ABC's Anti-Romney Highlight Reel Recycles 'Poor' Comment Three Times in Three Minutes

Published: 2/2/2012 11:50 AM ET
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By Scott Whitlock
Senior News Analyst
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The journalists at Good Morning America on Thursday gave an assist to the Obama administration, helpfully creating an anti-Romney highlight reel. The David Muir segment repeated Romney's "poor" comment three times in less than three minutes.

Romney on Wednesday told CNN, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." After showing that, Muir then played a video montage of "Mitt's moments." The clips included, "Corporations are people, my friends. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. I'll tell you what, $10,000 bucks? 10,000 bet? I'm not concerned about the very poor." [MP3 audio here.]



Setting up the poor comment, Muir previewed, "When answering a question about a new poll showing more voters think that President Obama understands the needs of average Americans than Governor Romney does, the governor answered this way."

Seconds after showing Romney saying, "We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it," Muir added, "But when pressed about how this sounded-" and then played the remark again.

With help from ABC, it hardly seems that the Democratic National Committee needs to work very hard on commercials.

A transcript of the February 2 segment, which aired at 7:07am EST, follows:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to turn to politics now. Your voice, your vote. And all eyes today on Las Vegas. The next contest is in Nevada on Saturday. Mitt Romney has all the momentum, but Donald Trump looking like he may weigh in for Newt Gingrich later today, as Romney trying to recover from his last verbal miscue. ABC's David Muir is covering it all from Las Vegas. And, David, as always with Donald Trump, plenty of hype. But we're not completely sure what's behind it.

DAVID MUIR: Oh, absolutely, George. The back and forth over this overnight. But, in a city that loves to play the odds, some of Newt Gingrich's advisers have told ABC News that they do believe their candidate is going to get the endorsement from Donald Trump here later today, but that Newt Gingrich hasn't received a call from Trump himself. So, whatever happens here, sure to be a political stopper on the Vegas strip. Donald Trump flew into Las Vegas overnight with considerable secrecy surrounding just why he's here. The new season of his show is about to start. Good promotion. But, he might be here to promote someone else. And if it's Newt Gingrich, it would be a much-needed moment in the spotlight for Gingrich who has been vastly outspent by the Romney campaign. Trump himself considered a run for president, saying at one point saying me might offer himself up as a third party candidate. Meantime in Nevada overnight, Romney made it clear, he's moved on from Gingrich, at least for now, campaigning against President Obama.

MITT ROMNEY: I'm afraid he's detached from reality. I don't think he really knows what's going on in America.

MUIR: But Romney's argument, that the President is detached, comes just as the Governor's own words come under fire. When answering a question about a new poll showing more voters think that President Obama understands the needs of average Americans than Governor Romney does, the governor answered this way.

ROMNEY: I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it.

MUIR: But when pressed about how this sounded-

ROMNEY: I'm not concerned about the very poor.

MUIR: We will hear from the Democrat Party about the plight of the poor and there's no question, it's not good being poor, but my campaign is focused on middle income Americans.

MUIR: -Newt Gingrich pounced, using it as brand new ammunition here in Nevada.

NEWT GINGRICH: I'm running to be the president of all the American people. And I am concerned about all of the American people.

MUIR: Even conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh weighing on Mitt's moments.

ROMNEY [Montage] Corporations are people, my friends. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. I'll tell you what, $10,000 bucks? 10,000 bet? I'm not concerned about the very poor.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Everybody knows what he's trying to say but he didn't say he makes himself a target with this stuff. He comes across as the prototypical rich Republican. And it's going to make it harder and harder and harder to go after Obama.

MUIR: Meantime, back to that potential political show-stopper here. Donald Trump is not saying anything this morning. And I reached out to the Romney camp. They are remaining mum, too. They don't even want to touch it, George.

— Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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