Ann Romney said this week that her husband was “absolutely not” expressing any disdain for people dependent on government entitlement programs in a recently released video.
“I know the guy, I know him really well, I know he cares, and that's why we're running,” Mitt Romney’s wife told a local Fox affiliate in Denver, Colo. The interview was published Tuesday evening.
In a video taken covertly at a private fundraiser in May, Romney told supporters that his “job is not to worry” about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income taxes, are “dependent on the government" and "believe they are victims.” He said those people would never vote for him as president.
Mother Jones released the video this week, triggering an aggressive reaction from President Obama and the Democrats. Obama’s campaign called Romney’s comments disdainful of half of America and said a president must be a leader “for all” of America.
Romney’s campaign said that his remarks at the fundraiser were “off the cuff” and “inarticulate” but has since doubled down on the larger point that “Obama’s vision for America is a government-centered society.”
Ann Romney said the GOP nominee’s words were taken out of context.
“So it's unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this or gets taken out of context, 'cause if you really do listen to everything that he does say, he's talking about what we're facing in America right now,” she said. “We're facing some really difficult situations, and if we don't take corrective measures soon, that more and more people will become dependent on government, and that is not what he wants.
"He wants to have more economic opportunity for people," she continued, "he wants to have better jobs for people. He does not want to have more people be more dependent on government.”
Ann Romney, as she often does when campaigning for her husband, defended his motivation.
“Speaking from a perspective from a wife and a mother and from the things that I know that I care about, I want to know what motivates the guy, the person that I would be voting for, and I would say that what motivates Mitt is that he cares,” she said. “That this is a guy that is — doesn't, obviously, need to do this for a job. I mean, he honestly believes that he can help many Americans by getting in there and having the experience that he's had and the ability to understand the economy, to bring more certainty to more Americans, especially to women.”
