Romney Talks Bluntly on Those Dependent on Government

September 17, 2012, 6:51 pm

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Mitt Romney described almost half of Americans as “dependent upon government” during a private reception with donors earlier this year and said those voters will likely support President Obama because they believe they are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

The blunt political and cultural assessment by the Republican presidential candidate offers a rare glimpse into Mr. Romney's personal views as the campaign enters its final 50 days. Liberals quickly condemned the remarks as insensitive and Mr. Obama's campaign accused him of having “disdainfully written off half the nation.”

The recordings surfaced even as Mr. Romney sought to relaunch his campaign me ssage amid internal campaign sniping and calls from Republicans outside the campaign for him to be more specific about how his policies will fix the nation's economy.

And the videos raised the possibility that his campaign would once again be sidetracked by Mr. Romney's own words, a problem that has plagued the former Massachusetts governor since his hard-fought battle with Republican rivals during the nominating contests earlier this year.

Video clips of the Republican candidate for president making the comments were posted on the Internet Monday afternoon by Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, which said it had obtained the recording and had confirmed its authenticity. The magazine said it was concealing the identity of the person who took the video and the location and time of the recording.

The New York Times is unable to confirm where or when the clips were taken. The author of the article on the Mother Jones website, David Corn, said the video was taken after Mr. Romney won the Republican nominating contest but he declined to comment further.

In one video segment of the fundraiser, Mr. Romney described how his campaign is writing off “47 percent of the people” who will vote for Mr. Obama “no matter what.” He adds that those people “are people who pay no income tax” and says “so our message of low taxes doesn't connect.”

Mr. Romney said that “my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

The comments by Mr. Romney were much more stark than usual, though he typically talks in public about supporters of Mr. Obama wanting big government to take care of their problems. He often accuses Mr. Obama and his supporters of wanting to bring a European-style socialism to the United States.

In the videos, Mr. Romney says that his campaign is concentrating on the “5 to 10 percent in the center” who he describes as “thoughtful” when it comes to deciding who to vote for.

Jim Messina, Mr. Obama's campaign manager, said in a statement Monday evening that it was “shocking” that Mr. Romney would “go behind closed doors” to describe nearly half of the country in such terms.

“It¹s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you¹ve disdainfully written off half the nation,” Mr. Messina wrote.

Gail Gitcho, the communications director for Mr. Romney, said in a statement that Mr. Romney is “concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work.”