Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has admitted that comments he made about 47 per cent of Americans who “pay no income tax” were not only a little misguided, they were also incorrect.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has admitted that comments he made about 47 per cent of Americans who “pay no income tax” were not only a little misguided, they were also incorrect.
When asked about the comments during an interview Thursday evening on Fox News, Romney said, “In this case, I just said something that’s completely wrong.”
Romney tells Fox News that, in hundreds of campaign speeches, “now and again you’re going to say something that doesn’t come out right.”
The admission comes after a video originally posted by Mother Jones, showed Romney speaking at a private Republican fundraiser in May. In the video, Romney makes disparaging comments about the “47 per cent of the people who will vote for the president, no matter what.” He goes on to say that not only do these people fail to pay income tax, they also feel entitled and believe that the government should provide them with food, housing, medical care and other services.
Romney’s Thursday admission to Fox News comes after weeks of changing messages, where Romney originally said his comments were “not elegantly stated” and that he was “speaking off the cuff,” but he remained behind them.
The 47 per cent comment, which Romney is now distancing himself from, sparked outrage from some voters, who saw the comments as a sign that the millionaire candidate was out of touch with regular Americans. It also gave the Democrats fodder for an attack ad, to claim just that.