Romney: 'I'm not concerned about the very poor'

GOP candidate says his focus is the middle class

Posted Feb 1, 2012

Tim Fitzsimmons
Global Post

CNN screengrabRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to Soledad O'Brien on CNN on Wednesday.

Mitt Romney on Wednesday said he is in his race for the White House in order to help the middle class. He followed up with a sound bite flub that could haunt him in future campaign ads: "I'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there, if it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine," the Washington Post reported.

"You can focus on the very poor ... that's not my focus," Romney said. "There's no question, it's not good to be poor."

CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien followed up and noted that many "struggling" impoverished Americans may find his statement "odd."

Romney said Democrats would talk about "the plight of the poor," during their campaign for the White House, but re-emphasized his focus was on "middle income Americans, retirees living on Social Security, people who can't find work, folks that have kids that are getting ready for college." He went on, "these are the people who have been most badly hurt during the Obama years."

"We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened, whether there are holes in it. We have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor, but the middle income Americans — they're the folks that are really struggling right now and they need someone that can help get this economy going for them."

This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.

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Romney: 'I'm not concerned about the very poor'

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Romney: 'I'm not concerned about the very poor'

GOP candidate says his focus is the middle class

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