Meet the hashtag that conservatives hope will save Mitt Romney from his controversial "47 percent" comment (but probably won't).
On Wednesday morning, Twitter users were rapidly firing off #missing2min tweets, in reference to the missing "one or two minutes" from the YouTube video clip containing Romney's now-infamous remarks.
The unauthorized video was recorded at a fundraiser in May, during which Romney addressed a private group of donors and said "there are 47 percent who are with him [Barack Obama], who are dependent on government, who believe that they are victims." Mother Jones magazine published the full version of the video in two parts on Tuesday; the first part ended with Romney discussing the "47 percent," while the second part began with talk of China.
The Blaze, a right-leaning blog founded by conservative political commentator Glenn Beck, was the first to notice a gap between the two clips of Romney's speech -- the implication being that the tape was selectively edited. However, Mother Jones' David Corn, who had the scoop on the tapes, says his source told him the camera unexpectedly stopped recorded before he had to turn it on again, Politico reported.
Right-leaning blogs jumped on the missing minutes and the hashtag #missing2min was created to rally like-minded readers on Twitter.
Problem is, based on our perusal of tweets, those without sympathies for Romney have co-opted the hashtag and are using it to spread "47 percent" jokes. Here are some of our favorites: