Russell Simmons on President Obama, Politics, and Hip-Hop

Comments (0) By S. Pajot Thursday, Oct 25 2012

Over the years, on a number of those issues, from health care to women's pay to gay rights, Mitt Romney has been difficult to pin down. What do you think a Romney presidency would look like?

No one knows! That's the problem. The strongest statement that Mitt Romney has made is Paul Ryan. And that's the most offensive thing that he could've said to me.

Russell Simmons: "Romney is against the people."

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A friend of mine once said, "Oh, he's a moderate Republican. Maybe we can get some Democratic stuff done. It might not be so terrible." But his pandering to the extreme right during the Republican primary debates proved otherwise. And then in the first debate with President Obama, he tried to switch his stance on almost everything that matters!

His health-care plan in Massachusetts was good. I applaud Mitt Romney for that plan. But he doesn't have a plan for the rest of America. [laughs] So we really have no idea what his presidency would look like. The best guess is four more years of the stuff that Bush did. And that would probably destroy the country.

That infamous 2000 election was decided right here in Florida. Do you predict that our state will prove pivotal in this year's presidential contest?

I think Florida is critical. But everybody in every state has got to go out and vote. I want to make sure that we win by a record. This guy Romney is against the people. It should be easy. But I don't want people to think that they don't have to vote.

We must do everything in our power to win Miami and Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia. Every city in every swing state needs to be ours. The voters have to be committed and determined and say, "I don't care if I break my feet! I gotta have somebody wheelchair me into that booth!"