I'm not sure which one of Mitt Romney's mansions he considers to be on the "real streets" of America, but here he was attempting to paint himself as some Washington outsider, everyday businessman during the CNN Republican primary debate. Think
January 19, 2012

I'm not sure which one of Mitt Romney's mansions he considers to be on the "real streets" of America, but here he was attempting to paint himself as some Washington outsider, everyday businessman during the CNN Republican primary debate.

Think Progress summed this up pretty nicely tonight:

It’s unclear whether those “real streets” are the ones by Romney’s beach house in California, his mansion in New Hampshire, or his multi-million dollar “colonial” in Massachusetts. Of course, Romney has attempted to paint himself as an everyday, middle-class guy before. But as a Wall Street millionaire who keeps money in offshore accounts and is comfortable making $10,000 bets, it’s seems like most streets Romney spends time on are the ones paved in gold.

Transcript via CNN:

KING: Governor Romney, you're raising your hand to come in the conversation. I want to let you in on the conversation, but also, as I do, you put an ad on the air paid by your campaign, not one of the super PAC ads, calling the Speaker an unreliable leader. Why?

ROMNEY: Well, let me go back and address first what you just heard.

What you've listened to, in my view, and the Speaker's rendition of history going back to 1978 and his involvement in Washington, is, in my view, a perfect example of why we need to send to Washington someone who has not lived in Washington, but someone who's lived in the real streets of America, working in the private sector, who's led a business, who started a business, who helped lead the Olympics, who helped lead a state. We need to have someone outside Washington go to Washington.

If we want people who spent their life and their career, most of their career, in Washington, we have three people on the stage -- well, I take that back. We've got a doctor down here who spent most of his time in the surgical suite -- well not surgery, in the birthing suite.

ROMNEY: But I think America has to make a choice as to whether we're going to send people who spent their life in Washington go represent our country or, instead, whether we're going to lead -- have someone who goes who's been a leader in the private sector and knows how the economy works at the grassroots level.

Now, you asked me an entirely different question.

GINGRICH: It beats me. I don't know.

Where are we at, John?

ROMNEY: Let me tell you, one of the things I find amusing is listening to how much credit is taken in Washington for what goes on, on Main Street.

I mean, Mr. Speaker, it was -- you talk about all the things you did with Ronald Reagan and the Reagan revolution and the jobs created during the Reagan years and so forth. I mean, I looked at the Reagan diary. You're mentioned once in Ronald Reagan's diary.

And in the diary, he says you had an idea in a meeting of young congressmen, and it wasn't a very good idea and he dismissed it. That's the entire mention.

I mean, he mentions George Bush 100 times. He even mentions my dad once.

So there's a sense that Washington is pulling the strings in America. But you know what? The free people of America, pursuing their dreams and taking risk and going to school and working hard, those are the people that make America strong, not Washington.

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