want to think about joining them to form your own Progressive Party like Newt’s hero Teddy Roosevelt. I have no interest in debating with a bunch of redistributionists full of class envy and resentment.
haner on January 8, 2012 at 8:45 PM
Yeah, this is a seminal issue all right. Maybe we can get up to 3,000 commenters for this one. It is amazing how many people here know every hour of Mitt Romney’s life and know that his comment was disingenuous. Fortunate, they.
princetrumpet on January 8, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Paraphrase that for you here
Romney is totally way out there with this statement. He is so completely out there that there is not one single thing I can argue back against you with. I concede, but with a statement that I would have won if I had not conceded, even though I already stated that I have no argument at all. Got it?
astonerii on January 8, 2012 at 8:51 PM
If its this easy to do (slam Mitt) here, imagine how this plays with the independents.
El_Terrible on January 8, 2012 at 8:51 PM
You wouldn’t know class warfare if it crawled up your oopidasiy and gnawed out your tonsil’s.
SWalker on January 8, 2012 at 8:53 PM
Must be a good bowler.
Bunsin2 on January 8, 2012 at 9:05 PM
Geez this place is turning into Little Green Footballs. That sucks.
AttilaTheHun on January 8, 2012 at 9:05 PM
Never did I imagine that conservatives would be so antognistic toward a successful person. And the magic underwear stuff is just charming. If you don’t want him as your candidate just campaign for someone else.
bluealice on January 8, 2012 at 9:06 PM
LOL, nobody here is arguing his wealth should be redistributed, nor do I envy him or covet his lifestyle. It’s just that it’s ridiculous to suggest that a man born into as much wealth as he was has ever had to worry about paying the bills.
It’s not his money, it’s the fact that the statement is so utterly absurd. It would be like me going to a cocktail party with the Vanity Fair crowd in Southampton and talking about my favorite caviar and vintage of Cristal and the merits of the various Maybachs I drive. They would call me a poseur and tell me to get the f@#k out, as well they should.
The only “class warfare” going on is the ruling class versus the rest-of-us class, both of which contain people of all economic classes.
Walter Sobchak on January 8, 2012 at 9:07 PM
It is, and it does.
Rational Thought on January 8, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Geez this place is turning into Little Green Footballs. That sucks.
AttilaTheHun on January 8, 2012 at 9:05 PM
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True dat. Been there, done that, not fun.
princetrumpet on January 8, 2012 at 9:10 PM
The antagonism is toward how ridiculously out of touch he sounds, not his success. This is exactly what will sink him in the general election.
I agree with you about the religious stuff, though. It should be left alone.
Walter Sobchak on January 8, 2012 at 9:27 PM
I am a Romney supporter, And i have been raving about the class warfare going on here at HA, (i.e. Bain) But i do find this statement way out there,
Why is it wrong for Romney to say that he plans to fix things and will make everybody rich like himself, why does he say stuff like this when you and i know that he never worried like most folks in america worry on a daily basis,
I really think that it would be helpful for Romney to say, Yes i am rich, and i plan to make everybody rich by providing a climate that will be helpful for everybody, There is no need to come across as so fake as he comes across with statements like this
OrthodoxJew on January 8, 2012 at 9:33 PM
I agree. I think he was probably just trying to say he understood but came it off weird. In previous statements he has said just what you proscribe. (And maybe he has been worried about the success of his enterprises and went from there)
bluealice on January 8, 2012 at 9:38 PM
Really, did anyone get banned because they disagreed with the host?
Cindy Munford on January 8, 2012 at 9:58 PM
It’s not class warfare to point out that he comes across as silly when he says stuff like this. It’s not class warfare to point out that this won’t go over well with independents. He’s trying to preempt the attack that he knows is coming from the Left over his wealth. That’s fine, but this is not the way to do it.
McDuck on January 8, 2012 at 11:16 PM