美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-09-21

 Hi, I’m Anderson Cooper, welcome to thepodcast. Mitt¹ Romney caught on hidden camera, will what he said to hurt hischances? Let’s get started. What could be a campaign blockbuster? When MittRomney said to big money donors² about President Obama voters when he didn’tthink cameras were rolling. The camera was rolling, though, and Mother Jones magazinegot the video. Here’s a portion of it. 

There are 47% of people who will vote forthe president no matter what. All right, there are 47% who are with him who aredependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe thegovernments has the responsibility to care for them, who believe that they’reentitled to health care, to food, to housing, you name it. But that’s anincident entitlement, and the government should give it to them. And they willvote for this president no matter what. And I mean the president starts of with48, 49, he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no incometax. 

 

The question now, does the playing of thistape hurt or helps his chances? GOP strategist Ari Fleischer is an unpaid,occasional communications adviser³ to the Romney campaign, also, Paul Begalawho’s a senior adviser in the leading pro-Obama super PAC, and on the phoneCNN’s Jim Acosta. Er, Paul, you say this is a potentially devastating⁴ blow forthe Romney campaign, why?

Because the Democrats⁵ are trying to pushtwo narratives⁶, and I’m helping⁷ them as you point out, I help a pro-Obama superPAC. And these are the two narratives onRomney that we are trying to push. First, that he doesn’t care about the middleclass. Well, thanks for the help, Mitt. In the latest CNN poll, by the way,before this gaffe⁸, President Obama had a 20 point lead over Mitt Romney in thequestion of who’s more in touch with the concerns of the middle class. So ithurts there, hurts on the second front. There is a TaxPolicy Centerstudy that the Democrats have been pushing President Clinton referred it in hisconvention speech in Charlotte.And it says that in order to give big tax a cut for the rich, Mitt Romney isgoing to have to raise taxes on the middle class. Well, when you’re complainingto wealthy people that 47% of Americans don’t pay any federal income tax, Ithink a lot of those people, retirees, working class folks are going to listento that and think, gee⁹, I guess the Democrats are right. I guess he does wantto raise the taxes on the middle class in order to help the rich. So this helpsthe Democrats in two really important ways. 

 

Ari, it’s not just someone like PaulBegala, Mark McKinnon, a former ad maker¹⁰ for George W. Bush, said that thistape could be potentially crippling. When you have a guy who wants to bepresident of the all of the United  States saying that 40% of the Americanpeople view themselves as victims and want handouts¹¹, what is that? I mean, howbad is this? 

 

Well, Anderson,let’s start with 47% figure, which Paul did not dispute, because no onedisputed it. It was originally reported by the Associated Press. And it’s afact, 47% of the country no longer pays any income tax, those are the taxes ofcourse that may provide for food stamps, provide for a whole series of socialwelfare. 

 

Do they view themselves as victims?

 

There is a lot of redistribution of income.Well, that is a different question. I don’t know the answer to that whetherthey consider themselves a victim or not. But what Paul very cleverly did wasdefine poverty upward. If we’re a nation where 47% of the country is consideredin poverty and therefore should not pay any taxes, boy, are we, (Yes), incometaxes, boy, are we in big trouble? Middle class people should be paying incometaxes. And that’s why it’s a difference, because the best way to hurt programsthat help people who need it or low income is for these programs to grow likemushrooms, to attract such a great proportion of the country that people startto say the system is rigged. We have so few people paying income taxes anymore, it’s not fair to anybody, and that’s what undermines support for socialsystem, social programs that we do need in this country. So, 47% is an accuratenumber and it’s a very problematic number, because if you are not paying incometaxes, you are getting benefits, you are getting government for free. 

 

Do you not worry that it sounds like MittRomney is dismissing 47% of the population as people he doesn’t need to careabout as people who want handouts, as people who view themselves as victims andare just sitting around?

 

I think what Mitt Romney is saying there isbetter way. And the way is through more private sector¹² initiatives notgovernment dependence¹³. The Democrats are offering government dependence whichwe know grows over time, tries to attract more people on to it, and that’s whythe social safety net has become a trap for too many. The other alternative isthrough private sector growth by getting government to create an environmentfor private sector jobs to grow. Now the word victim, I would not have usedthat word. He is right on the 47%. To say that they are victims, they think ofthemselves as victims, some might, some might not. Many people are there, somepeople are there because of circumstances beyond their control. But the pointremains that there are 47% of this country, and that’s a figure that was in the30s Bush was president. It’s grown dramatically since President Obama came intooffice, do get government for free. That’s a problem.

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 gaffe   

n.（社交上令人不快的）失言，失态

参考例句：

• I had no idea of the gaffe which I was committing.我不清楚我犯了什么错误。
• He made an embarrassing gaffe at the convention last weekend.他在上周末的会议上出了洋相，狼狈不堪。

9 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

10 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

11 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。