Lawrence O'Donnell Mocks Mitt Romney's Tax, Speaking Fee Comments (VIDEO)

Lawrence O'Donnell had some fun with Mitt Romney's awkward comments about his taxes and income on his Wednesday show.

Romney got himself into a bit of trouble when he admitted that he pays an effective tax rate of 15 percent, and brushed off almost $375,000 in speaking fees last year as "not very much." He is also being pressured to release his tax returns. On Wednesday, he said he was planning to release his 2011 returns in April.

O'Donnell smelled a rat in this promise from the GOP front-runner. "That means he can write his tax return with political convenience in mind," he said. "He can manipulate it to pay a higher tax rate than he has been paying."

O'Donnell also noted that most presidential candidates release many years of tax returns, rather than just one. He said Romney would probably continue to "make the mistake" of only releasing his 2011 returns, and that Democrats would "continue to bash him" over this.

Finally, O'Donnell took aim at Romney's speaking fees comment, saying that what Romney called "not very much" was "wicked huge" to the rest of the world.

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Below, more of Mitt Romney's awkward gaffes:

Comments

[catieml]

01:55 AM on 01/26/2012

tonight tim pawlenty was a guest on Lawrence O'Donnell show .. he implied that President Obama wasnt a business man and could not turn GM around .. NO he gave GM a deadline on what he wanted and left it up to THEM .. the business professionals .. to do the job ... get with it pawlenty

[Veneita]

05:49 PM on 01/19/2012

romney also says that his royalties for his book were "not much" but according to his FEC filing it was between 100,001 and 1,000,000. http://admin.ongo.com/v/1595256/-1/DE21249206D2751E/mitt-romney-earned-more-than-362000-in-speaking-fees

$100,000 is more than the median American income. This article has lots of interesting things on his money making in it.

[James Marcus]

07:48 PM on 01/27/2012

I do not support Romney not any conservative out there but in his defense, attacking him for a statement like that is pretty petty. He is Wealthy so that amount may seem small to him but a lot to us. 100k to him is like 1 dollar to us, it is sad to say but it may be true.

[James Marcus]

08:04 PM on 01/27/2012

correction...
"nor" any conservative....

[1reasonedtruth]

05:09 PM on 01/19/2012

Larry failed to mention that John Kerry paid 12% and that Slick Willy has made over $80 Million in speaking fees.

[lemmyk73]

04:00 PM on 01/19/2012

O'Donnell needs to show his tax rate as well. 10 to 1 says he skips out on taxes in a big way.

[TomDi]

02:32 PM on 01/19/2012

According to last year's report from the Internal Revenue Service, as a percentage of Adjusted Gross Income, 97 percent of 2009 filers paid less than 15 percent. Just saying....

[den1953]

09:48 AM on 01/19/2012

Perhaps most Americans would love to be making 40,000 a year working at their jobs, and poor Mitt Romney gets that for each speech!

[TomDi]

02:31 PM on 01/19/2012

den1953, Poor Bill Clinton gets $82million dollars for six years of speeches. approx $100K+ per speech. you guys are really hypocrits when it comes to liberal speakers such as Clinton. Why not call him out?

[Vet67]

03:29 PM on 01/19/2012

He is not running.

Does that help?

[One Percenter]

04:01 PM on 01/19/2012

Good for him.
Why do you Lefties always trash success and accomplishment.

[Exhaust]

08:14 AM on 01/19/2012

Big deal...that happens nightly, from 5pm to 11pm. A different face, with the same message.

[ucche]

07:55 AM on 01/19/2012

Why should people like Mitt Romney (who I don't like because he is weird and fake) pay millions of dollars in taxes when 47% of Americans pay NO taxes, at all. Does Mitt Romney use 35 times the services than a typical American? What exactly is Mitt Romney's or any other millionaires fair share when, to my understanding, they (the rich) make up 1% of the population but pay 40% of all taxes. What should be considered a fair share for the welfare mother who has baby after baby or a good American who makes 40K per year, shouldn't these Americans pay taxes since they rely so much on the government? At least in the UK or Sweden, everybody pays something.

[vegancheesenut]

08:15 AM on 01/19/2012

Big fail

[Exhaust]

08:29 AM on 01/19/2012

I agree. The dumbest argument/word they use is "fair". They drive on the same roads, breath the same air and have the same services available to them, but they should pay 10 to 50 times more than everyone else. Dumbest thing I ever heard. It wouldn't be an issue, if the government didn't spend more than they take in.

[Exhaust]

08:30 AM on 01/19/2012

ooops...breathe

[AZProfessor]

10:12 AM on 01/19/2012

See my other post. Dumbest thing you've ever heard? Let me put it in layman's terms. Pretend you and I share a safe deposit box. In that box I have placed my birth certificate. You, meanwhile, have placed $10,000 cash and a $50,000 ring you inherited from your grandparents. Now, who stands to lose more if that bank is robbed or bombed? Me? or you? Are we using the same box and the same bank? Yes. Who needs the bank more and who relies on and needs that bank's security more? You or me?

Point made.

[1canview]

07:50 AM on 01/19/2012

As Stephen Colbert pointed out Romney's "not very much" for his speaking fees alone puts him in the top 1%.
Love the Colbert/Stewart TV ad about Romney saying that corporations are people too
and if that is the case Romney is a serial killer.

[invmartyc]

07:25 AM on 01/19/2012

Mitt, and all the candidates should release their last seven years of returns just like any citizen called in by the IRS for an audit. These rabid Mitt fans are just turning there heads to the facts because it would mean that if Mitt is not really such a great guy they would have to pick from the others.

Anyway, the evangelical-bans will never allow a non-christian become president!

[bac1993]

07:07 AM on 01/19/2012

374,000+ isn't much to him is not surprising. It was the sly grin after he said it is what got to me.

[Exhaust]

08:38 AM on 01/19/2012

When you have to make 9 or 10 speeches and Palin only needs to make 3 or 4 to get the same money, it isn't much. You know how I know your comment is BS? Because Romney NEVER said what his speaking fee total was.

[Casey Plant]

02:23 PM on 01/19/2012

I would guess bac1993 is referring to Mitt Romney referencing his speaking fees as "not very much," which Lawrence O'Donnell plays on the segment above. You know how I know your comment is BS? Because instead of realizing this, you cite something even more unjust as your defense.

[believerinhim]

07:01 AM on 01/19/2012

Just keep pecking at this excellent man-Mitt Romney- and our country will loose someone who could beat Obama and get our country back on track. Get over it America, all the nominees are millionaires so what's new about that-no man could run and possibly make it if it were otherwise. Mitt has not broken the law or the IRS would be sticking their big noses into it. Do you know how Obama got all his money..or what religion he is and he has put our country into a terrible mess. So Mitt said the money he makes giving speeches isn't much--if he had said the opposite that it was a lot the press would have said he was bragging or worse. Be aware of the press and how they spin nothing into something to talk about and they are CLEARLY biased against Mr. Romney. You would blush if you knew how much money Pres. Clinton makes on his speeches across the country and he is an impeached President and fooled around with an intern in America's highest office. It's time for our country to pick someone who has a clean background with basic moral values. Oh, you say moral values don't matter--Do you want to vote for someone like Newt who has had affairs with house staffers -while married- to be President of USA?

[invmartyc]

07:23 AM on 01/19/2012

Go back to sleep, we will wake you when it is time to vote.

[StevenM]

07:25 AM on 01/19/2012

Re: It's time for our country to pick someone who has a clean background with basic moral values.

We did, and Obama will win again. Ironically, you want us to stop pecking at Mitt Romney, but Republicans have been pecking at Obama for some time. The issue isn't that fact that Romney is a millionaire, but that he seems so out of touch. Calling an income over 300,000 "not much" is just stupid. And Obama has released many years of his incomes taxes, something Romney has yet to do. So we do know where he got his money and we do know what religion he is.

[nbk4real]

06:18 AM on 01/19/2012

and middle class republicans and low income right wingers will vote for this man? really? and what does that tell us? They will knowingly, consciously vote for a man that will do everything within his power to make sure they dont make a living wage, make sure we have no benefits... a silver spoon fed, spoilt rich brat that was born on third and thinks he hit a triple...

[AZProfessor]

10:20 AM on 01/19/2012

middle class and low-income Republicans have been doing this for decades: repeatedly voting against their own best economic interests and then conditioned to blame "the liberals" for their life woes. It's an amazing phenomenon.

[IDIOTA]

05:17 AM on 01/19/2012

Good points, Larry.

[zdeedle]

02:54 AM on 01/19/2012

hey mitt, i'm still waiting for my cake....