guardian.co.uk,
Ewen MacAskill in Washington, Tuesday 18 September 2012
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| Mitt Romney speaks to reporters about the secretly taped video from one of his campaign fundraising events in Costa Mesa Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP |
Mitt Romney's campaign came close to hitting the self-destruct button when he stood
by a secret video recording suggesting that 47% of Americans are
government-dependent "victims" who do not pay taxes.
In a
hastily-convened press conference, the Republican presidential candidate
confirmed the authenticity of the video and opted against disavowing the views
expressed in it. He said only that the case was not "elegantly
stated" and that he had "spoken off the cuff".
He was
speaking after a secret video recording was posted on a website in which he was
caught denigrating people who receive benefits from the government.
The video
that appeared on the Mother Jones website
He went on
suggest they could expect little help from him if he became president.
"My
job is not to worry about those people," he said.
He added
that all these government-dependent people would support Barack Obama.
The video
was recorded a few months ago at a fund-raising event behind-closed-doors.
The release
of the video is the most damaging episode yet in a campaign filled with Romney
mishaps. His campaign is in danger of turning into one of the most ineptly-run
in recent US political history, though there are still seven weeks left to turn
it round.
The Obama
campaign described the video as "shocking".
In his
press conference, in California, Romney basically repeated the case he made in
the video that the 47% dependent on the government would vote for Obama, though
couched in slightly less inflammatory language. Obama's policies are
"attractive to people who do not pay taxes", Romney said.
Romney
tends to avoid the press as much as possible and it is a sign of the
seriousness of the situation that he had to make an impromptu statement. He
attempted to pose his comments as part of a broader philosophical debate about
the future of America. "Do you believe in a government-centered society
that provides more and more benefits? Or do you believe instead in a free
enterprise society where people are able to pursue their dreams?"
He insisted
he wanted to help all Americans.
While his
views about people dependent on the government will be applauded by parts of
the right, he risks alienating independents who do not share his view of
American society and also motivating disgruntled Democrats who may have
otherwise have abstained in the 6 November election to get out and vote.
It also
plays into the portrait that the Democrats have been gradually building of
Romney as an extremely wealthly individual who is out of touch with
working-class and middle-class Americans.
At a bare
minimum, the controversy ensures it will be the dominant theme of the week,
with Romney forced on the defensive again, with detailed discussion of who
precisely constitutes the 47%.
It also
means that the issue of how much he himself paid in taxes will resurface, with
calls for him to release his tax returns beyond the two years he has
volunteered.
The video,
was posted on the website of the liberal Mother Jones magazine. It came only
hours after the Romney campaign acknowledged it is struggling when it announced
it was to change strategy. Romney is trailing Obama in the polls by about three
percentage points.
In the
video, Romney said: "All right, there are 47% who are with him (Obama),
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."
He added:
"These are people who pay no income tax."
Apart from
offending a large part of the population, the comment is also inaccurate. Many
of those he includes in the 47% do pay tax. Many of those also receive
government money because they are elderly and have been paying into the system
all their lives.
The
controversy broke only hours after the Romney campaign set out to recalibrate
its strategy. It said it would attempt to give a clearer, more positive picture
of their candidate as it seeks to regain the initiative with just 50 days to go
until the election.
The new
strategy will not abandon negative campaigning, but will focus on positive ads
as well as speeches to spell out the Romney would pursue in office, in
particular his five-point economic plan.
Romney
began his campaign early in the summer intent on making the election about
Obama's economic record and making himself as small a target as possible by
disclosing little about his own policies.
But since
then there has barely been a clear week in which Romney has been able to get
his message across, either because of a barrage of ads on his record as chief
executive of Bain Capital and his unwillingness to release more than two years'
worth of tax records, or because of gaffes on his own side.
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