Mitt Romney 'deliberately got booed by the NAACP to appeal to white racists'

The Romney campaign has been accused of deliberately getting the Republican presidential candidate booed by black people during his NAACP speech to attract votes 'in certain racist precincts', by MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell.

Romney was booed for 15 seconds at the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People conference in Houston on Wednesday when he stated he would 'eliminate' unnecessary programmes like the Obamacare health reform.

Democrats united in saying that Romney planned to get booed to appeal to his conservative base. But O'Donnell and his guests went a step further by saying that Romney was making a play for white racists.

Scroll down for video



Calculated: Mitt Romney was booed by the audience at the NAACP convention on Wednesday and some are saying it was on purpose Wednesday night on his MSNBC show Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell and guests speculated that Romney was making a play for white racists

Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives, told Bloomberg Television: “I think it was a calculated move on his part to get booed at the NAACP convention.'

BIDEN REBUTS ROMNEY AT NAACP

Vice President Joe Biden used a speech to the NAACP to paint a picture of a United States lurching to the right and rolling back civil rights under a Romney administration.

Speaking to wild applause at the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People conference in Houston a day after Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, was booed, Biden was in full attack mode. Although he did not directly address the treatment of the former Massachusetts governor, he suggested Romney had earned it. 'On civil rights, your raison d'etre, the reason for our existence…It was all about the franchise. It was about the right to vote. 'Because when you have the right to vote, you have the right to change things. Did you think we'd be fighting these battles again?' Modern Republicans, he charged, were extremists. 'By the way, this ain't your father's Republican Party — remember working with Republicans on motor-voter, on expanding the franchise on early voting, on voting by mail. Some of these were Republican ideas. But this is not the Republican Party here today, nor Romney's. He said: 'They see a different future, where voting is made harder, not easier,' he said, 'where the Justice Department is even prohibited from challenging any of those efforts to suppress votes. Folks, there's a lot more to say, but this is preaching to the choir.' He gave a full-throated defence of the Obama administration's accomplishments, hailing the 2009 auto bailout as 'not popular but it was critical' and the decision to send US Navy SEALS to Osama bin Laden's compound as a 'bold decision with profound risks'. On healthcare, where Romney drew boos for saying he would 'eliminate…Obamacare', Biden said that Obama's concentration on the issue 'required him early on to use up all of his political capital' but it had led to historic benefits for all, including minorities. Republicans, he said, were determined obstructionists. 'They have never let up. But neither has my guy, neither has Barack Obama. He has not given up. He continues to be driven by the character of his convictions. Folks, in the end, that's what the presidency is all about.'

Discussing the speech on his 'Last Word' show with Goldie Taylor, a liberal writer and commentator, O'Donnell highlighted 'the Southern strategy that Republicans have used since [President Richard] Nixon and started a little bit before that, where there`s actually an almost overt sometimes appeal to racial and racist voting.'

He then asked: 'And tell me, Goldie, if I`m being too cynical, to think that the Romney campaign actually went in that room today with the hope of getting booed, at least three times, because they want the video of their candidate being booed by the NAACP to play in certain racist precincts where that will actually help them?'

Taylor responded that 'I don`t think you`re being too cynical at all', adding that Romney 'used a word like "Obamacare," which is a derisive term for the Affordable Care Act'.

O'Donnell then brought up Romney's Mormon faith. Romney had told the NAACP that if Americans had been told 'in the 1950s or 1960s that a black citizen would serve as the 44th of the United States, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised.'

The MSNBC host noted that the Mormon church did not allow black men to become persists until 1978. 'And so it would have been even more shocking and surprising to say to him, in the 1960s, a black citizen might become the president of the Mormon Church. That`s even more far-fetched.'

This comment was echoed by the writer and television host Toure, another guest, who added: 'This is a classic Republican strategy that we saw today. Using black people to score points with white people, as we`ve said already, the real audience was not in the room. He`s talking to white people.'

Toure also opined: 'He wants to get booed. It makes him either look tough and strong to the white people watching, or make him look sympathetic to the white people watching.'

Romney, who had said that he 'expected' a negative response at the NAACP conference, told donors in Montana on Wednesday evening: 'I don't give different speeches to different audiences, alright. I gave them the same speech. When I mentioned I am going to get rid of Obamacare they weren't happy, I didn't get the same response.

'That's OK, I want people to know what I stand for and if I don't stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, that's just fine.'

Vice President Joe Biden addressed the NAACP on Thursday morning in what amounted to a rebuttal of Romney's controversial speech.



President Barack Obama decided at the last minute not to attend, citing a 'scheduling conflict'.

Romney knew he would be facing a potentially hostile crowd at the NAACP conference – more than 95 per cent of blacks voted for President Barack Obama four years ago.

Joe Biden is hoping for a more welcome reception from the NAACP crowd, seen here as Romney spoke, during his Thursday speech

But he seemed briefly stunned by the booing and catcalling from the audience and departed from his prepared remarks to argue that Obama's healthcare reform would cause businesses to shed jobs.

Nancy Pelosi called the booing 'calculated'

The former Massachusetts governor's reception was initially polite, even warm at times. But that changed when he said: 'I'm going to eliminate every non-essential expensive programme I can find, that includes Obamacare.'

Abandoning his script, he quelled the boos by saying: 'You know, there was a survey of the Chamber of Commerce, they carried out a survey of their members, about 1500 were surveyed.

'And they asked them what effected that Obamacare would have on their plans and three-quarters of them said it would make them less likely to hire people.

'So I say again if our priority is jobs and that's my priority that's something I'd change and I will replace with something that provides people something they need in healthcare, which is lower cost, good quality , a capacity to deal with people who have pre-existing conditions and I'll put that in place.'

Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist, told CNN that the crowd was 'right to boo' because 'Obamacare' was 'derogatory terminology used by an intolerant group of Americans'.

Back in March, however, the Obama campaign fully embraced the term Obamacare, formerly mainly the preserve of conservative critics of Obama's Affordable Care Act.

David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, sent out an email saying: 'I like Obamacare. I'm proud of it -- and you should be, too. Here's why: Because it works. So if you're with me, say it: "I like Obamacare."'

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy