The buzzed-about news this morning isn't Mitt Romney's huge Florida win, but instead, a comment he made on CNN today.
“I’m not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there.
If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America -- the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”
Soledad O'Brien then asked Romney if he weren't being a little callous, and Mitt clarified what he meant.
"I said I'm not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them."
Crisis averted?
Well, not quite, because Romney followed it with this:
"We will hear from the Democratic party the plight of the poor, and there's no question it's not good being poor, and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor."
Ouch -- "plight of the poor" sounds sort of sneering.
But then he, once again, clarified and finally found his footing.
"My campaign is focused on middle-income Americans. My campaign -- you can choose on where to focus. You can focus on the rich -- that's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor, that's not my focus."
In reality that isn't all that different from comments he's been making for awhile. Here he is in August 2011 (see vid below).
"In our country, the people who need the help the most are not the poor -- who have a safety net; not the rich who are doing just fine, but the middle-class."
With context, the Romney quote becomes more understandable, but just like his I like to fire people comments, the Dems will pounce on it immediately (Newt, too, maybe?).
Lest you feel too sorry for him for being taken out-of-context, we've seen plenty of those crimes from the Romney campaign this cycle, so maybe it evens out, but it still doesn't absolve either the Obama campaign or the media of responsibility in reporting it in context.
Here's his August 2011 townhall comments.
