>>> governor romney in the latest from him. the campaign reporter has been following the governor. you were there last night when the breaking news went down. you got the final question. i believe it was only three that governor romney took in response to this red-hot video out. he did not seem really prepared to respond to your questions. that's one note. but also in the same breath he seemed to not back down. where does his campaign stand on this clearly, garrett ?
>> good afternoon. basically the campaign has made a decision to go ahead and own these comments. they're trying to link them to the comments governor romney regularly makes publicly in which he says the president is trying to expand this idea of an entitlement society or welfare state . although he admitted last night he said it inelegantly. my question last night, i asked governor romney whether these comments coming out on tape yesterday as well as comments that have been previously reported from a fund-raiser, another fund-raiser in florida several months ago in which he laid out the policy details, why was there some discrepancy in his tone and policies behind closed doors versus in public. we have to push back a little bit on that. his answer on this he's taking process questions about the state of the campaign. they're spending their hard-earned dollars to fund his campaign asking him how he might win. those aren't what you usually talk about on the stump. folks funding the campaign get a more complete answer. he didn't address the question about policy and why he might be talking in more detail behind closed doors than out informant open.
>> he absolutely did, garrett . it's interesting today a number of of his surrogates have been on msnbc and other networks, and they don't have a consistent message. you had governor sanunu on and he blamed the current administration for class warfare and congressman allen west saying the same thing that governor romney articulated. these weren't necessarily elegant comments. nevertheless there's not a consistent response from the governor or hez surrogates he unleashed today to deal with the firestorm.
>> the conversation with the senior adviser on the romney campaign plane which just landed in salt lake city for another fund-raiser today, one of the senior advisers basically said they're looking for this to blow over in the next couple of days. they think they -- the most dynamic of any of the videos, the most explosive potential comments have come out. they were able to sort of continue a little bit last night by doing the press conference, and in the last two days they try to get back on their primary message about jobs and the economy and hope the media gets tired of the story.
>> garrett , thank you. i don't know if people will get tired because the entire video has not been released yet. this is what our first read team is calling ail brutal last three weeks for the governor. joining me now is michael sirkonish and ann cornbloom and chris cofinus. garrett haake says the romney campaign is hoping this will somehow blow over. what are the chances?
>> well, they can dare to hope. i think this is going to be one that will take a little longer than day or two to blow over. that has been their strategy at times in the past and hasn't always worked, but i don't think we've seen an incident that's reverberated as much as this one has. we see them proceeding. he's going to make public remarks later today going on tv. he hasn'ter altered his campaign schedule. this is not what they wanted to talk about this week. they wanted to release new ads and talk about the new details on some of the policies. that's out the window at least for now.
>> he's supposed to talk with fox news a little later, perhaps seen as a more friendly territory if we can gang thiuge things that way these days. one of the reasons it won't go away for the governor is the fact of the story. he referred to 47% not paying income tax . as pointed on msnbc politico has an arg. the number is actually 46%, but here's the insight of that number. half of nonpayers little, too little to pay taxes. half of them get through tax deductions and exemptions according to the tax policy center . 44% use tax deductions to help the elderly. 30% use tax deductions that aid the working poor . they use an example of a family earning $26,000. after $11,000 of standard deduction and four $3,000 exemption, they have no taxable income . many pay federal payroll, excise tax and state and income taxes . these people are not as they were referred to by governor are not getting away and getting a free ride through life. many of these are so-called poor in our country.
>> i think that's the critical distinction. i'll use the word. he didn't, but this is the meaning of his statement. they are not the malingers he made them out to be. the way i expressed it on the radio today is more than 80% of that percent are elderly or working poor who pay payroll taxes . an additional fact is a number of reason why is by virtue of bush tax cuts one of the tradeoffs was to reduce the taxable earnings -- the taxes paid by those low income earners. you can blame the sponsors of the bush tax cuts if you're upset over the fact that some of these folks aren't paying taxes. one other fact, tamron. the question remains will the 47% figure out he's talking about me? what's stunning is i hear from a number of callers who are in that group and don't regard themselves as much.
>> why is that, michael ? when you talk about welfare by race, because a the lot of people, when you go on the blogs, believe he's talking about blacks and he's talking about hispanics. we know the statement made at the naacp and then after it at a fund-raiser, the governor said if you want something free, vote for the other guy. 34% are white, 22% black, 17% hispanic and 20% unknown. i'm not sure what that means. if you look at this through a prism of shoi he is trying to separate and peel apart people based on anger. let's say he's appealing to the angry white male voter who white somehow be the difference in november. these people fall into the category of working poor , of people who needed assistance as a result of the economy taking the nosedive before the current administration even took over.
>> yes. there's a bit of the -- of what's the matter with kansas factor if you know what i'm saying to all of this. i'm hearing from a social security retirees who thinks he's not in that category. that's not who i am. this has invagted both bases. in other words, as offensive as these comments might seem to many of us, it's invigorated a conservative base that's anxious to say something like this. what do the 5% to 10% as mitt romney described as thoughtful, what do they say? there's blow back against it. all of the conservative writers say he ought to own it, and they are backing the governor even though he's not backing his own words. there are many today compares this moments to when the president was caught on taup during the last election cycle saying people cling to their religion and guns. how is this givent if at all.
>> i don't think it's comparable for a couple of reasons. when the president made the remarks it didn't go into a narrative. you see this in your election and in it particular key questions in polls. which candidate stands up for the middle class ? when you see this in a private moment from a fund-raiser from governor romney and how cold and callous it comes across, regardless he can argue what the facts are or not, the reality is he perverted the facts. when you look at the approach to it, it turns off those independent, undecided moderate voters that decide this election. this fits into a narrative that for months has been building. building because in the obama campaign it's very effective at framing governor romney on it. more importantly because governor romney through his words and actions and his policies feeds into it, and this is just the latest exclamation mark .
>> ann, you have "new york times" david brooks wrote this column, thurston howell romney . he wrote the people that receive a disproportionate share of money, they are white men with high school degrees. basically pointing out to what michael said. a lot of people that may not believe they're in this category that mitt romney referred to during this off-camera moment. joe scarborough said something this morning. we know where he stands and he's a conservative. he talked about the waiters in the video. those are the very people perhaps that fall into this description of governor romney if he was elected president, he would be president of all people. it sounds as if he's playing to a certain group, and that night that group paid $50,000 a plate to have that amen moment with the republican nominee.
>> it's interesting because david brooks said this is what millionaires tell each other. i wasn't aware of that until i read the column. it's hard to say if governor romney was pandering to the group and he was repeating or saying something he believes. con flating the popularity of president obama , about half the country that doesn't pay the federal income tax . i suspect we won't get a complete dissection of his remarks from governor romney . he sounds like he said what he's going to say, which is that he wants to talk about people --
>> i don't know about that. he has an interview coming up, michael . last night you could see the unease and obvious reasons why. this tape comes outs and he needs to get out. at this point, michael , what would you advise the governor foo to say in this sper view he's got up. he's already said what he was going to say? what would you advise at this point. president obama had the opportunity regarding guns and religion. how does romney go beyond what he said on that tape?
>> i don't think he can. i think he dug himself in last night when he had that hastily arranged availability and stort of double downed on it. tamron, for the second time in a week he's embraced the worst narrative about the president. with regard to cairo and libya, he bought into the international lore that obama was a sympathizer and pop gist. then last night i saul him embracing this notion that everybody that supports the president is ap malinger. that's the commonalty.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/49075790/
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