NEW YORK — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney didn’t apologize Monday night for remarks at a closed-door fundraiser about how voters supporting President Barack Obama are “dependent on government” and “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”
Several conservative journalists and authors agreed that Romney didn’t need to take back the controversial remarks, while also arguing Monday night that the media’s making too big a deal of the recently unearthed video clips.
“Watched the nothingburger that is the Romney tape,” tweeted CNN contributer and Breitbart editor Dana Loesch. “The propagandists are desperate.”
“Libs are trying to turn America from the land of the free to the land of pay for my stuff, and somehow Mitt needs to apologize?” tweeted Jason Mattera, author of “Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama’s Biggest Backers.” “Okayyyyy.”
“Breaking News: Mitt Romney believes too many people are dependent on government assistance,” tweeted Richard Grenell, who briefly served as a Romney adviser.
“To me tape is way overblown,” tweeted David Limbaugh, best-selling author and brother of Rush. “Taken in the worst light it doesn’t mean Mitt doesn’t care abt ppl. Means he doesnt think he’ll get their vote.”
“To read many of the reactions on Twitter, you’d think Mother Jones had just found video of Mitt Romney strangling a hooker with her own pantyhose,” wrote National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg. “‘It’s over!’ ‘Devastating!’”
Goldberg conceded flaws in Romney’s claim that the 47 percent of the people voting for Obama rather than him are “locked-in because they’re dependent on the government, freeloaders or because they don’t pay any income taxes.” (Indeed, more Americans who don’t pay taxes live in “red” states and are presumably voting for the Romney.)
But while Goldberg acknowledged the video isn’t likely to be good news for Romney, he writes that “if Romney showed a little more of the spirit he shows in this video, I’m not sure it wouldn’t help.”
While some conservatives downplayed the impact of the tape, the Romney campaign is taking the media fallout seriously, evident in its decision to hastily arrange a press conference after 10 p.m.
All three cable news networks aired Romney’s short press availability at some point during the 10 p.m. hour, including Fox News, which had ignored the growing controversy earlier.
CNN correspondent Jim Acosta didn’t minimize the potential impact of the Romney video, sure to get more attention Tuesday on the network morning shows. Shortly after Romney’s appearance, Acosta said that Monday was “a very important night for the Romney campaign” and one that some may look back on and say was a “pivotal moment as we get closer to the election.”