Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) sought to distance himself Tuesday from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's controversial comments that 47 percent of Americans back President Barack Obama because they are dependent on government and "believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing."
"That’s not the way I view the world," Brown said in an email to The Hill. "As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in. Too many people today who want to work are being forced into public assistance for lack of jobs."
Brown has endorsed Romney's presidential run, but he is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren and has repeatedly tried to cast himself as an independent. He joins Linda McMahon, the GOP Senate nominee in Connecticut, and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) in speaking out against Romney's statements, made during a closed-door fundraiser.
Brown's rejection of Romney's comments comes in spite of the fact that Eric Fehrnstrom serves as a top adviser to both Brown and Romney.
Since the videos surfaced, Romney has called his words "not elegantly stated' but stood by his overall point.
"We were of course talking about a campaign and about how [Obama's] going to get half the vote," Romney said in an interview with Fox News. "And frankly we have two very different views of America."
"Those that are dependent on government and those that think government’s job is to redistribute -- I’m not going to get them," he added later.
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