Bill O'Reilly: Mitt Romney in trouble over money
January 19, 2012

By Bill O'Reilly

Not a good week for Governor Romney so far. He was rather flat in Monday's debate. And the poll numbers are reflecting that. The new Rasmussen survey taken just yesterday asked 1,000 likely Republican voters nationwide who they favor. Romney 30 percent; Gingrich 27; Santorum 15; Paul 13; Perry 4. Speaker Gingrich is up a whopping 16 percentage points in two weeks while Romney support is unchanged.

Governor Romney's latest problem is money. Some Americans believe he is not sensitive about his vast wealth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My income comes overwhelmingly from... from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income. I got a little bit of income from my book but I gave that all away and... and then I get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Uh-oh. Romney's financial disclosure forms say he earned about $375,000 in speaking fees in 2010, early 2011. That's big money for most people but not for the governor. His net worth is more than $200 million dollars.

This morning Rick Santorum let Romney have it on "Fox and Friends".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying because he... because he made a lot of money he doesn't understand what American people go through?

SANTORUM: No, but to refer to $300,000 some as just few extra bucks to me is... $300,000 isn't a few extra bucks to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: But it is to Romney. So how should we process this?

The father of our country, George Washington, was worth $525 million in today's currency according to research done by Atlantic Magazine. Teddy Roosevelt worth $125 million. The Kennedy family... wait for it... worth about $1 billion. JFK lived entirely off his trust fund. John Kerry worth about $300 million when ran for President in 2004.

The truth is many who go into public service are rich folks. Now you can decide if Mitt Romney is some kind of insensitive greed head. Certainly his opponents are painting him that way but please consider this. The capitalistic system we have in this country is based on freedom. Freedom to earn as much as you can provided you do it honestly.

Do some Americans have unfair advantages? Of course, they do. And some folks don't like that, demanding more income equality from our free enterprise system.

But as President Obama's term in office demonstrates, the more the feds try to create so-called social justice, the more debt piles up leading to inevitable outcries of tax the rich further.

As we pointed out Monday, the top one percent in this country now pay 37 percent of the total income tax yet the President believes that is not their fair share. He and the Democratic Party want even more.

Mitt Romney has been far too passive in the face of personal attacks on his wealth. He should release his tax returns and vigorously defend the system that has enriched him. If he doesn't, he will not become president.

And that's "The Memo."

"Pinheads & Patriots."

The governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, a heavy guy, no question. But he's not happy about how some people are framing the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: It is a struggle. It's been a struggle for me for a lot of years. And so I hope that other people actually understand. And I appreciate what you all have been doing when ignoramuses like Eugene Robinson get on your show and start saying the stuff that they say about -- about weight, that someone should have a salad and take a walk. I mean, you know, as far as I'm concerned, guys like that shouldn't have a platform to speak because they're so ignorant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: All right. Go get them, Chris. Tough governor, Christie, is a patriot.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date: 
Wed, 01/18/2012
Transcript Show Name: 
O'Reilly Factor
Posted by BillOReilly.com Staff at 3:49 AM
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