Romney is obviously inarticulate...says his own running mate: Republicans fear their White House bid is in 'freefall'

Mitt Romney's own party has turned on him over his latest gaffe, with even his running-mate, Paul Ryan, describing his remarks as ‘obviously inarticulate’.


Republican advisers described Mr Romney’s bid for the presidency as being in ‘freefall’, after he was secretly filmed claiming there was no point trying to appeal to Democratic voters because they were ‘freeloaders who don’t pay taxes’.

‘There are 47 per cent who are with Barack Obama, who are dependent on government. who believe they are victims,’ he said in the video clip.


‘These are people who pay no income tax. My job is not to worry about these people.’

Prominent conservative commentator Peggy Noonan yesterday called on party grandees to intervene in the ‘incompetent’ campaign.

‘I think there is a broad and growing feeling now, among Republicans, that this thing is slipping out of Romney’s hands,’ she said

The backlash came as Barack Obama accused his rival of dividing the country and the president’s approval rating rose above 50 per cent for the first time since May.

President Obama appeared on David Letterman’s TV chat show on Tuesday night to accuse Mr Romney of ‘writing off big chunks of the country’.

Playing on Mr Romney’s image as an elitist who will only help the rich, Mr Obama insisted any aspiring president has ‘got to work for everybody, not just for some’.

Yesterday Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan declared: ‘He was obviously inarticulate in making this point, and the point we’re trying to make here is, under the Obama economy, government dependency is up and economic stagnation is up.’

Further video clips – all taped during a May fundraiser for wealthy party donors in Boca Raton, Florida – have raised serious questions about Mr Romney’s policy judgments.

In them he bizarrely suggested a pro-Iranian terrorist could hold the US to ransom by threatening to blow up Chicago with a nuclear bomb. He also made a series of derogatory remarks about the Palestinians, Mexicans and Chinese.

Last night even more embarrassing revelations were revealed after the full video of his controversial speech was made public.

Mr Romney is seen saying that if he were confronted with a hostage situation before the election he would ‘take advantage’ of it. He was responding to a question about the Iran hostage crisis credited with defeating Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Elsewhere Mr Romney – who is worth £150million – jokes he is ‘as poor as a church mouse’.

Some Republicans have encouraged Mr Romney to stick to his guns over President Obama’s ‘dependency culture’ but three prominent party members yesterday came out against him.

Linda McMahon, a Republican Senate candidate in Connecticut, said she disagreed with Mr Romney’s ‘insinuation’ that so many Americans believe they are victims who must depend on handouts.

She insisted the ‘vast majority’ of those who rely on handouts had to do so because they were struggling in America’s tough economy, not because they were workshy.

Massachusetts senator Scott Brown said Mr Romney’s claim was ‘not the way I view the world’.

He added: ‘As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot anyone wants to be in.’

And Senator Dean Heller of Nevada said: ‘As United States senator, I think I represent everyone, and every vote’s important.’ Mr Romney has admitted his remarks were ‘not elegant’ and has hit back by seizing on a 1998 tape of President Obama expounding the virtues of wealth distribution.

He tells a university audience that ‘the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution’.

Seeking to portray the president as too left-wing, Mr Romney said: ‘I think a society based upon a government-centered nation where government plays a larger and larger role, redistributes money, that’s the wrong course for America.’