2 Minutes with David Corn: Breaking Down the Bain Video

The latest Mitt Romney video released by Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn doesn’t address the “47 percent,” but it does reveal some uncomfortable truths about how the GOP candidate viewed his role at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded.

Speaking in 1985 at the 20th anniversary of Bain & Company, a young Romney said: “Bain Capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in startup companies and ongoing companies, then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully, five to eight years later, to harvest them at a significant profit.”

In two minutes, Corn breaks down exactly why Romney’s top priority at Bain wasn’t creating jobs or building strong companies. He also raises the question: What makes Romney qualified to do so now as a potential president?

Have an issue or a MoJo reporter you would like us to spend two minutes with? Drop us an email at dliebelson@motherjones.com.

Music by: Mike Smirnoff
 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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