Mitt Romney said late on Thursday that his secretly-filmed remarks dismissing 47 per cent of Americans as government dependents were “completely wrong.”
Fresh from a victory in the first presidential debate that seemed to get his campaign back on track after the earlier remarks derailed it, the Republican challenger addressed the controversy in an interview on Fox News.
“Clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you are going to say something [that] doesn’t out come right,” he said.
“In this case, I said something that’s just completely wrong. I absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that I care about the 100 per cent.”
The video released last month by the liberal website showed Romney, in a closed-door meeting with wealthy donors, saying that 47 per cent of Americans paid no income taxes, viewed themselves as victims and would vote for President Barack Obama in order to keep getting government handouts.
The remarks were widely criticized – even by Romney’s fellow conservatives – and seemed to confirm the image the Obama campaign has sought to paint of an aspiring plutocrat who doesn’t care about ordinary Americans.
