John Koster, GOP Congressional Candidate: Economic System Rewards 'Slothfulness' Of The Poor

Republican John Koster, a congressional candidate in Washington's 1st District, criticizes the "slothfulness and laziness" of the poor in a newly unearthed video.

According to the Seattle Times, Koster made the following remarks at a 2011 Christmas fundraiser in Everett, Washington:

Reform isn’t just taxing the rich, the very people by the way who create jobs. Our economic system has been the envy of the world for generations, but it seems to get more convoluted and more onerous every year. Under this administration it has become a system that punishes those who dare to dream, those who dare to invest, those who dare to work hard or succeed. It seems to reward the mediocrity — dare I say it, slothfulness and laziness — of those who choose not to do those things. Furthermore, it creates a dependency on government programs, even an addiction I would say, by virtue of the sense of entitlement that it creates. I can tell you, those people aren’t the 99 percent.

More recent remarks Koster made when asked about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's now-infamous "47 percent" video don't express the same sentiment. In a recent interview with the Seattle Times, Koster said Romney -- who claimed "47 percent" of Obama supporters are "dependent upon government" and "victims who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them" -- was "altogether wrong."

“I know what he’s saying, but I think he figured there are people who have paid into Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security... and to just write them off, alienates them," Koster said. "It’s saying, ‘I don’t want to talk to these people.' I know what he’s saying, but it just came off altogether wrong.”

Watch the video of Koster's "slothfulness" remarks above. (via Think Progress)