Leaked video - Romney at pizza tycoon's home: 'Everyone should live like this' (pic of the home)

[Liberal_in_LA]

pic of the monstrous home:
from this website: http://johnb0127.hubpages.com/hub/Celebrity-Houses-and-Famous-Estates-Part-1-Ira-Rennert-Bill-Gates-Michael-Dell-and-John-Schnatter

A leaked video of Mitt Romney's remarks at the home of pizza tycoon John Schnatter show the GOP presidential candidate marveling at the luxurious setting and declaring that Republicans believe that "everyone should live like this."

"What a place this is, my goodness. Who would have imagined pizza could build this, you know that? This is really something," Romney said at the beginning of his speech at a private fundraiser hosted by the Papa John's founder. "Don’t you love this country? What a home this is, what grounds these are, the pool, the golf course. You know if a Democrat were here, he'd look around and say, 'No one should live like this.' Republicans come here and say, 'Everyone should live like this, all right.' This is a really tribute to America, to entrepreneurship."

Video of the event, which was closed to the public, was taken via cellphone and posted on YouTube the same day the fundraiser took place, April 19. The clip was uncovered Monday by the progressive blog Think Progress, a subsidiary of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. According to reports from local media, the fundraiser had a $1,000 entry fee. A photo taken with Romney cost an additional $1,500.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-at-pizza-tycoons-home-everyone-should-live-like-this-20120502,0,2643281.story

[Scuba]

1. I think it's OK to live like that....

... as long as no one is without food, shelter, clothing, education and health care.

[Gormy Cuss]

44. Yeah, that was my reaction -- that's what Democrats would say. n/t

[Serve The Servants]

2. "Grounds" is rich people talk for "Yard".

I had to Google it.

[PoliticAverse]

6. They become 'grounds' once you need to hire a 'groundskeeper' to manage them... n/t

[Scuba]

3. BTW: the owner must have the world's smallest penis.

[Whisp]

4. looks like Disneyland

Goofy has got to be there somewhere.

[Blue_Roses]

27. He was....

aka: Mitt Romney!

[madaboutharry]

5. If everyone lived like that, who would they find to build it?

They don't really mean it when they say "everyone," they only mean "everyone" among a certain group of people.

[GoCubsGo]

9. And, where would they get the resouces?

There are more than 300 million people in this country, and counting. There is finite land. Finite amounts of water for the pool and the fake pond. Finite clay for the bricks. Finite amounts of marble for the extravagant 17 bathrooms. Only so many oak trees for the hardwood floors. What fucking planet does this assclown live on? He claims to be an "extreme conservative", but that idiotic comment indicates that there is not a damn thing CONSERVATIVE about him.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. The people who can't afford this are considered nullities, not "ones"

As the wealth gap widens, the estate tax is done away with, and right wing class warfare like Romney's continues, I can envision a day when there are legally-recognized humans who enjoy privilege and wealth and subhumans who serve them, the latter having more in common with Seamus than with Mitt.

[Zalatix]

32. You just described H G Wells' "The Time Machine", as in the book version.

"Legally-recognized humans who enjoy privilege and wealth and subhumans who serve them"

The former became the Eoli. The latter became the Morlocks.

[NYC Liberal]

24. That's similar to the "get a real job" comments made to servers and the like.

If everyone "got a real job," who would bring the assholes their food or mow their lawns ("grounds&quot ?

[Zalatix]

30. Can we nominate the above post for a DUZY award?

Your post was like one of the elemental forces of logic and reasoning.

[hfojvt]

43. no, no, no

you see, some people get to live like that as owners and others get to live like that as servants. I mean the live-in maids, butlers, chauffers, gardeners, etc. are sort of living like "this".

[Tx4obama]

7. Goes to show that pizza is over priced & folks that order pizzas from Papa Johns will be putting ...

more money in that 1%er's pocket.

[David__77]

8. In principle, I agree. "Everyone" should have limitless bounty.

That's a proper goal of scientific, technological, and productive development. We need economics as a science of growth, not austerity. As a practical matter, I don't think people would want that, were we actually in a position to provide it, however.

[Nolimit]

10. That is one ugly ass mansion...

n/t....seriously

[WorseBeforeBetter]

11. Damn that garlic butter dipping sauce...

I've contributed to this. I knew the Domino's founder was a fundie wacko; didn't know anything about Schattner's politics.

I lived 13 years in a 793 sq. ft. condo and was perfectly happy -- probably the size of one of Papa John's closets.

[Raine]

12. It's his money he can spend it however he wants BUT

pay the amount of taxes you should, don't expect the "lessers" to subsidize you. You use the streets that everyone's taxes have paid for to deliver your pizzas. Just pay what you fucking should!

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. Well said!

You use the streets that everyone's taxes have paid for to deliver your pizzas.


That's what these self-absorbed rich a$$hole$ truly believe, that they earned their wealth all by their lonesome.

[adamuu]

40. You said it! n/t

[AnnieBW]

14. I'm sure that a lot of pizza drivers would like to live like that

Or even have just a small bit of that.

[arcane1]

15. So, Mitt, are you saying Papa John's should pay their employees more?

You did say "everyone" after all.

[bluestate10]

17. I have purchased one or two Papa John's pizzas. I will never purchase another one.

The guy does good ads, I wondered about his politics. Now I know.

[white_wolf]

18. As I said in another thread...

as long as a single person goes to sleep hungry or without a roof over their head, no one should have that much. I don't give a damn about their whining about how they "earned" it. Does a leech "earn" the blood it takes or does it merely steal it?

[annabanana]

19. What an ugly pile.

[font color="green"]Gaudy and grotesque..[/font]

[Tsiyu]

23. Agreed - the moat looks slimy

haven't bought a Papa John's in a while, and never will again. His employees are suffering with piss poor wages to earn HIM the right to live like a king.

His employees no doubt qualify for Food Stamps, so in just that manner alone the government is subsidizing his Royal lifestyle.

I wish Republican voters could understand this, but they are blind, deaf and stupid when it comes to connecting the dots.

[flvegan]

20. I have no problem with the mansion nor what was paid/is spent on it.

So long as this Papa John's fella pays his share of taxes (and his company does as well) is a proper employer and plays his part in the giving back in a charitable nature. I have my doubts that any of that is the case, considering the event shown. But, I'm happy to be happily surprised.

[Digit]

21. Do you call that half a moat?

Tacky

I don't like their pizzas anyway. The sauce is gross.

[Retrograde]

45. Yeah, moats are supposed to go all the way around the castle

Otherwise the unwashed peasants can get in.

What does one do with all that space anyway? And does he pay the staff a decent wage?

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. What a cafone

"Papa John." Ooofah.

[October]

25. "You know if a Democrat were here, he'd look around and say, 'No one should live like this.'"

Seriously? OMG, Mitt is an idiot.

"My goodness... this is really something...don't you love this country?" If he were any more vapid, he'd be Sarah Palin.

[FedUpWithIt All]

26. No one should live like this...

when the money, spent to build it, came from refusing to pay workers a fair wage, refusal to provide a safe work environment, a lack of civic responsibility, unethical business practices...

[HamborJenny15]

28. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[jmowreader]

29. Pizza doesn't buy a house like that. Being a franchisor buys a house like that.

Papa John's corporate doesn't own the local restaurants, small businessmen who rent the Papa John's name do. Most if not all chain restaurants work the same way.

http://www.papajohns.com/franchise_opps/us_requirements.shtm

If you don't want to go over there...

$25,000 franchise fee
Royalty fee: 5 percent of net sales, due monthly
Advertising: minimum 7 percent of net sales, due monthly

You further agree to spend $9,000 on grand opening advertising for your first two stores.

And you need a minimum net worth of $150,000, $50,000 in cash or liquid assets and the ability to obtain at least $200,000 in financing. IOW, it's your standard quick-service restaurant franchising deal.

Wikipedia claims "over 3300 Papa John's in 2008" (it MUST be higher now; it's only been four years) and Schnatter owning 30 percent of the company, so: (5 percent of whatever a restaurant pulls in) x 4000 or so restaurants x 30 percent to Schnatter = a house with a moat around it, so he can pull up the drawbridge if one of his franchisees' employees figures out where this place is.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. Well, it was simple enough to find. Here it is, just outside Louisville, KY;

Wikimapia;

http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=38.2722251&lon=-85.5362383&z=17&l=0&m=b&v=8

[Ron Green]

33. Never having tried one of his pizzas, I don't know

about them, but looking at his house I can tell you his taste is in his mouth.

[jmowreader]

52. His pizza is okay for chain-store pizza

It will never be mistaken for pizza from a New York City pizzeria that's been run by the same family for seven or eight generations, but it's better than Herman Cain's pizza and it's a damn sight better than Domino's.

[Skidmore]

34. Looks like a McMansion on steroids.

Lordy, that's a tacky display of wealth and power as only an American can do. The only thing that comes to mind when I look at something like that is what the utility bills must be like and how many unused bathrooms must be cleaned. Then I think "Why does anyone need that much space?", since the type of family we embrace here is certainly not an extended one.

[Danmel]

35. i guess Mitt isnt into understated elegance

And I bet Papa John is opposed to raising the minimum wage.

[quaker bill]

36. 1 in 6 children live with hunger in this country

As long as this is true, I am just fine with the notion that no one should live like that. This is why I am to the left of President Obama.

[Scuba]

46. One in four.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/09/23/One-in-4-young-children-live-in-poverty/UPI-43941316835582/

[quaker bill]

51. Then even more so

[Vinca]

37. That's not a house, it's a hotel.

Sometimes I wonder what I'd do if I suddenly became Romney wealthy. The first thing I'd do is give a mountain of money away to get people fed, housed and clothed. I'd probably buy a new house, but it would probably be smaller than the garage in this house. Maybe I'm a peasant, but I don't know why anyone would want a place that big.

[malthaussen]

38. Actually not the tackiest thing I ever saw...

I wish I could provide a link, but a couple of years ago, in a moment of boredom, I looked up the most expensive house listed at one of the real estate sites... for 60 million, you could own a place that looked like a hotel, with 33 bedrooms and 34 bathrooms.

Think about those figures. Who the hell needs 34 bathrooms?

-- Mal

[OffWithTheirHeads]

39. Folks that are full of shit.

[LeftinOH]

41. Well that settles it; support your local pizza parlors! n/t

[jwirr]

42. He is so wrong. I do not care how anyone lives - I care if they while living in this style care

about others also. From what I can see by their actions that does not discribe most of the gop.

[B2G]

47. John Schnatter started from nothing

And he is very generous to the city of Louisville.

I don't begrudge him his success.

[cali]

48. He's a truly wretched piece of dogshit. I could care less about his success

but his political views are truly vile.

Oh, and he has tacky, tacky taste.

fuck that asswipe.

[frazzled]

49. Not everybody wants to live like that

I'm not sure they understand that concept: some of us really don't have as our highest aspiration to sit on top of the biggest pile of money we can amass and ramble around a giant faux castle.

They also don't believe for a second that everyone "can" live like that. They think they're special because they struck it rich (usually by kicking someone else or cheating in some way), and their egos depend on having more than anyone else. They'd be miserable if everyone had the things they have, because their entire goal in life is to have more than anyone else. So sad.

I like nice things. I'd like to have a bit more than I do. But I know it wouldn't make me any happier, or a better person. But not in my wildest nightmare would I ever want to live in a giant secluded mansion.

[BlackHoleSon]

50. His commercials

where he shows up with pizza to give out to random crowds.
I've always noticed NOONE is smiling or having a good time and he really has no interaction with the crowds.
A commercial where a guy giving away free pizza can't raise a smile - horrible ad for your product that leaves you with only one conclusion - the guy must be a douche.