In Mitt Romney’s first interview since his “47 percent” remarks went public last night, the embattled candidate failed to produce a defense for the words that had actually come out of his mouth in that infamous leaked fund-raiser video. He did provide Fox News’s Neil Cavuto with a pretty good defense of some things that he didn’t say, however.
Romney says (now) that he was merely, non-controversially, “talking about the fact I don’t expect to get 60-70% of the vote.” In reality, he had said that half of America would vote for Obama because they are “dependent upon government” and “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.” (By the way, about a third of the very poorest Americans, many of whom don’t pay income taxes, support Romney, according to Gallup.)
Romney says (now) that he’ll try to “get as many [votes] as I can from every single cohort in this country.” In reality, Romney wrote off the 47 percent of America who don’t pay income taxes, telling the GOP donors that he doesn’t need to “worry about those people.”
Romney says (now) that “of course … there are a number of retirees, members of the military and so forth who aren’t paying [income] taxes, and that’s as it should be.” In reality, Romney had portrayed everyone who doesn’t pay income taxes as people who “believe that they are victims” and don’t “take personal responsibility” for themselves.
Cavuto was unwilling or unable to press Romney on these and other discrepancies.
