you knew your individual vote in this was not going to affect the outcome and that is one of the things that senators and congressmen and legislatures lean on all the time when they are voting against their conscience or against what they know to be the better vote. >> i agree with you. they do it all the time. it doesn't make it right. my friendships suffered because of my vote. my own conscience suffered dramatically. i mean, i was sick for two days before that vote. i was hoping that we didn't have to take that vote. it was the constitutional question, should we put it on the ballot and try to write into minnesota law, which ten years later, just about, we voted that down. i'm proud of that. minnesota citizens looked at that again this fall because legislatures did vote to put it on the ballot. it was wrong nine years ago and

i think it was still wrong. voting in that circumstance, not just for me, but for our state, i'm hopeful now for our nation that people will recognize we shouldn't be discriminating and have laws on the book that discriminate against our friends, our neighbors and fellow citizens. >> what you did yesterday in minnesota is something i have never seen. it wasn't just a public apology, but you did it in the body you used to work. what was it like to go back in there in that role and tell them what you had to tell them? >> it was very freeing. the emotion came because it literally occurred to me as i sat down, this is a public apology. i was there to say trust me when i tell you that you can vote your conscience and your own compass and be okay. i should have done it. i regretted i didn't do it.

it was -- it was very liberating quite honestly. >> lynne, cannot thank you enough for joining us tonight. thank you very much. >> thank you, lawrence. >> "the ed show" is up next. good evening americans. you will meet the man wlo video taped romney's 47% comments. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> how much of that is picked up. there's so many thing that is don't get picked up. >> big morning in politics. >> today a political earthquake in the president's -- it was the recording that ignited a fire storm.

what was it like in the room? what did romney say that was so offensive? who shot the video that changed the course of history? good to have you with us tonight or the poor in america. for months t identity of the person who shot this video has remained a mystery. over the next hour you will hear the story and find out who he is. what is your name and what are you about.

i would like to think i have a good moral compass. than mitt romney had. i don't know how i would describe myself, but i was behind this whole thing. i was bar tending that night for the romney fund-raiser. >> let's talk about may 17th. what happened that day? >> we got there, you know, it was a, you know, a political fund-raiser. we did our usual thing. we set up. you know, it went off without a hitch. i work high end parties from all over for extra money. you know, it was really just another typical party that i have done plenty of them just like it. >> did you know you were going to record him? >> you know, i did -- i brought

the camera. a lot of other people brought cameras, like i said thinking he would come back and take pictures. clinton came back with the staff and took pictures. that was really my thought. i hadn't made up my mind. i was willing toe listen to what he had to say. i was interested in what he had to say. i didn't go there with a grudge, you know, against romney. i was more interested as a voter. >> how did you get the camera in there? >> i carried it in my backpack. again, they never said don't bring cameras, don't film. that was never said. you know, i just thought, you know, why not. >> so you didn't go there with the intention to get mitt romney on tape to make it a big story? >> i really had no idea he would say what he said. i thought he would say basically the things he was saying in public. i had no idea it was going to be this big thing that it turned out to be.

i had no idea. >> so, this was done and the way it unfolded with you is not because you were an obama supporter. this is a justice/injustice issue with you. there was someone running in public and saying something different behind closed doors? that's your analysis? >> the people there that night paid $50,000 per person for dinner. you know, i grew up in a blue collar area in boston. nobody i know can pay, can afford to pay $50,000 for dinner. i just don't know anybody that can do that. in a way, i felt like, you know, whether you are a republican or an independent or, there's a lot of people who can't afford to pay $50,000 for one night, for one dinner. i felt an obligation in a way, to release it. i felt an obligation for all the people who can't afford to be there, you shouldn't have to be able to afford $50,000 to hear what the candidate actually thinks. >> what did you personally go

through? was there a defining moment that said i'm going to do this, i have to do this? >> i went back and forth in that two week period. i said i have a comfortable life. i struggle like everybody else, you know, and why would i -- why am i going to do this? why am i going to risk everything? should i risk everything and put myself in jeopardy, in legal jeopardy? there was times i went back and forth a little bit. i woke up in the middle of the night one night and i was, you know, in the darkness of my house kind of looking out the window and thinking about it. i walked into the bathroom. i looked in the mirror and the words, you coward came out of my

mouth. i looked in the mirror and said you are a coward. you are an absolute coward. i was leaning toward not putting it out. it kind of came out of my mouth. i, you know, i went back to bed and said that's not going to work. i'm going to put it out. i'm going to be proud i did it. do it to the best of my ability and make sure as many people as possible hear it. at least when i turn that corner, i felt good about it and like i was doing the right thing. i went down the path and never looked back. >> let's go to the recording. this is may 17th. this is when it all started. romney comes into the room. you have the camera set up. let's play this. >> i guess everybody here is a dignitary. i appreciate your help.

by the way, i am serious about the food. don't slow down. clear the place. hillary has to eat her beats. >> what's happening here? >> he had only been in the room for maybe a minute or two. i think it was telling for me, he had basically walked into a dinner party that he was the guest of honor and he demanded that the service be sped up. he literally had just walked in the door. i thought that was kind of remarkable. anybody that walks into a dinner party, doesn't matter who you are, i can't imagine demanding being fed faster. it's not like we were behind schedule. i just think that says a lot about who he is, to walk into any person's house and demand speed it up, speed it up, bring it, bring it, bring it. >> this next clip we have is really an attention grabber. i understand it was for you. he's talking about being lucky, being born with a silver spoon,

then he transitions to talking about china, which really caught your attention. here it is. >> when i was back in my private equity days, we went to china to buy a factory there, employed 20,000 people, almost all young women between 18 and 22 or 23. they were saving for potentially becoming married. they work in huge factories, they made small appliances and as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work the number of hours they work, what they earn, living in dormitories with little bathrooms at the end with maybe ten rooms. the rooms, they had 12 girls per room. three bunk beds. around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire.

i said i can't believe you keep the girls in. they said no, no, no, this is to keep other people from coming in because they want to come work in this factory. they will come in and start working and try to get compensated. this is to keep people out. >> at this point, you wanted to make sure you got what he was saying. that wasn't your intention as it started but as it unfolded, you were taking measures to protect the recording. >> yeah. i wanted to make sure -- i had a secret service agent behind me. we were never told it was a secret meeting or private meeting, don't bring cameras. plenty of people were in the room with cameras. people were taking video. there was a videographer there. this was not the typical speech. >> this was the clip that motivated you to go public? >> 100%. >> let's look at the 47% comment which you admit got the most play. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president

no matter what. 47% were with him who depend upon government who believe they are victims and the government has a responsibility to care to them, believe they are entitled to health care, food, housing, you name it. >> what was your response, initially? >> i knew where he came from. he was born with all the advantages that few people have. the son of a governor. ceo. you know, prep school educated, harvard educated. i don't think he has any clue what a regular american goes through on a daily basis. i don't think he has any idea what a single mom taking a bus to work, dropping her kid off at day care that she can barely

afford, hopping on another bus, the day in, day out struggles of every day americans. that guy has no idea, no idea. i don't think he'll ever have an idea. >> so you have this tape, you go home and you know what you have but you really don't know what to do with it? >> yeah, it was that two week period. i lost sleep. i waited and i thought, what am i -- i knew it could be an absolute mess. i knew it could throw my life into turmoil, i would lose my job, maybe get sued. i looked into all those issues. >> issues meaning you looked into the research of china? >> i looked into the research of china after i decided, eventually, i looked into it. this is going live. if i'm going to do it, i'm going to do it the biggest way i possibly can. i'm going to make sure as many people hear his words and his

words only. i felt an obligation. people can decide for themselves whether they agree with him or not but i felt it was my duty to make sure as many people heard of it as possible. i started doing my homework. i wanted to find out what factory he was talking about and have back up there. it led me to an article in mother jones. he did an article about global tech. >> you were thinking in the research you were doing and the articles you read that this is what romney was talking about? >> i thought so. it was a small appliance factory, large factory. there's pictures online. i was able to find a photo of the factory. it was as described, barbed wire, guard towers, huge fraktry. i lined up. >> that took you to what conclusion?

>> it took me to, you know, moving forward james carter was noted as a research assistant in that article. >> jimmy carter's grandson? >> yeah. i didn't know it at the time. figuring i respected david's journalism, considering he had done this article about global tech, i said this is the guy that i want to take it national. i want him to hop on this and do it. i figured the best way to get ahold of david was through his research assistant. they made me contact james carter on youtube and twitter. >> at that point, you didn't release the whole tape right away. what was your strategy behind that? >> i, you know, my goal was if you typed in mitt romney into google, my goal was to have that clip, that china clip pop up and, you know, the way you do that or the way i understood you

do it is by having as many links as possible all over the place on the internet. that raises your standing on google. so my goal was to spread that as far as wide as possible, knowing, you know, i considered, you know, if i'm going to do it, do i release the whole thing now? do i do it may 31st when i put the first clip online. i said no, i want it to go live in full, you know, probably when most people are paying attention. i thought that was around the conventions, the rnc and the dnc. >> the first tape went out late may, then there was another one. you saw a build in social network. why didn't you come out and do an interview? >> i had offers. eventually, i was spreading it

and spreading it. i was all over twitter and all over facebook and all the social networks. >> anonymous name. >> yep, anonymous name. i wanted to put it out there and get the conversation started. but, i degraded the video. i didn't want them to be able to pinpoint exactly where it had been taken. you know, i didn't want to give the romney camp a head start in tracking me down to find me. i did everything i could to minimize my personal risk, but still to make sure i got it out to the maximum number of people possible, you know, so i -- i was putting a link here and a link there and a link here and a link there. other people were picking up on it. they would put in a blog and this blog and that blog. >> you just wanted the conversation. you didn't want the attention yourself? >> no. when david went public with it and released the full video, i had offers, you know, "today" show and this and that and the other.

as far away as germany. you know, i thought it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. all along with david, i wanted mitt romney's words and mitt romney's words only. he's the guy running for president. i wanted his words to be the absolute center of attention. maybe it would be fun to go on a show or do this show or that, but i thought that would change the topic of the conversation away from the primary thing that was most important to me. of course, i'll -- i expected to be ripped apart by the right wing media. i'm sure that's to come. the blowback will occur. before the election, i thought it was too important for me to just stand-up and say hey, i did it and try to get a little bit of fame from it. >> up next, more with scott prouty. the man who changed the face of the 2012 election, next. stick around. there's nothing better than salon color, full of beautiful highlights and lowlights. that's why nice'n easy builds dimension into every shade.

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coming up on "the ed show,"

our exclusive guest will respond to mitt romney trying to spin his way out of the 47% comments. that's next. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪

for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. welcome back to "the ed show." we continue our conversation with scott prouty. his video started a wildfire of controversy and immediately changed the conversation in the presidential election. i asked scott to give us his take on how mitt romney and president obama reacted. so the 47% comment is out there and picked up by the media and played on every show. it's the conversation piece now. what does it mean?

this is mitt romney's first response on september 17th. let's look at it. >> you offended this 47% you mentioned. >> well, you know, it's not eloquently stated. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question. i'm sure i could state it more clearly in a more effective way than i did in a setting like that. so, i'll -- i'm sure i'll point that out as time goes on. we don't even have the question nor the full response. i hope the person who has the video would put out the full material. but it's a message which i will continue to carry. the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes. my discussion to lower taxes is not appealing to them. i'm not going to draw them into my campaign like those in the middle. >> mr. romney, at that point

wants you to put out the full tape. what is your response to that? >> let's do it. i was on the phone with david at the time. i asked him to blur out everyone else in the room. i only wanted romney to be seen. i really only wanted romney's voice to be heard, too. in a way, i felt it wasn't fair to the people in the room. i only wanted his voice, but he came out and did this press conference. frankly, my reaction, it looks like he's a broken man. that was my impression. his hair was a mess. his face contorted. he's as stressed as you can be. he doubled down on it. he said it's a message i'm going to continue to take forward. he didn't back up from it at all. then he did. he specifically asked that i release the whole thing, called it a snippet insinuating it was taken out of context.

so, at that point, if he asked for it, i decided i would give it to him and said david, go for it. >> it was a motivator for you? >> yeah. >> you are going to the firewall. >> he asked for it. >> now that the tape is out, the pressure is on candidate romney because he was asked about it everywhere. it evolved into a number of different answers. let's look at it. >> those dependent upon government and those who think government's job is to redistribute, i'm not going to get them. there's a divide in the country. >> when someone is running for president this day and age, you can't always say what you believe? >> you can but you don't always say it eloquently. you mix it up and you have to go back and say it's not what i meant. clearly in a campaign with hundreds and thousands of

speeches with question and answer sessions, you are going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case, i said something wrong. >> how did you react to that? he was giving a series of answers that didn't match up. >> i think it describes his campaign in a nutshell. he will go back and forth on every single issue, depending on which audience and, you know, i don't know what he believes. i don't know if he knows what he believes. >> at that time, did you realize what you had done and how it was injected into the conversation? this was the story. thanks to you. >> yeah. i think it defined him at a critical point, you know. it defined him exactly for who he was. you know, i thought, you know, job well done because it's exactly what i hoped. at least everybody can make their own judgment on whether they believe what he's saying to be true or not. at the very least, the people heard, all the people who couldn't afford the $50,000 to

be there, people in the midwest, they heard what he believes. that was the important part of it. that's what happened, for sure. >> the story reached its pinnacle in the second debate, october 16th. the closing remarks by the president of the united states was in reference to what you had released. let's look at it. >> i believe governor romney is a good man. loves his family, cares about his faith. but, i also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. folks on social security who worked all their lives, veterans who sacrificed for this country, students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams but also this

country's dreams, soldiers overseas fighting for us right now. people who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don't make enough income. i want to fight for them. that's what i have been doing for the last four years. if they succeed, i believe the country succeeds. >> president obama used your material to close a debate at a very crucial time, after his first debate was heavily criticized. this was his closing statement. what was going through your mind at this point? >> it was the last line of the debate. i was sitting on the edge of my couch. i watched the first debate, there was no mention of it.

a cheer erupted in the room at the time. i was thrilled that he hit him with it when he did. you know, it was well done. >> at this point, had you ever had any contact with the obama campaign? >> no. >> this was all organic? >> yeah. i mean this wasn't -- you know, i voted for president obama, i'm proud to call him my president. i'm independent. i typically vote democrat, but i certainly never had contact of any sort. >> did that validate your instincts of how important this tape was when you saw the president use it? >> i was glad, you know, in a way, i was wishing he used it in the first debate. it all worked out well. in a way, i can't -- it worked

out exactly the way i hoped it would, you know. i'm thrilled he mentioned it. he used it to great effect, for sure. >> do you think it changed the election? >> i think it did. it defined him at a point when he needed to be defined for the american public. it defined him in a negative light, but an honest light. it showed who he was as a person. >> were you following the polls? >> sure. >> did you notice that there was a closing between the two candidates and after this story, there was a separation? >> yeah. you know, i was following along. the entire time, i was trying to push the agenda, trying to, you know, even when david came out, i was on twitter and on, you know, just trying to spread the message. you know, it was high stakes for me at that point because i had rolled the dice. i had decided i'm in. >> this is your first on-camera

interview. why now? >> you know, romney came out, again, on fox news and did an interview recently. i know he's going to be on the c-pac convention. his interview on fox news, he's calling the president saying his words were twisted, blaming the media. if he's going to still interject himself, you know, he could do a lot of good for this country. instead, he's sitting in his mansion in san diego somewhere giving interviews and calling the president names. i think the guy needs to respect the will of the voters. the election wasn't even that close. i think he needs to take personal responsibility for his campaign and the words he said and move forward. a good start would be to go back to some of the towns that bain capital shipped jobs. if you go back to freeport, illinois. start a business, create a product, build something in america. do something other than vulture

capitalism. do something other than make another million dollars for himself. i would have a lot of respect for him if he went forward in that way. i hope he would. time will tell what he does with his life. >> next, scott prouty will tell you about the specific moment he decided to expose the real mitt romney to the world. stay with us. [ mom ] with my little girl, every food is finger food. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs.

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welcome back to "the ed show." there's so much more to the story of scott prouty.

you are about to find out the specific part of the video that changed his life as well as the man who inspired scott to stand-up and speak out. >> he really put his life on the line. his living on the line. his job on the line. to do this because it was the right thing to do so that the american people would know that they got to see the real romney. >> there is a lot more, coming up, stay with us. ♪ ♪ twith blackberry hub10 and flick typing. built to keep you moving. see it in action at blackberry.com/z10.

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picasso painted one of his master works at 56. doris taerbaum finished her first marathon at 50. not everyone peaks in their twenties. throughout their lives. passion keeps them realizing possibilities. an ally for real possibilities. aarp. find tools and support at aarp.org/possibilities. welcome back to "the ed show." the 47% comment received all the national attention but scott prouty was motivated to take action by another part of the video, mitt romney's comments about buying a factory in china opened his eyes to a story he thought america needed to know. this really drove your passion, this comment about the treatment of workers when we had this big

narrative going on in the campaign about american jobs and building the economy and you heard this. >> you know, i realize that bain was outsourcing business model. i realized, number one, it's wrong on so many levels. what he's talking about is a prison camp in communist china and i realized that the complete lack of empathy, when he talks about the girls stacked three high. for him to come away with a good feeling about it, i thought this guy is dangerous. he wonders through this horrendous place and thought to himself, this is pretty good. then i realized, wait, he doesn't care about those girls, he sure as heck doesn't care about the people in illinois or ohio or the manufacturing jobs, all the companies he closed down to ship this place, you know, ship these jobs to china. he doesn't care about the people, the auto workers in the

u.s. this is his m.o. this is what he does. he's a vulture capitalist and doesn't care even on the basic level. >> his research exposed the horrible conditions in the global tech factory. the report called betting against america's workers showed the horrible working conditions, conditions in the factory. it led scott to a man who might be familiar to "the ed show" viewers. he's the director for global rights. he's a tireless advocate for workers rights and has been a guest on this show. scott prouty hoped the romney video would help highlight his work. charles joined us during our interview to explain why the video was so important.

>> it was clear that romney and his colleagues were lying through their teeth. there's no way in the world. nobody with half a brain would say there's barbed wire and armed guards around the factory to keep workers out. that's completely ridiculous. everybody should have burst out laughing about that. romney said, when i walked through the factory, global tech, when i walked through the factory, nobody looked up. he said to the owner, the factory owner, why don't they look up? they take their work seriously. they were told, if they raised their heads, they would be beaten, possibly arrested and thrown out of the factory. everything that is in the tape that romney is talking about is in la la land. it's lies. >> the whole conversation of the campaign was unfolding in front

of your eyes. everything you believed and everything you thought of romney was now on tape. did you know it was the game changer? >> absolutely. yeah. i mean, i personally felt frightened for anonymous. i didn't know his name or her name but i was quite scared that they are going to come after this guy. >> who's they? >> well, many of the people who were out at this meeting and, you know, the right wing. the extreme right wing. i still think there's great risk here. when it first came out, my first thought was god, what's going to happen to this guy. if there's any way to help, we have to help. we have to take care of each other, watch each other's backs. >> did you tell him what his world was going to be like?

>> i think scott's incredibly brilliant and so it only took a minute before we could really be talking the same language and have the same concerns. i think what he did was, he's like an incredible hero to take these risks, to put these documents out. i mean, i think he deserves credit from every single serious person in the united states who wants to know the truth about these campaigns. >> how rare is this man? >> i think absolutely one in a million. it's not only the fact he made the tapes, he also knows what he's talking about. he also judged every single step of the way, should i do this, should i not? looking in the mirror and saying at one point, two weeks after the tapes or ten days after the tapes, you are a coward. with great risk for no reason. he really put his life on the

line. his living on the line. his job on the line to do this because it was the right thing to do so that the american people would know that they got to see the real romney. >> you are not so sure that president obama would have won re-election without the tape. >> i don't think so. it looked rugged and bumpy. this is what threw it over the top. >> is this a lesson for activists? do you hope this motivates people to get involved when they have the opportunity? >> 100%. i mean, not everyone wants to do it or could do it. when there are people who really can play an activist role that actually matters and educates the american people and stands in solidarity with the american people and stands with working people, i think what scott did was about the highest level you can go.

>> charlie, known worldwide for advocating for workers and telling the story about exploited workers, he calls you a hero. >> charlie has been doing this work, i think, for 20 years and really hasn't got the attention. we put glory and attention on a lot of people for a lot of silly things. you know, there's not a lot of money to be made doing what charlie does. charlie does things for the right reason, stands up for the workers of this country. stands up for the people over there that can't stand-up for themselves. people who don't have a voice. they are not allowed by their governments to have a voice. charlie is standing up for those people as well. it's important. to hear him say those things about me, i don't think coming from him, it's an honor. you know, he's been doing this work and hasn't gotten the credit that he deserves. and, like i said before, i'm happy that i can just bring -- shine a little light on the work he does.

it's an honor to have met him and be associated with him. >> stay with us on "the ed show." scott prouty will join me for his first live interview. that's next. morning, brian! love your passat! um. listen, gary. i bought the last one. nice try. says right here you can get one for $199 a month. you can't believe the lame-stream media, gary. they're all gone. maybe i'll get one. [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. you can't have the same car as me, gary! i'm gettin' one. nope! [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease one of four volkswagen models for under $200 a month. visit vwdealer.com today. but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

then i read an article about a study that looked at the long term health benefits of taking multivitamins. they used centrum silver for the study... so i guess my wife was right. [ male announcer ] centrum. always your most complete. now you have seen scott prouty speak out for the first time. the man behind the 47% tape that changed the course of a presidential election will join me live here in studio on "the ed show." stay with us. [ phoebe ] stress sweat. it's different than ordinary sweat. it smells worse, and it can happen anytime -- to anyone! like when i ran to catch the train to work and a draft blew my skirt up and everybody here saw my unmentionables. yeah, and they aren't even cute. hello, laundry day. no... [ female announcer ] stress sweat can happen to anyone, anytime -- and it smells worse than ordinary sweat. get 4x the protection against stress sweat. introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent.

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welcome back to "the ed show." joining me live in studio, scott prouty. scott, good to have you with us.

it's been fun to get to you know. you are a unique man and a guy with a lot of guts. what's your future? >> i don't know. i'll see where it goes. i think i'm going to work with charlie more closely. i had the pleasure of meeting leo gerard, the president of united steel workers, i met him in washington. tim waters has been great through this process. i hope to work with them closer. we'll see how it goes. >> have you ever done any kind of advocate work before, with politico or someone so involved in politics? >> i was politically aware and i stood to protest the iraq war. that was the sum total of my political activism at that point. >> what do you want to say to your co-workers? you were not the only worker there at that dinner. what do you want to say to them? >> i have an apology for them. they are fantastic people. they treat their employees fairly, they pay above average. they treat their employees with dignity and respect. that was the hardest part about releasing it. i felt i wasn't fair to them. i felt like maybe what was at stake was more important than my job. i knew they had a great

business. i work with talented, professional people and i knew that, you know, their business would be okay. but, i would apologize to the people that owned the business and, you know, if it affected them in any way, that was not my intention what so ever. >> did the other workers know it was you? >> you know, i think they had an idea. i think they had an idea. >> did they ask you? >> no. i kind of stopped all contact. i couldn't talk about it with anybody. i just figured the best thing to do is just stop talking totally and, you know, i think they probably had a good idea. they were great to not expose me. >> how did you respond to the conversation in the community they were going to quote, get -- not your employers, but people in general were going to get the guy that did this?

>> i kind of expected that. you know, that's the way it goes. if you are going to play at that level and interject yourself at that level, you are going to get what you get. you know, i'll take my lumps and deal with what i have to deal with. it will be okay. >> if you had a moment with president obama, what would you say to him? >> i would probably thank him. i think he's done a great job. i think he works hard. he's owed a thank you from me. i would thank him for being a good president. >> do you think you changed the election? >> i think so. >> no, i think mitt romney changed the election. >> but what you did? >> i suppose. yeah, it was critical. it was a critical point. it defined him at that time. >> there was a time in the video where a towel was thrown over the camera. what was that about?

>> it was kind of a holy cow, i don't believe he's saying this. i don't believe he's -- is he really saying this? >> you were worried somebody was going to notice the camera? >> it was gut instinct. i'm going to cover it up. it's not a normal speech. >> i want to make it clear to our viewers, we have a policy, we do not pay for interviews but you have received offers for money to do interviews. why didn't you do that? why didn't you take the money? >> the message was clear the entire time. for whatever amount of money you are going to get, it wouldn't be worth, you know, damaging what the motivation was. the motivation was to expose him for what he said. >> what about your personal situation? how much did this play into the video and what you heard. you didn't have health insurance at all? no health insurance. your savings was modest at best. >> sure. yeah.

i struggle like everybody else does. >> this really rang hard with you. >> yeah. it wasn't an easy thing to do. i happened to -- the person i'm with happens to be incredibly -- she's great. she probably deserves an award more than i do. >> what do you want to do? >> you know, my dream was always to go to law school. that would be a dream. i take it as it comes, see how it goes. >> do you have any regrets? do you worry about the future? >> no. once i made the decision and then, you know, i feel good about it. i feel good about the way it turned out. i don't have regrets. it turned out the way i hoped it would. i'll move forward and play it by ear and take it as it comes. >> again, to reiterate, why did you do this?

why? why would you put yourself out there like this? >> people need to hear what someone believes. they needed to hear what he really thinks. he was saying the opposite in public. i felt like that, you know, to watch him on tv, that wasn't what he was saying in public. it just, you know, everybody needed to hear that. >> you knew you had a unique seat in history as to what was being said? >> i thought i could be a game changer, take him out. i thought maybe he would leave the campaign at that point. >> scott prouty, thanks for your time. thanks for doing this on "the ed show." >> thank you for speaking up for workers across america. it's the reason i'm here today. you have a voice. i think we need more voices like yourself. >> i appreciate that very much. thank you. coming up -- i have another major announcement, next. stay with us. the only thing we'd ever grown together

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