Former Governor John Sununu, (R-N.H.), is taking heat for controversial comments he made at a political forum in New Hampshire this week, seeming to echo Mitt Romney's 47% remark during the presidential election.
Sununu said Democrats "aggressively got out the base of their base, the base of their base that's dependent, to a great extent, economically, on government policy and government programs," The Concord Monitor reported.
That same night, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) gave the keynote address at the Kemp Foundation Leadership Award Dinner. He appeared to reject Governor Sununu's remarks without addressing them directly, telling the crowd, "both parties tend to divide Americans into 'our voters' and 'their voters'... Republicans must steer far clear of that trap."
"Not only is it offensive to a large part of the American electorate, it also happens to be wrong," Tony Fratto, CNBC contributor, said to msnbc's Chris Jansing about Governor Sununu's remarks.
"Republicans actually did very well, in fact Governor Romney did very well among lower income voters. So, it's wrong," Fratto said.
Governor Sununu has made controversial comments before. He called President Obama lazy and incompetent following the first presidential debate in Denver on October 3. He also suggested race was a motivating factor for Colin Powell to support President Obama for president.
"There have been other leaders in the (Republican) party who frankly promote these ignorant points of view and engage in demeaning and frankly, conversations and language that we teach our ten-year-olds that's just not polite, it's not right and more importantly it's factually incorrect," Democratic strategist Kiki McLean told Jansing & Co.
"I do think there is a need to talk to America differently," added Fratto. "Maybe it is generational."