U.S. Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney greets a boy scout troop after stepping off his campaign plane in Salt Lake City, Utah September 18, 2012. (Photo : Reuters)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seems to continue hitting roadblocks that could potentially destroy his election campaign. The latest comes in a video published by Mother Jones, which shows Romney at a Florida fundraiser in May saying that 47 percent of Americans don’t pay taxes and believe they are entitled to government support.
Like Us on Facebook
The Romney video, which comes just seven weeks before the Election and days away from early voting, also shows the candidate saying, “My job is not to worry about those people,” Newsday reported. According to the newspaper, Romney has no plans to issue an apology for his comments.
Newsday reported that Romney advisers agreed that the video comes at an inopportune time but said that they did not believe it would change the course of the election. In the video, Romney also states that 47 percent of Americans “believe that they are victims.”
The video published by Mother Jones includes several moments of what some perceive as typical Romney gaffes.
At one point during his speech to donors in Boca Raton, Romney jokes that he would fair better in the election if he had been born Latino. In reference to his father, who was born in Mexico to American parents, Romney stated, “Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this.”
Romney went on to say that his campaign stayed away from calling President Obama corrupt for fear of alienating independents who voted for Obama in 2008, Mother Jones reported.
“And the best success I have at speaking with those people is saying, you know, the president has been a disappointment. He told you he'd keep unemployment below 8 percent. Hasn't been below eight percent since. Fifty percent of kids coming out of school can't get a job. Fifty percent. Fifty percent of the kids in high school in our 50 largest cities won't graduate from high school. What're they gonna do? These are the kinds of things that I can say to that audience that they nod their head and say, "Yeah, I think you're right,” Romney said.
Mother Jones noted that the president did not promise to keep unemployment below eight percent and that 50 percent of college graduates are not unemployed.
Romney also touched upon the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating that Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."
Speaking to reports on Monday after the video was posted, Romney said his comments were “not elegantly stated” but that he stood by them, reported Newsday. Romney said, “Those who are reliant on government are not as attracted to my message of slimming down the size of government.”
WATCH 'MITT ROMNEY ON OBAMA VOTERS' BY MOTHER JONES
