Mitt Romney 'Not Concerned About The Very Poor' Remark Now DNC Ad (VIDEO)

It took the DNC less than a day to turn Mitt Romney's comment that he's "not concerned about the very poor" into an attack ad.

"I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it," Romney told CNN Wednesday morning. "I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."

The first part of the clip features in the DNC's new web ad, along with other tone deaf comments Romney has made about poverty in defense of his tax plan.

Text appears at the end of the ad: "It's clear Romney wouldn't fight for the middle class if he were President. Mitt Romney: Not concerned about the poor... or the middle class."

As outrage erupted Wednesday after Romney's CNN appearance, he tried to clarify his remarks to reporters.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Romney told reporters on his campaign plane when asked about the comments. He referred back to his complete remarks, in which he had said he would focus on middle-income Americans rather than the very poor, who get government help, or the very rich, who don't need it. "My energy is going to be devoted to helping middle-income people," he said.

The DNC said in a statement:

In a shallow attempt to show concern for the middle class, Mitt Romney told CNN today he's not concerned about the very poor. But his policy proposals make clear that he also isn't very concerned about the middle class - his tax plan provides a modest tax cut, about $167, for middle class families but provides about $146,000 for families making more than $1 million.

Rick Santorum has also condemned his rival's remarks.

"I think it shows a callousness on the part of governor Romney, you know this is people we're talking about who are on the margins of society," he told Missouri radio station KMOX. "Again, what it shows of governor Romney is that he looks at the poor differently. That being poor is a disability."

Comments

[McCartichoke]

10:50 AM on 08/12/2012

It's little wonder Romney always looks like he's walking through a minefield with a mad monkey on his back. If I had to hide Carribbean and Swiss Bank accounts, furtive Bain money dealings with El Salvadoran deathsquads, and paid less than 1% tax on gazillions in income while calling myself the great savior of a divided nation, I'd be a tad nervous myself.

[McCartichoke]

10:14 AM on 08/12/2012

In Romney's world, to which Ryan aspires, the very rich are the Chosen People. They have built the mountain upon which they stand and rule, and on which the others -- "you people" -- enjoy only at their whim. "The very poor" are little more than an annoying thorn in their distant (back)side; of which decent people do not speak in polite conversation. Religion, selectively interpreted, reinforces that notion with encouragement to the masses to be cool: the meek shall inherit the earth. But, in an increasingly polarized world, it's my fear that the Middle Class' days are numbered. Ryan's "budget" is a bleak nightmare of a Romneyland of the future.

[Iron Peddler]

10:11 PM on 08/11/2012

the poor needs to worry about theirselves. They need to get off their lazy a__ and quit looking for a handout. I'm tired of working dead beats who are democrats.

[gecota]

10:56 AM on 08/12/2012

I'm tired of corporations who have slick accountants reduce their tax burden to $0. I'm tired of uber wealthy Americans wrapping themselves in the flag while avoiding taxes by secret accounts in foreign countries. I'm tired of rich old white guys getting a tax deduction for having a senator eat dinner on his yacht. I'm tired of money people buying a politicians vote. My tiredness trumps yours.

[lotus77]

01:27 PM on 08/10/2012

Romney: Did they invest in Bain, no, then who gives a f*.

[mittsmom]

04:15 PM on 08/09/2012

Romney loves the poor,they raise his kids,wash the fleet of cars,mows the lawns at the three mansions and picks up rafalcos poop.

[Clay Dreslough]

02:34 AM on 02/21/2012

Romney's concern with the "very poor" is making sure they pay more taxes than he does:

http://thegamedesigner.blogspot.com/2012/02/im-not-concerned-about-very-poor.html

[Clay Dreslough]

02:33 AM on 02/21/2012

http://thegamedesigner.blogspot.com/2012/02/im-not-concerned-about-very-poor.html

[Clay Dreslough]

02:29 AM on 02/21/2012

Romney *is* concerned with the "very poor". He's concerned with off-loading his taxes to them:

http://thegamedesigner.blogspot.com/2012/02/im-not-concerned-about-very-poor.html

[averagezoe]

06:46 PM on 02/04/2012

Why would Romney give a flying f*** if his remark offended the poor? It's pretty obvious that the very poor won't vote for him anyway.

[ohboyinva]

04:55 PM on 02/04/2012

Both sides agree on the wealthy doing well and the middle class hurting. Here is the basic difference between Romney's and Obama's ideas on this.

Either you agree with Obama who says "the wealthy are doing just fine" and should pay a modest 3% increase in taxes to help the middle class get back on it's feet, which Republicans call "class warfare".

Or you agree with Romney who says, "the wealthy are doing just fine" and that we should double the tax cuts for the wealthy and pay for it by raising taxes on the working poor and middle class.

Republicans are conspicuously quiet on defending Romney's policy.

[cschieda]

03:40 PM on 02/04/2012

I think it shows the desperation of the DNC/OWS to capitalize on such a statement taken out of text. He was and is right about the middle class. It is disappearing and we will have an outburst of poverty even greater then the one we have now if it is not addressed and aided.

Romney 2012!

[ohboyinva]

04:34 PM on 02/04/2012

Please explain to me how Romney's policy ideas help the middle class or even the poor, and not the wealthy?

Romney's tax policy doubles the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and pays for it by raising taxes on working poor and middle class.

And he's for the Ryan plan, which takes money out of funds that hard working poor and middle class Americans pay into, themselves, for their future. As a middle class worker at the age of 50 I've invested $300,000 that Romney and Ryan want to take and pay for the past wars and wars he says he wants to start. And more tax cuts for the rich.

All his policies repeat this trend.

And Romney wasn't taken out of "text" or context. Videos show him repeating his remark in full context over and over again. Now that he's been caught with that lie he's adjusted his answer to say he wasn't taken out of context but that he "misspoke". Repeatedly. So please try to keep up with Romney's many faces, you're embarrassing yourself. The only real difference is his audience. When he was repeating his "not worried about the poor" mantra in front of Republicans who blame the poor for everything, he got great responses. But when he tests it in front of Independents who know the facts and are human beings it fails miserably. He's got Indy's flocking to Obama in droves every time he opens his mouth. Context or not.

Obama 2012

[Justin Earnest]

01:01 PM on 02/04/2012

For the record:
Raiders like Romney do the opposite of what he's credited for. After buying a controlling interest in a company , the first thing a raider does to increase the value of the stock is to make a substantial cut in the compny's overhead - since for the compny's bottom line, this acts exactly as an increase in profits (a penny saved, a penny earned). This is routinely achieved by laying off a portion of the workforce. On the market, the value of this stock goes up in the ensuing trading.The raider can sell his holdings at a substantial profit - or he can make further cuts to the already weakened company to make the stock even more attractive to traders. Of course, by the time he sells out, the company may be bankrupt or doomed.
.
What the 1% count on is the 99% contenting ourselves with APPEARING informed as opposed to actually informing ourselves. For this purpose, the fewer than half a dozen super-rich companies controlling our major media supply unlimited amounts of mis/dis-information. For example, the media's accusation that 'greedy CEOS' are responsible for corporate abuse. Actually, the Board of Directors - the biggest shareholders in a corporation - hire and fire ALL the COOs of a cormpany at their whim. After all, they represent the ownership, which is what the 1% is all about. So, of course he could care less about the very poor.

[James Layne]

08:01 PM on 02/03/2012

Nice sound bite, but what he said actually makes some sense. The very poor have "programs" and the very rich, well, they don't really need any help. It's the vast middle class that makes too much to qualify for programs and too little to pay for health care, education, and the basics of life... they're really the ones who need the most help.

[posie Di Sesa]

11:01 AM on 02/04/2012

and his proposed policies negate everything that he said about the poor's safety net, helping the middle class and doing nothing for the top one percent.

[Veganie]

05:12 PM on 02/03/2012

Romney is "Obama lite"

[nana-anne]

03:38 PM on 02/03/2012

How kind of Romney to be making ads for the Democratic Party just by opening his mouth. Thank you sir.