A Nevada Republican making a bid for a seat in Congress is coming under fire for saying failed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was right when he infamously declared that 47% of Americans are government-reliant moochers.
In a new video posted online by the Nevada State Democratic Party, an audience member at an event tells Cresent Hardy -- a state assemblyman -- that “We’re really not that far from the tipping point where the private sector is going to be able to support the federal sector.”
Hardy responds, “Can I say that without getting in trouble like Gov. Romney? The 47% is true. It’s bigger now.” It is not clear when or where the event took place.
When Hardy was asked by msnbc to comment, he did not directly discuss the 47% remark but said in a statement that, “Congress is full of politicians that poll test every word, never take a stand and rarely speak the truth. Many have traded their courage for political expediency and ambition. That isn't me.”
During the 2012 presidential race, Romney’s campaign, of course, was rocked after a video was made public in which the former Massachusetts governor is seen telling rich donors that nearly half of Americans believe they are “victims,” “dependent on the government” and that he won’t bother trying to win over those people over.
Hardy is up against incumbent Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford for the 4th U.S. House District seat.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesman Zach Hudson said in a statement that “Mitt Romney was wrong two years ago about 47% of the American people being ‘freeloaders,’ and Cresent Hardy is just as wrong now. Hardy’s comments only further highlight what we already knew: He supports the same failed Republican policies Mitt Romney ran on that pull the rug out from under the middle class, while giving millionaires and billionaires more tax cuts.”
Hardy isn’t the only GOPer to reference Romney’s 47% quip. Back in April 2013, Georgia Rep. Rob Woodall at a town hall meeting said, “You know, folks mock Mitt Romney for what he said, but he’s right.” Right-wing rocker Ted Nugent also said Romney “hit the bull’s eye with his comments regarding the 47% of Americans who do not have any skin in the game as it pertains to paying federal income tax. Facts are facts.”