Here’s Why You Don’t See Romney Reacting to the 47 Percent Video in “Mitt”

<a href="https://netflix.com/Mitt?">Netflix</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


“I think I’m a flawed candidate,” says Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, in director Greg Whiteley‘s behind-the-scenes documentary Mitt, which premieres on Netflix on Friday. The film, which spans six years and two Romney presidential runs, offers some intimate moments of the Romney family on the campaign trail. We get to see Mitt privately acknowledging that his image was boiled down to “the flippin‘ Mormon,” the family playing in the snow, Ann Romney talking about her horse, and Mitt ironing his tux sleeve while wearing it.

But if you’re looking for a more thorough political history of the 2012 campaign and the GOP candidate, you’ll notice (as we previously pointed out here) a few things missing: Bain outsourcing jobs, self-deportation, Romneycare, Obamacare, the decision to pick Paul Ryan as running mate, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” Afghanistan, Iraq, varmint-shooting, cheesy grits, abortion, China, “binders full of women,” Benghazi, “corporations are people, my friend,” and a whole lot more.

Furthermore, Whiteley’s film doesn’t include any scenes revealing how Romney and his team processed the release of the 47 percent video—news that came to reinforce Romney’s political persona. The reason? Limited access—and, according to Whiteley, the fact that the goal in making the movie wasn’t to please political junkies.

“I just simply wasn’t there when the 47 percent was uttered,” Whiteley said on a conference call on Wednesday. “And whatever damage control or spin mode [the campaign was] in, I just didn’t have access to that.” Whiteley noted that he sat down with Romney in November 2012 and asked him about the 47 percent comments but didn’t get an answer any different from what Romney had already told the press.

While covering the Romneys, Whiteley didn’t have a documentary crew along with him for the ride. “It was me and a camera,” he said. And Romney’s political aides were reluctant to be captured on film. But Whiteley (who got this gig after a mutual friend introduced him to Tagg Romney) was frequently granted generous access to the Romneys—and he never saw his role as that of a political reporter. As a result, Whiteley’s film is light—often intentionally—on strategy and commentary. (His past credits include New York Doll and Resolved.)

“The film is very apolitical,” Whiteley said. He calls Mitt the “inverse” of The War Room, the acclaimed documentary that followed Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign staff, particularly Democratic strategist James Carville. “My access was the opposite,” he continues. “I didn’t get access to Stuart Stevens…but I had incredible access to the family, and that’s what the movie became…You’re getting the sense of what it’s like to be a member of this family [during a campaign].”

Here are a couple of clips from Mitt:

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate