Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had been "a little clumsy" in his comments at a closed-door fundraiser, which were revealed Monday, but added that he believed the general sentiment behind Romney's comments was correct.
"Mitt Romney probably could have better explained himself," West told Fox News. "I think he was a little clumsy in doing this."
The video, released Monday by the liberal magazine Mother Jones, was surreptitiously recorded at a closed-door fundraiser at the Boca Raton, Fla., home of private equity banker Marc Leder. Romney is shown saying that many Americans are "dependent upon government" and "believe they are victims."
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney is shown saying. "All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it."
The GOP presidential nominee goes on to say his "job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
At a press conference Monday night, Romney admitted his comments were "not elegantly stated."
But West said Romney was right to highlight an increasing "largesse from the public treasury."
"I think that when you look at us moving toward economic dependence instead of economic freedom ... the fact we had [a] 46 percent increase in food stamp recipients, more Americans in poverty over the last three and a half years thanks to the Obama administration, the unemployment that is probably actually closer to 14.7 percent with the computation," West said.
The Florida lawmaker added that he thought the story would only provide a temporary distraction from coverage of riots outside the U.S. Consulate in Libya that left four foreign service workers dead.
"Only for those [with] a short-term memory span," Wes said. "I think most of us are still focused on what is happening overseas, the fact that our embassies are being attacked and people are chanting, 'Death to America.' "
