Mitt Romney repudiates '47 percent' remarks. Why now?
This is the clearest mea culpa Mitt Romney has made since video surfaced of him telling donors at a fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans believe they're 'victims' entitled to government aid.
This is the clearest mea culpa Mitt Romney has made since video surfaced of him telling donors at a fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans believe they're 'victims' entitled to government aid.
Mitt Romney is now repudiating his famous 鈥�47 percent鈥� remarks. In an interview Thursday night on Fox News, the GOP presidential nominee told host Sean Hannity that those words were 鈥渏ust completely wrong.鈥�
That鈥檚 the clearest mea culpa Mr. Romney鈥檚 made since Mother Jones published video of him telling donors at a Florida fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans believe they鈥檙e 鈥渧ictims鈥� entitled to government aid. This 47 percent doesn鈥檛 pay income taxes, Romney added, and will never vote for him or take personal responsibility for their lives, so it鈥檚 not his job to care about them.
Previously, Romney said that he stood behind the remarks in general, but that they were 鈥渋nelegantly stated.鈥�
鈥淲ell, clearly in a campaign, with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-answer sessions, now and then you鈥檙e going to say something that doesn鈥檛 come out right,鈥� Romney told Mr. Hannity on Thursday. 鈥淚n this case, I said something that鈥檚 just completely wrong.鈥�
Why now? If he was going to apologize, why didn鈥檛 Romney do it the day the video was released, defusing its impact?
Now鈥檚 a better time, for one thing. In the wake of his strong debate performance Wednesday night, this reversal of course appears more prudent, even magnanimous. Prior to this, the Romney camp appeared to believe that saying 鈥渟orry鈥� about anything was a sign of weakness, the kind of thing done by losing nominees like Sen. John McCain (R). Now, basking in good reviews from conservatives and the mainstream media alike, the former Massachusetts governor is apologizing from a stronger position.
Plus, the 鈥�47 percent鈥� issue has damaged his campaign. As we鈥檝e long noted, individual gaffes, misstatements, instances of umbrage, and so forth don鈥檛 generally correlate with movements in the polls. But it seems possible that this did. There鈥檚 evidence that President Obama gained a percentage point or more in the rolling averages of major polls following the Mother Jones video disclosure.
That may not seem huge, but considering the closeness of the race, one percentage point either way could be huge in November.
Also, Romney said the remarks were 鈥渃ompletely wrong鈥� because they are. No, we鈥檙e not going to engage in an argument about dependency and government programs. His words were just factually inaccurate. It鈥檚 true that 47 percent of Americans don鈥檛 pay income taxes, but it鈥檚 not true that 47 percent receive government aid, even if Social Security and Medicare recipients are included in the figure.
Plus, many people within that 47 percent do vote Republican. Southern white voters are reliably GOP, even if they鈥檙e on unemployment, for instance. Elderly Republicans collect Social Security checks just as elderly Democrats do.
The more difficult political question may be whether the 鈥�47 percent鈥� stuff will continue to haunt Romney鈥檚 campaign, despite his apology. It鈥檚 possible that swing voters impressed by his debate performance will find his mea culpa reassuring. But it鈥檚 also certain that Mr. Obama will still put up ads running the fundraiser video, with little extra commentary except subtitles. Voters predisposed to see Romney as someone who favors the rich may find confirmation in those grainy clips.