Ann Romney: 'I Don't Even Consider Myself Wealthy'

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney's wife says she doesn't consider herself to be wealthy.

In an interview Monday on Fox News, the wife of the Republican presidential front-runner, Ann Romney, was asked about criticism that her husband can seem out of touch with average Americans. His worth has been estimated as high as $250 million.

Mrs. Romney said her struggle with multiple sclerosis has given her compassion for people who are suffering from multiple sclerosis, cancer or other diseases.

"We can be poor in spirit, and I don't even consider myself wealthy, which is an interesting thing," Mrs. Romney said. "It can be here today and gone tomorrow."

She added: "How I measure riches is by the friends I have and the loved ones I have and the people that I care about in my life, and that's where my values are and that's where my riches are."

A Romney spokeswoman said the full interview showed what Mrs. Romney meant by her remarks.

Mitt Romney has drawn criticism for offhand remarks that point to the wide economic divide separating him and nearly all other Americans. His 2010 tax returns show he earned about $21.7 million from his investments and, after charitable donations, paid about 14 percent in federal income taxes.

While campaigning in Michigan, Romney referred to his wife driving "a couple of Cadillacs" as he pointed to his longstanding support of American automakers. At other times during his campaign for the Republican nomination, Romney has referred to the $373,000 he earned in speaking fees over two years as "not very much" and once bet a Republican rival $10,000 to make a point.

Romney has also said he was "not concerned about the very poor" and, while referring to insurance companies, remarked, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."

Asked by reporters last week if such comments had hurt his campaign, he answered, "Yes."

Comments

[diamonds61]

08:23 AM on 05/02/2012

Ann Romney does not consider herself to be wealthy yet Mitt made over $21 millions in 2010. They are planning to tear down one home and rebuild another worth millions. She can afford to pay $900 for each designer T-shirt. In Texas if a person is working a minimum wage job and works 40 hours, their gross pay each week is $290.00 before taxes and other deductions.They would have to work at least 3 1/2 weeks to pay that same T-shirt.

Most low and middle income working class people use their hard earned money to pay mortgage payments, groceries, gasoline and children's medical and dental bills not covered by insurance if they have insurance. Many working Americans don't have extra money to shop for new clothes especially brand names or designer labels. Children may need braces, grandparents may need dentures or hearing aids, the car may need new transmission, the house may need fixing up, appliances may break down and so on and so forth.

The Romney need to come down from their castle in the clouds and visit poor and low income neighborhoods, soup kitchens, shelters for the homeless and see what real life is all about. President Obama lived in the trenches of real life - the Romneys are living in luxury and do not have a clue what Americans need or want in order to live better lives.

[skullman]

09:54 AM on 03/08/2012

At first she comes off as a decent person, but the more she talks the more obvious it becomes that she is just as out of touch as he is.

I don't think that the vast majority of Americans, who are struggling to make it in this economy, where the wealth is being systematically redistributed to the top 1% (Romneys), can relate to these people at all.

[Truth Advocate]

01:54 AM on 03/08/2012

Naturally, the left will demonize the GOP. Romney stated his reason for not worrying about the poor, because he said that our welfare system helps them. He also said he liked being able to fire people. Firing for poor performance.In some unions it can be almost impossible to fire. What it all boils down to is do we want to keep Obama and his Marxist buddies? They tax us to death.Redistribute or (steal) it from us and give it to those that they deem worthy .Which is them and their Marxist friends.I just hope the blinders come off and people are able to see Barak Obama for the wolf in sheep's clothing that he is. With lies and back room bribes, he and Nancy Pelosi pushed Obama care on us when 60% of us didn't want it. No one even read It! Nancy said we'll have to pass it to see what's in it. How stupid do they think we are? I already , in just over 3 years can not believe the changes in America. Eric Holder with his "fast and furious" scheme to try to steal our 2nd ammendment rights, which backfired, yet he had no knowledge of it.The Head of the FCC caught on tape as praising Hugo Chavez for his Venezeualan Revolution where he took control of broadcasting. Any one but Obama is where my vote is going.I have seen enough of no hope and change for the worse.

[Khaos Spence]

02:00 AM on 03/10/2012

Actuallyy bush raised your taxes more than obama ever has and you say 60% of us didnt want obamacare but i didnt see 60% of our nation up in arms against it

[Truth Advocate]

10:08 PM on 03/11/2012

Oh I did. But Nancy Pelosi said we are going to get this done for the American people. If the gate is locked we'll dig under it . If that doesn't work we'll pole vault over it. If not able to do that we'll parachute in.She didn't do any of that, the lies and bribes and back room deals did the trick. So Nancy and Baraks ,we'll shove it down your stinking throats philosophy worked. Of course they own the Senate ,so no problem there. I don't think the repubs or the dems can help if they don't reflect the wishes of their constituents.

[SylviaS]

01:07 AM on 03/08/2012

Claiming to have a serious illness is just another in a series of ridiculous remarks by The Romney's to try and sound like their lives are no different than the average 9 to 5 American. Who are their advisors, the Koch Brothers? Medical crises doesn't 't even the playing field between the rich and the poor, it widens the gap even more. Ann Romney is obviously receiving the best care money can buy to manage her illness. That's why she can keep a grueling schedule. Contrast that with a working American that can no longer earn due to illness, loses mrdical coverage, can't afford prescriptions. Many Americans have lost their homes because of it. Come on Ann. Even when one loses their good health, it's easier to manage if you're wealthy. Just like everything else in life. the Romneys really don't seem to get that. Someone so lacking in empathy would be dangerous in the position of president.

[Truth Advocate]

02:18 AM on 03/08/2012

Why is it you can't see the danger of keeping Barak Obama? He is a Marxist. A my way or the highway dictator! Whatever the Romney's are, they present less of a threat than the Obama's. I don't share in their vision for America. Not the redistribution of wealth and not in fundamental change. Our Constitution is our fundamentals of freedom for the people and keeping government on a short leash.This tyrant wants freedom for his fundamental transformation and keeping Americans on a short leash! 4 more years of Obama and America and freedom will be just a memory of better days in America! Another win for Obama will most likely be the most devastating blow to liberty and freedom the world has ever seen! With Obama no more contending for re election.He will be free to to inflict more control on you and me. God bless and save America from tyranny!

[Aurical]

08:10 AM on 03/08/2012

Flagged as off topic spam. Again.

[SylviaS]

10:31 AM on 03/08/2012

I'll try to overlook the self agrandizing handle and get to the point. First, do you know what a Marxist is? Obviously not. Obama is a conservative Democrat. Too conservative for my taste. He has bowed to the billionaire corporations time and again, he has made appointments across the aisle, slashed government that has been growing out of control since Reagan, ended one of Bush's costly and useless wars, started to repair America's tarnished reputation so sullied by the Bush/Cheney admin. When people like you can't confront their own racism and outrage that an African American intellectual, educated, well balanced family oriented African American is cleaning up the mess you Republicans created, you go into fantasy land inventing diversions like the drill you've written here.

[patrick425a]

09:47 PM on 03/07/2012

I hope the republican party chooses anyone other than mitt romney. These two are so far removed from the average American they consider millionaires to be "the poor".

[alexchip192]

09:43 PM on 03/07/2012

"let them eat cake". Where have I heard that before.....?

[Dan Kreutzer]

08:37 PM on 03/07/2012

i only drive two cadillacs. rich people drive other kinds of cars

[arianaart]

07:24 PM on 03/07/2012

I'll bet Ann Romney has never said she isn't proud of her country.

[wkillpatri]

07:44 PM on 03/07/2012

Why would she ever say such a thing? She's completely unaware of, and unaffected by, the class warfare, ongoing racial prejudice, judicial chicanery, financial corruption and other terrible things happening in our country because she lives in a perfect little bubble that prevents such distractions from counting her riches, be they financial or friends.

Can you honestly say you're proud of all our country does? If so, you need to begin paying attention.

[arianaart]

07:50 PM on 03/07/2012

You don't get it ~ do you!

[NameUnknown]

08:55 PM on 03/07/2012

I'll raise you $10,000.

[wkillpatri]

06:21 PM on 03/08/2012

EXCELLENT. Name Unknown gets it, LOL. At first I thought you were ariannaart replying again and was about to involuntarily eject a small, unknown organelle from my abdomen (Alien style, no less). Then I realized in my haste to reply that it wasn't ariannaart making a snarky, meaningless reply, but an hilarious, spot-on comment that gave me the best belly laugh I've had in a week. Thanks!!!

[Total Rejuve]

03:48 PM on 03/07/2012

The Romney's were struggling college students and lived very simply while he worked his tail off for years to become successful. They need to talk more about that. To understand Ann Romney's statement you have to understand the Mormon culture. Active Mormons deemphasize material wealth and focus on spiritual wealth. They also give a lot of their wealth and personal time to charities in and outside the church as an expression of this. You would find it a very difficult task to find any Mormon who would say "I consider myself wealthy." I think her comment speaks well of her mind-set and her self-concept than some light-minded comment made off-the-cuff. I think any negative response to her statement reflects the person's deficient self-concept, and not some disconnect in Ann Romney's mind.

[ElyseMc]

08:26 PM on 03/07/2012

We agree with you, as do hundreds of millions. Very well written. Excellent post. Keep it up!

[NameUnknown]

08:47 PM on 03/07/2012

A struggling college student, who's father just happened to be CEO of American Motors. Just a typical American family.

[Total Rejuve]

07:24 PM on 03/08/2012

For many people that is typical. For most people it isn't. The lack of wealth that your family or my family may have and currently experience does not make the Romney's experience unacceptable, nor does it render them automatons that do not relish their personal relationships. You may be speaking from the perspective of the scarcity mentality,or you may not be, but I feel that poverty of the mind is worse than financial poverty. Unfortunately, I feel that is more and more defining the typical American family today.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

02:09 PM on 03/07/2012

Ann Romney, like her husband, the mandroid, is both spiritually and morally bankrupt.
Her arrogance is dusgusting in light of the fact the Mandroid made more money in ONE DAY than 95% of Americans make in ONE YEAR!
Yes, she IS disconnected from the work-a-day reality most of us face. This is why he must never be allowed to be President. He'd only be President of Wall Street.
I should also like to point out that Mitt only made ONE "charitable" contribution: his tithe to the Mormon Empire. Tithes are NOT "charitable" contributions and should NOT be tax deductible. If I can't deduct my union dues, he should not be allowed to deduct his tithes.

[obscurium]

03:07 PM on 03/07/2012

Actually, you can deduct your union dues. (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch28.html) Union Dues and Expenses
You can deduct dues and initiation fees you pay for union membership.
You can also deduct assessments for benefit payments to unemployed union members. However, you cannot deduct the part of the assessments or contributions that provides funds for the payment of sick, accident, or death benefits. Also, you cannot deduct contributions to a pension fund, even if the union requires you to make the contributions.
You may not be able to deduct amounts you pay to the union that are related to certain lobbying and political activities. See Lobbying Expenses under Nondeductible Expenses, later.

That last part is interesting - I wonder if the LDS church properly accounted for the money they used to fund their Proposition 8 campaign? All those tithing payers who claimed their charitable contributions on their tax returns may have filed false returns if a proportion of their tithe that covers the printing and distribution 'of the scriptures, lesson manuals, and other Church materials' was actually used to support their Church Leaders' political lobbying against equality and justice.

[wkillpatri]

07:39 PM on 03/07/2012

Even more interesting ... was Bush's DOJ pushing hard to rescind the tax-exempt status of churches that preached politics in addition to scripture? You betcha ... but only if the church is question wasn't supporting Dubya.

[ElyseMc]

08:28 PM on 03/07/2012

You refused to vote for Kerry, then, correct? And Gore? And Clinton? As well, you will continue to refuse to vote for all liberals who have money?

[SylviaS]

01:21 AM on 03/08/2012

No. One can 't be a liberal and make a career of opposing every action that would make life better for working Americans and the poor. They would be called something else. A Republican.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

02:08 PM on 03/09/2012

I held my nose and voted for Kerry. In 1992, I voted for Ross Perot. Liberals with wealth don't pretend their NOT wealthy. Therein lies a huge difference. Too bad, you can't see that. Go back to the Dittoheads and FauxNews.

[masola81]

01:21 PM on 03/07/2012

Have you seen both Romney and his wife speaking to the common folk in public? It reminds me of the movies where a King is talking to his servants.

[NGFatSquirrel]

05:19 PM on 03/13/2012

Actually it sounds like two adults with a darn decent education talking. Maybe I just grew up in circles where people talked like, well, adults. My dad joined the Toastmasters just to work on his public speaking skills alone. He grew up in a very poor household, but managed to work his way up to a Master's degree by a scholarship and then through military training.

I grew up low middle class (I guess if you call shopping for clothes at K-mart middle class at the time). My mom worked hard to also earn her Master's degree eventually.

The Romney's sound normal to me when they talk, and our family barely made $40,000 at the time I was in high school in the 90's. It's all about what environment you grew up in and what you surround yourself with regardless of your family's income.

I mean, what do you watch at night? News? Simpsons? Family Guy? Bloomburg? BBC World?

[masola81]

01:19 PM on 03/07/2012

Anyone who not only doesn't have a brain filter about their money in these times, but who is capable of saying their not rich after banking $21.7 million last year is completely out of touch. This country can't afford a president who has zero in common with the common folk. Remember these repeated gaffes by Romney and the entire GOP and Vote Democrat in November.

[ElyseMc]

08:29 PM on 03/07/2012

That's wonderful to know -- that you will refuse to vote for any democrat who has money.

[SylviaS]

01:31 AM on 03/08/2012

A rich ,liberal politician is fine and they are always Democrats, though the majority of Democratic politicians aren't liberal. They can empathize with working and poor Americans, appreciate and acknowledge their position of privilege and propose and support legislation that will ease the burden for those that don't have the same advantages. Wealth isn't evil. Greed, selfishness, unwillingness to help one's fellow man, stinginess--those are all evil traits prevalent in rich, and trying to get rich, Republican politicians. Do you understand the difference now?

[Steve Wagner]

05:43 PM on 03/08/2012

I prefer to vote for people on MERIT instead of what they INHERIT>

[JLTorres]

01:07 PM on 03/07/2012

Being super wealthy is having so much money that you don't even have to think you have money. Somehow the two Cadillacs and the mansions drop from the sky, I guess.

[ElyseMc]

08:30 PM on 03/07/2012

She is a lovely-hearted woman who was only saying she measures neither herself nor anybody else based on money or lack of. She is far deeper than that, she measures the goodness of people by their HEART, and nothing more.

[Steve Wagner]

05:44 PM on 03/08/2012

Maybe she should run for President, Mitt doesn't come across so sparkling.

[JLTorres]

09:25 PM on 03/08/2012

Maybe she should talk to her husband about being so gleeful abut firing people.

[lydatarz]

12:27 PM on 03/07/2012

QUEEN OF DENIAL! THIS IS OBSCENE! THESE PEOPLE ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY! TO MAKE SUCH A STATEMENT, ESPECIALLY WHEN HER HUSBAND HAS A BID IN TO LEAD A COUNTRY THAT IS SO ECONOMICALLY DISTRESSED, SHOULD RUIN HIS CHANCES OF WINNING! IF SHE'S IN DENIAL, THINK WHERE HIS HEAD IS AT! THIS BITCH SHOULD BE RUN OUT OF THE COUNTRY!

[ElyseMc]

08:32 PM on 03/07/2012

How is calling her a b-word any less inappropriate as Limbaugh calling Fluke the s-word?

[Aurical]

08:18 AM on 03/08/2012

She shouldn't be called that, but I doubt lydatarz has a show heard by millions everyday. It is far from Rush as two kids throwing around a football are from Tom Brady.

[lydatarz]

10:56 AM on 03/08/2012

You'd change your tune if you were a female and Newt got elected. The men often turn to their wives for advice on how to represent the female population of the nation (as, they don't have a clue). With HER being so out of touch, would you want her to advise HIM on policy for women!

[deeptubes]

12:03 PM on 03/07/2012

I wish I was as not wealthy as her.