'As a poor Mormon missionary in Paris, Romney didn't have a refrigerator, but his chef did.'

[onehandle]

Tweeted by Roger Ebert:

'Devastating facts about Mitt's stay as a poor Mormon missionary in Paris. Didn't have a refrigerator, but his chef did.'

http://twitter.com/ebertchicago/status/231955534469795840

[BumRushDaShow]

1. LOL

Ebert is on a roll and apparently some of his rethug followers are whining.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Apparently, he's struck a nerve!

People tweeting that they will no longer read his movie reviews, and that he should stick to film...

[Irishonly]

6. One thing republicans will always do is complain

If a liberal says something they don't like they will say _____ needs to stick to _____ or their free speech rights are being infringed. If they say horrible things they have the right to say it so put up and shut up.

[NYC Liberal]

13. Those people are idiots.

He's been going after the Repubs for a long, long time now.

[dmr]

28. Most of them are prob paid Tweeters n/t

[Tennessee Gal]

3. ROFL!!!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. I think people are going a bit overboard in their attacks against Mr. Romney.

I heard he had to suffer a number of indignities. Such as sub par foie gras and having to deal with incompetent servants.

[NYC_SKP]

7. I heard that one morning his car elevator doors wouldn't open, and...

...and he couldn't get a repair person until the AFTERNOON!

[eShirl]

22. Well I hear it's gotten so bad, Ann needs ergonomic

"clutching-pearls."

[freshwest]

36. Look at those hands! She's groping herself on teevee! I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!

Anything for attention...

[gollygee]

5. Ha!

[gulliver]

8. Mitt also had to live with the shame of Vietnam service avoidance

Sure, he ate well and spent most of his "missionary" time in a mansion. But he is a sensitive, caring guy. You just know he was in his own private hell of shame over using his missionary service to avoid going to Vietnam.

And remember, he was doing everything he could to recruit people to Mormonism and keep them out of the untrue Christianities. So he was fighting for souls.

[Dustlawyer]

14. Have we ever heard from someone he recruited? He probably paid some other Mormon

to recruit for him!

[liberalmuse]

9. Just retweeted...

but it looks like he's made a few people mad. It was a JOKE!

[Raine1967]

10. Ebert Wasn't Joking:

From the Telegraph:

Mr Romney told supporters he had experienced austerity as a missionary in France, using a bucket for a lavatory and a hose for a shower. “You’re not living high on the hog at that kind of level,” he said.

But the Republican presidential hopeful spent a significant portion of his 30-month mission in a Paris mansion described by fellow American missionaries to The Daily Telegraph as “palace”. It featured stained glass windows, chandeliers, and an extensive art collection. It was staffed by two servants – a Spanish chef and a houseboy.

Although he spent time in other French cities, for most of 1968, Mr Romney lived in the Mission Home, a 19th century neoclassical building in the French capital’s chic 16th arrondissement. “It was a house built by and for rich people,” said Richard Anderson, the son of the mission president at the time of Mr Romney’s stay. “I would describe it as a palace”.

[Raine1967]

11. I have to add this, from the article:

In his remarks this week, Mr Romney said of his French lodgings: “I don’t recall any of them having a refrigerator. We shopped before every meal”. Mr Anderson said that as well as a refrigerator, the mansion had “a Spanish chef called Pardo and a house boy, who prepared lunch and supper five days a week”.

It was “well equipped” with all modern conveniences, including a combination washer-dryer machine, Mr Anderson said. “I never saw anything like it in another private home at that time.”

Roger wasn't being tongue in cheek at all.

[TahitiNut]

16. "shopped before every meal"??? Ha! That's called "Paris"!

EVERY Parisian shops for food daily! It's a ritual for every salary worker to stop on the way home for a baguettte and a bottle of vin d'table. Some cheese, too. (In fact, that makes a TERRIFIC afternoon snack in the Bois d'Bologne, watching folks play boules. The housewife/girlfriend/roommate will have done the DAILY shopping for meat, fish, or poultry at the local charcuterie. It's NORMAL. Parisians are OBSESSIVE about FRESH food... it's trucked into Paris EVERY night from farms all around France. Salad greens? They were in the field less than a week before they're served. Leftovers? Made into a terrine.

I lived in Paris for over 3 months -- job assignment -- and observed this 'lifestyle' constantly. It's WONDERFUL.

[JDPriestly]

17. At that time, my French friends generally shopped every day.

My French friends did not like stale vegetables and fruit, etc. In my experience, the French used to pride themselves on the fact that they shopped each day and ate fresh.

In fact, one of my French friends who had lived in the US expressed shock at the fact that Americans don't shop for fruits and vegetables every day.

[TahitiNut]

19. Exactly.

The very notion of buying food that wasn't "ripe" was, to my French friends and coworkers, insane. They'd think "vine-ripened" was to be assumed for a tomato, for example.

It's true, however, that refrigerators weren't common or large. They didn't see much of an advantage ... beyond what we'd call "office-sized." The lifestyle just didn't call for it. Want ice cream? Go for a walk and enjoy the exercise and meeting neighbors. Stop for a treat. They just didn't stay cooped up and alone. The very advantage of living in Paris was the neighborhood.

[JDPriestly]

40. I always felt safe on the streets.

Maybe that was an illusion, but that's the way I felt.

I never feared going down in the Metro or the Tube or any of the underground public transportation systems in Europe. That may have changed, but I doubt it.

[TahitiNut]

41. So did I. When I was there,

... crime against property (burglary, petty theft) was fairly common (about the same as any big US city), but crimes against people and crimes of violence were nearly non-existent. I regarded Le Metro as a joy. Even though I had a car (stayed and worked in Aulnay sous Bois), I'd park it and use the Metro.

I actually became a semi-official "Parisian Driver". I'd noticed that the 4-lane boulevards in Paris became 3 lanes in one direction (1 in the other) during rush hour. It didn't take a LOT of thought to consider that someone had to be the intrepid chicken-man who'd start the 3rd lane by essentially driving into oncoming traffic. It always gave me pause to think of such daring/suicidalism... and the, one day, I was driving at the beginning of rush hour while traffic was 2+2 and very congested in the 2 lanes. So, I thought, "This is my chance to do something really stupid and experiment!" I pulled left into ONCOMING TRAFFIC! Lo and behold! The oncoming cars in front of me passively pulled over into a single lane and ... in my rear-view mirror ... I saw dozens of Frenchmen pulling left to follow me!!! I had ARRIVED! I was a REAL Parisian!

It sounds silly, I guess, but I still take a kind of personal pride in doing that. I LOVE the mix of cultures.

[SaveAmerica]

21. He didn't think there was a fridge cause he didn't have to go in the kitchen

[TahitiNut]

12. 16th arrondissement??

Wow. Nice neighborhood!! VERY upscale.

[xxqqqzme]

15. Oh, the horror!

Imagine the inconvenience. He must have been fearful some other person would learn of his daily indignities.

What a wuss - had to shower w/ w a hose? Really? A 19th century house? He's lucky there was a hose.

[TahitiNut]

18. In those days, NOBODY in Paris used a shower curtain or had a shower 'fixture'.

To shower, one stood (or crouched) in the tub with an extension off the nozzle. That's called "NORMAL." The buildings inside Paris are a LEAST 100 years old, unless they're corporate hotels. The fancy digs in the 16th Arrondisement are 'upscale' because they're on the side of Paris the furthest from where the Germans would invade ... and the artillery hit. They're also the second priciest in the city (the most expensive being on Isle St. Louis and Isle d'Cite) because of location, location, location.

I'm guessing the "bucket" might be called a "chamberpot."

[Raine1967]

25. Don't you love how he's redefining things?

It's amazing -- he actually thinks that people don't understand what it is like to live in Paris.

[TahitiNut]

26. Ignorance ... it defines the GOP base.

Fascists have exploited ignorance for a century or more.

[Ferretherder]

20. I can't help but think of these guys...

[malthaussen]

30. A video with so many applications.:) n/t

[smirkymonkey]

33. That's hysterical!

I can't believe I've never seen that before. I love those guys.

[nytemare]

23. That's how he got out of serving in Vietnam.

I wonder how many Parisians he proselytized into being Mormon?

[LaBella]

24. Surprised?

What should we expect from someone who needs an elevator for his cars and can spend more than the average person earns working to teach a horse to dance. Someone directed me to a website to read an article about Obama and I ended up reading a really neat article called, "Mitt Romney never dreamed My American Dream". I thought it about summed it up. Check it out:

http://www.thepragmaticpundit.com/2012/08/mitt-romney-never-dreamed-my-american.html

[beac]

37. Ciao "Bella"!

Thanks for the link and WELCOME to DU!

[tularetom]

27. Maybe he'll claim he was 'born a poor black child'

The movie title is rather appropriate for mitt don't you think?

[NYC_SKP]

29. OMG, I found the address and pictures of this horrible, horrible place! The poor man!

It is currently the embassy for the United Arab Emirates, who are really about as poor as Mittens, poor darlings!

Address: #8 Rue de Lota, Paris



http://www.americablog.com/2011/12/romney-claimed-he-lived-impoverished.html

http://parisisinvisible.blogspot.com/2012/03/rue-de-lota-house-where-mitt-lived.html

.

.



.

[Vinca]

31. It's a real "Grapes of Wrath" scenario.

[smirkymonkey]

34. What a dump!

The poor man really suffered.

[Diclotican]

32. onehandle

onehandle

I doubt he was living as most missionaries of the LDS church.. He is a disgrace for the church, and for everyone who have served, or is serving as we speak as missionaries... My experiences with missionaries is that they live a rather spartan life, they have what they need to live, but with few of the comfort creatures we take for granted... No radio, no TV, even though they now is allowed to have a CD player, to play music who is accepted by the LDS Shurch.. And a letter home now and then, in this modern time and age, often by Email who often is one of the few ways to contact home for young men and woman, who work hard as missionaries.But other than that, just missionary work and less pleasure than most of us others enjoy on a regular basis..

And I have at least, never seen any missionaries, who had their own chef to serve them hand and foot...

Diclotican

[onehandle]

35. Agreed. Totally. Romney was more akin to a rich kid traveling abroad, than a 'missionary.' nt

[indigoth]

38. if you've got a chef

and the chef has a refrigerator, then, you don't need a refrigerator.

[pinboy3niner]

39. No fridge? Well, no wonder he said he "longed" to serve in Vietnam!

Many years later, in 1994, Romney said, "It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft." That wasn't true -- he took several steps to remove himself from the eligibility pool.

By 2007, Romney, a presidential candidate, argued. "I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there, and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam."

But that's not what he said in 1994, and if "longed" to serve in the war he protested to support, Romney probably shouldn't have gone so far out of his way to make sure he didn't have to go.

The MaddowBlog: The war Romney 'longed' for
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/06/06/12085094-the-war-romney-longed-for?lite

Fortunate Son
Recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Written by John Fogerty

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! More! More! yoh

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no

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