Mother Jones has released the full video of the private May 17 fundraiser where Mitt Romney made his now-infamous remarks suggesting that "47 percent" of Americans are freeloaders incapable of learning personal responsibility.
Tharts of the video have already been released online, first by anonymous YouTube users and then, yesterday, by Mother Jones reporter David Corn.
Parts of the video — including the now infamous clip of Romney referring to "47 percent" of Americans as freeloaders — have already caused a major firestorm for the Romney campaign. It is not clear what, if any, inflammatory remarks will be revealed now that the whole thing has gone public.
We will be liveblogging as we watch the video, and will update our findings here.
We're only about five minutes in, but so far, one thing is clear: Romney is very comfortable talking to rich people. He's joking with the audience, chiding listeners for not eating, etc...
The first two questions from the audience concerned foreign policy, specifically the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Iranian nuclear threat. We've already posted the clip of Romney's answer here, but it's worth noting that Romney laments that "Americans are not interested in foreign policy."
The third questioner, a lady, asks Romney how his "emissaries" can help "convert" people.
In response to the question, Romney notes recent positive signs for his campaign, including a New York Times poll that showed him up by two points among female voters.
"Women are open to supporting me," he tells the audience.
But, he adds later, "we're having a much harder time with Hispanic voters."
"If the Hispanic voting bloc becomes as committed to the Democrats as the African American voting bloc has in the past, than we're in trouble as a party, and I think, as a nation."
At that point, an attendee shouts out "Rubio!"
"Frankly what I need you to do is raise millions of dollars," he says.
A few minutes later:
"I'm not terribly well-known among the American public," Romney tells the donors. At that point, a female donor calls out "You're known as a rich boy!" Then she corrects herself: "A rich man!"
After Romney makes the 47% comment, he tells donors that he is trying to win over the "five to 10 percent of independent, thoughtful voters" who chose who to vote for, "at times based on emotion, whether they like the guy or not, what he looks like."
About 1:50 minutes into the second segment, Romney comments on how the election will affect the markets. This clip has already been circulated, but it's worth noting nonetheless:
"If it looks like I'm going to win, the markets will be happy. If it looks like the President is going to win, the markets will not be terribly happy," Romney says. "If we win, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country, and you'll see capital come back. Without actually doing anything, we'll actually get a boost in the economy."
Then he adds this:
"If the President gets re-elected, I don't know what'll happen. I can never predict what the markets will do."
Donor tells Romney that he wants him to "talk to people that actually read the paper...and care about knowing the facts...as opposed to people who are swayed by what sounds good at the moment."
Romney assures him that he has a "good team of consultants" who have worked on campaigns across the world, including for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Later, when a voter suggests that Romney go after Obama on Solyndra and Attorney General Eric Holder, Romney gives a strange response:
"I wish we weren't unionized so we could go a lot deeper than you're actually allowed to go."
It is not clear what Romney is talking about, and his subsequent remarks don't have anything to do with organized labor. Without any more information, our guess is that he is referring to the service staff at the event.
Romney on talk shows: "Letterman hates me because I've been on Leno more than him. They're very jealous of one another, as you know."
On turning down the offer to appear on Saturday Night Live, Romney said: "I did not do that in part because you want to show that you are fun and a good person, but you also want to be presidential. Saturday Night Live has the potential of looking slapstick, and not presidential. But the View is fine."
He adds immediately that the View is "high risk" because only one out of five of the show's hosts is conservative.
After a donor recommends that the campaign make more use of Ann Romney as a surrogate, Romney responds:
"We're using Ann sparingly right now because we don't want people to get sick of her."
Romney adds that CNN contributor Hillary Rosen's stay-at-home mom attacks benefited Ann Romney by "giving her a platform that she wouldn't have had otherwise."
You can also watch the video below. If you find anything juicy, let us know in the comments.
Here's the first segment:



And here's the second part:








Romney Fundraising Video: Best Moments - Business Insider