By day, you can hear Tom on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, and by night, he sits in the dark, making snide comments about what he sees on the silver screen.Some call this Romney, 47 percent-filming bartender a 'hero'
on March 14, 2013 @ 6:52 am (Updated: 7:28 am - 3/14/13 )
Mitt Romney now knows the name of the man who helped scuttle his presidential campaign, a bartender with a video camera.
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government who believe that they are victims, that the government has a responsibility to pay for them who believe that they were entitled to health care, to food, to housing, you name it," Romney wascaught on tape saying.
That 47 percent comment dogged the Mitt Romney campaign all the way up to Election Day and until yesterday no one knew where the secret videotape came from and who shot it. It turns out it was the work of a bartender at the private Romney fundraiser.
Scott Prouty told MSNBC's Ed Schultz that he is a registered Independent and had no political motivation in his decision to tape the speech.
"I thought he would say basically the same things he was saying in public. I had no idea it was going to be this big thing that it turned out to be," said Prouty.
He said a lot of the wait staff at the function had brought cameras, because at an earlier fundraiser they all worked, Bill Clinton had come back and met the staff and a lot of them wanted to capture the moment in case Romney did the same thing.
But Prouty said he was put off by Romney's comments.
"The day in day out struggle of everyday Americans - that guy has no idea."
And why is he coming forward now, after all this time? He says he didn't like Romney's post-election efforts at explaining away his 47 percent comment.
"The election wasn't even that close. I think he needs to take personal responsibility for his campaign, take personal responsibility for the words he said, and move forward."
Prouty may not have started out that way but he sure sounds like a "political animal" now. And by the way, I'm sure he's already a hero to lots of Democrats (less so to Republicans, I imagine.) But news surfaced Wednesday that seven years ago, Prouty had saved a woman from drowning in Florida. She had accidentally driven her car into a canal and when he happened on the scene, he immediately dove in and managed to cut her free.
So, he's a real hero too.
Tom Tangney is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle's Morning News and resident enthusiast of...everything. He loves books, movies, TV, art, pop culture, politic, sports, and Husky football.
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