Mitt Romney stands by ‘victim’ comments from Mother Jones video, Obama campaign fires back
photo/Mark Taylor
GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is answering to a new video which surfaced Monday showing him dismissing President Barack Obama’s supporters as people who take no responsibility for their livelihoods and who think they are entitled to government handouts.
In the video, published by Mother Jones magazine, Romney tells a private audience of campaign donors in Florida that the backers will vote for Obama “no matter what” and that he does not “worry about those people.”
“There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it,” Romney said. “These are people who pay no income tax.”
Romney is sticking by the comments, assembled a brief and to-the-point press conference Monday night to address the tape.
“It’s not elegantly stated, let me put it that way. I was speaking off the cuff in response to a question,” Romney said, adding he wants to help “all Americans.”
“It’s a message which I am going to carry and continue to carry, which is that the president’s approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn’t as attractive to them. Therefore I’m not likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those in the middle.”
“It’s shocking that a candidate for president of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives. It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement.
Messina repeated the attack in a donation request that was emailed to Obama supporters:
The man who spoke these words — who demonstrates such disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans — is the other side’s choice for president of the United States. He wants to lead our country.
If we don’t come through for President Obama right now, this will be the guy making big decisions that affect us and our families every single day.
There are only 50 days left in this campaign. Please make a donation today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/Behind-Closed-Doors
Thank you for being on our side,
Messina
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
[…] the details on the “47%” comment by Mitt Romney: read here President Barack Obama reacts to a photograph during an interview with David Letterman during a […]
[…] A leaked video of Mitt Romney telling a room full of wealthy donors that roughly 47% of Americans will vote for Barack Obama “no matter what” because they are “dependent upon government” has swept the airwaves since being published by David Corn on the liberal site Mother Jones Monday. […]