2nd UPDATE: 10:09 p.m. EDT: The following breaking news alert was filed by the Associated Press: BREAKING: Romney: Comment calling Americans ‘victims’ was ‘not elegantly stated,’ spoken ‘off the cuff’
Interestingly (and disappointingly, in my opinion), it appears Mr. Romney’s campaign office called a hastily scheduled press conference that prevented live television coverage.
Moreover, Mr. Romney’s statement suggests he is defending his remarks. He reportedly also stated late tonight that he often delivers a similar message in public; we can expect the media that cover him on a daily basis to examine the veracity of those words.
1st UPDATE: 9:58 p.m. EDT: Mitt Romney will hold a media conference in moments to address the comments that were recorded.
ORIGINAL POST: The voice certainly sounds like Mitt Romney’s.
The image in the background certainly resembles Mitt Romney.
So, what is Mitt Romney doing delivering a less-than-kind assessment of some Americans? Does he really think almost half of Americans are tax dodgers and dependent upon government?
Seriously?
And also tell me what this video does to the presidential election. (And don’t answer that through your political lens; answer it with more honesty than that!) Here’s my assessment: Feeds the image of a heartless man who has no regard for Joe and Josephine American and who has only his — and his cronies’ — interests in mind.
His campaign gets hit with a media firestorm, he sluffs it off as misspoken, he tries to justify it by showing that he was just quoting numbers, and he refuses to talk any further about it. Republican talking heads will rally up saying it was tough talk that needs to be heard and talk about how the government is too big. Democratic talking heads will say he is out of touch, Chris Matthews will use it as race-laced bigotry, and the Obama campaign will ask people to sign petitions saying they’re part of the 47% and they pay taxes. Romney will suffer in the polls for the 1-1.5 weeks he gets hit with it by the media, but it won’t 1-for-1 translate to Obama gains.