Romney says comments in secret video not ‘elegantly stated’
Posted September 18, 2012 8:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dismissed supporters of President Barack Obama — almost half of U.S. voters — as people who live off government handouts and do not “care for their lives”, in a potentially damaging video.
The video, taken secretly at a fund-raising event for the former private-equity executive, was the latest setback for his campaign, which is struggling with low poll numbers and reports of infighting.
Romney hastily called a news conference in Costa Mesa, California on Monday to respond to the video. He said his comments were not “elegantly-stated”, but he did not back away from them.
“As I point out, I recognize that among those that pay no tax, approximately 47 percent of Americans, I’m not likely to be highly successful with the message of lowering taxes. That’s not as attractive to those who don’t pay income taxes as it is to those who do,” Romney said.
“And likewise those who are reliant on government are not as attracted to my message of slimming down the size of government. And so I then focus on those individuals who I believe are most likely to be able to be pulled into my camp and help me win the 51 or 50.1 per cent that I need to become the next president.”
His campaign he added, focused on a “free enterprise, free individual society where people pursuing their dreams” in contrast to a “government-centered society, where government plays and larger and larger role;” an approach he attributed to Obama.
The video was shot with a hidden camera as Romney spoke to potential donors at a private event earlier this year. It was posted online on Monday by the liberal magazine Mother Jones.
The video gave the Obama campaign a chance to return to a popular theme — that the multi-millionaire Romney is an out-of-touch elitist.
Romney has slipped in polls in the past two weeks as the selection of running mate Paul Ryan and the Republican National Convention failed to make much of a mark with voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey on Monday taken over the previous four days showed Romney trailing Obama by five percentage points.
Mother Jones did not say when or where the video was taken to protect the identity of the person who recorded it. It did say Romney’s remarks had been made at some point after he clinched the Republican presidential nomination in April.
