Further details emerged Tuesday about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's behind-closed-door remarks to donors, including his belief that the Palestinians don't want peace and that Iran could install missiles in a Palestinian state.
The secretly recorded video, which was posted by the left-wing
magazine Mother Jones on its website, Romney charged that the 47 per
cent of Americans who support Democratic President Barack Obama are
freeloaders "who believe the government has responsibility to care
for them" from health care to food to housing, and who pay no income
taxes.
On the Palestinian issue, Romney said that he did not believe
Palestinians are interested in achieving peace and expressed
skepticism about the possibility of a two-state solution.
"I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for
political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of
Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way,"
Romney can be heard saying in the video.
The magazine says the video comes from a 50,000-dollar-a-plate
fundraiser held by a wealthy donor in Florida in May.
Another detail that emerged from the secretly recorded remarks
Romney made at a donor event in May is that he joked that if his
father George had been "born of Mexican parents" he would have had a
better shot at winning the White House. Romney's father was born in a
colony of US Mormons in Mexico and spent many years there in his
youth, but was an American citizen.
Romney's unfiltered remarks not only unveiled a side of the
candidate not yet seen by the public, but also provoked condemnation
from conservatives and further eroded the Republican's attempt to
retool his campaign this week.
Conservative stalwart William Kristol of the Weekly Standard
magazine called his remarks "stupid and arrogant."
"It's worth recalling that a good chunk of the 47 per cent who
don't pay income taxes are Romney supporters - especially of course
seniors ... as well as many lower-income Americans," Kristol wrote in
his blog.
Romney was already reeling from last week's controversy over his
attack on Obama over the protests in Cairo and killing of US
diplomats in Libya, charging that the president sympathized with
Muslim protesters.
Asked about Obama's reaction to the video, White House spokesman
Jay Carney said he didn't know whether the president had watched it.
"I can tell you that the president certainly doesn't think that
men and women on Social Security are irresponsible or victims, that
students aren't responsible or are victims," Carney said. "He
certainly doesn't think that middle-class families are paying too
little in taxes."
The newest revelations could spell serious trouble for his bid to
be elected US president on November 6. Romney is lagging behind Obama
in the polls, but until this week, the race has been seen as quite
close.
The 65-year-old Republican referred to his struggle to cultivate
support among Latinos and black Americans, and said wistfully it
would have been helpful if his father, who lived in Mexico before
moving back to the US, had had Mexican parents.
"We are having a much harder time with Hispanic voters, and if the
Hispanic voting bloc becomes as committed to the Democrats as the
African American voting block has in the past, why, we're in trouble
as a party and, I think, as a nation," he said.
Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, said late Monday it was
"shocking" for a presidential candidate to "go behind closed doors"
and make such declarations.
"It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've
disdainfully written off half the nation," Messina said in a
statement.
Romney later Monday explained to reporters after another
fundraiser in Costa Mesa, California, that he had been "speaking off
the cuff in response to a question." He added: "It's not elegantly
stated."
It is not unusual for US presidential candidates to tell donors
what they think they want to hear in closed meetings. In 2008, Obama
got into hot water by describing supporters of his opponent as people
who "cling to guns and religion."
On Monday, Romney's campaign tried to refocus its attention on the
weak economy, seen as an area where Romney, with his background in
business, can score points. The campaign launched a new set of
television ads to counter criticism he has been vague about his
economic policies.
But the revelations from the videotape have distracted the public
and the media from his hoped-for new course.
