"I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners."
- Mitt Romney, Feb. 26
"Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually."
- Mitt Romney, Feb. 24
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 30, 2012 - Fellow Republicans, as I accept your nomination for the presidency tonight, I feel like a million bucks. Actually, I feel like between 150 and 200 some-odd million bucks. It's hard to say with certainty because some of it is in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and a Swiss bank account.
It is particularly meaningful to accept the nomination in Florida, where so many of my friends own so many things. The Miami Dolphins. The Orlando Magic. The Doral country club. I have friends who own some of Florida's finest hotels, resorts, yachts, and real estate.
To reach this day, I have lived the American dream. I grew up on the real streets of America, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. My father, a public servant, scrimped and saved enough of his earnings as CEO of American Motors to send me to the Cranbrook prep school, France, and Harvard.
From those humble beginnings, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and become part of the middle class of this country. As part of the middle class, I have been able to buy various homes, four cars, and several horses. Sure, there are government workers who make more than I do, but I am not complaining. I, like millions of Americans, have been unemployed.
To reach this stage, I have crossed this great land by chartered jet, from the cul-de-sacs of Greenwich, Conn., to the hills of La Jolla, Calif. Along the way, I have felt a kinship with my fellow Americans - not just those in East Hampton, but also those in Grosse Pointe. I met unfortunate Americans struggling to get by on less than $374,000 in speaking fees - which, I can tell you, is not very much.
And though I am not concerned with the very poor, I have a good sense of the indignities working people face, because I have enjoyed firing a number of them myself. I have seen a checkout line at Wal-Mart. I have worn clothing from the Gap. I have stood with those forced to wear plastic ponchos at sporting events because they do not have big bucks. I know the terrible feeling of struggling to find a Lincoln in my wallet because it was hidden behind a Franklin.
In winning the nomination, I have survived false attacks. My opponents accused me of quadrupling the size of my $12 million home in California, but I was only doubling the square footage, if you don't count the basement and garage. A New Hampshire woman asked me to give up some of my four houses, but I only have three, and that's counting the little place with the boathouse on Lake Winnipesaukee.
I am accepting your nomination on behalf of the millions of Americans who fear they will get a pink slip - a fear I have felt as well. I may not have struggled to make a mortgage payment, but my friends the Marriotts run many lodging facilities. I know what it's like to be an office worker because my colleagues and I used to own Staples. I know people can have trouble sleeping at night because we had a stake in Sealy. I know how hard it can be to put food on the table because we owned Domino's. And I understand American ingenuity because we owned part of Brookstone.
Corporations are people, my friends, and I'd particularly like to thank a few very special people - Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse.
So let us go forth from this convention to win the White House. To those who say we cannot win, I have a simple reply: I'll bet you 10,000 bucks.
Dana Milbank is a Washington Post columnist.
