FOXNews.com: Romney Standing Firm on Obama 'Victims' Remark

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Romney Standing Firm on Obama 'Victims' Remark Sep 18th 2012, 13:06 Mitt Romney is sticking by his comments captured in a video at a fundraiser earlier this year in which he told donors that President Obama's base supporters are "reliant on government," don't pay taxes and "believe they are victims." The Republican presidential nominee assembled a brief and to-the-point press conference Monday night to address the tape, which had been posted online by liberal magazine Mother Jones. Romney, while saying his phrasing was not ideal, stood by the premise of his remarks, which reportedly came from a fundraiser in Florida. "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." But he continued: "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." The video was widely circulated after it was obtained by Mother Jones, though it had been on the Internet for weeks. "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney could be heard saying. "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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 added his job as a presidential candidate was "not to worry about those people." Democrats seized on the tape, claiming they showed the GOP candidate was out of touch. The Obama campaign slammed the comments Monday, calling them "shocking." "It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation," said Jim Messina, campaign manager for Obama for America. Romney, in his press conference, called for some context. He urged whoever made the video to release it in full rather than the few clips that had been posted online. But he went on to echo largely his original remarks. "I believe the point I was made is that the president starts off with a large number of the voters, 47, 48, 49 percent, something like that. These are people who are in his camp and they will vote for him almost no matter what," he said.  "Of course there's a very different approach of the two different campaigns, 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. 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." The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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