It's as if Willard M. Romney is trying to be typecast as the out-of-touch, rich white guy. After a decisive victory in the Florida primary, the Republican presidential hopeful, unfortunately for him, continued that long-standing narrative.
"I'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety there," Romney told CNN's Soledad O'Brien in an interview earlier today. He added, "if it needs repair, I'll fix it."
His lack of concern extends to the upper classes as well, he pointed out. "I'm not concerned about the very rich — they're doing just fine" Romney continued, "I'm concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95% of Americans who right now are struggling. I'll continue to take that message across the nation."
When pressed to clarify, the former Massachusetts governor defended his statement and emphasized his desire to focus on middle income Americans, like retirees living on Social Security and those who are unemployed (like him) looking for work.
"I said I'm not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them," he said. "You can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich — that's not my focus. You can focus on the very poor — that's not my focus."
So, Mitt Romney…maybe not the best communicator of ideas. He's had a tough time knocking the heartless CEO character on the campaign trail. Let's not forget his "corporations are people" or his "I like being able to fire people" gaffes a few weeks back.
Conservatives came out against latest Romney's verbal fumble. Michelle Malkin equated it to "facepalm." Red State's Erick Erickson noted that he "played straight into the liberal caricature that Republicans don't have hearts." He summed it up nicely, "the issue here is not that Romney is right or wrong, but that he is handing choice sound bites to the Democrats to make him as unlikeable as he made Newt Gingrich."