David Corn Gives Hint To The Source Of Romney Secret Video
David Corn, the Mother Jones Washington bureau chief who broke the story of Mitt Romney’s secret fundraiser video in which the Republican candidate seemed to write off the “47 percent” of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, has been tight-lipped as to the source of the video.
During an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit.com, David Corn did give a hint as to the person who secretly captured Romney’s comments, and it’s apparently not anyone who paid for the dinner.
The insight came after a Reddit user asked Corn: “You probably can’t answer this, but I’d really like to know how you got the tape. Did someone pay $50,000 a plate for the opportunity to tape this just in case Romney said something dumb?”
I cannot say much about the source of the tape and how s/he came to be in the room. But as far as I can ascertain, it wasn’t an opposition hit job. The source realized that s/he would be in the room with a presidential candidate and thought that Romney might just say something interesting enough to deserve recording.
The answer seemed to validate the theory from several pundits, one repeated by many replies to David Corn’s Reddit comments, that the video was recorded by a member of the event staff. Corn went on to add that the source “realized s/he would be in the room with a presidential candidate,” which pretty much rules out anyone who would have paid $50,000, as they would know exactly who was going to be there..
A closer look at the video points to a member of the wait staff, possibly a bartender. The table in front of the camera has votive candles that match what would be on a bar, and several waiters and waitresses are seen passing in front of the camera.
The secret video may have been broken by David Corn and the work of Mother Jones editors, but it has actually been available for weeks for anyone who knew the right place to look. The footage was actually uploaded to YouTube weeks ago by a user named Anne Onymous, Mashable reported.
