Romney Says GOP's Not 'Party of the Rich,' But 'of Those Who Want to Be Rich'

Yahoo! News / ABC News ^ | July 16, 2012 | Emily Friedman

[2ndDivisionVet]

JACKSON, Miss. - At a fundraiser at a country club in Mississippi this evening that was expected to raise a record-breaking $1.7 million, Mitt Romney defended the Republican Party against its reputation as the "party of the rich" explaining that really, it is a party focused on helping the poor.

"We're accused, by the way - in our party - of being the party of the rich," Romney said. "And it's an awful moniker, because that's just not true. We're the party of people who want to get rich. And we're also the party of people who want to care to help people from getting poor. We want to help the poor.

"We also want to make sure people don't have to become poor," Romney said. "And we know what it takes to keep people from becoming poor."

This was Romney's second fundraiser of the day, his first in Louisiana raising at least $2 million, bringing the campaign's tally for the day to $3.7 million.

Romney himself seemed taken aback by the night's success, which a campaign aide said a finance analyst had determined was the single largest political fundraising event in Mississippi's history...

[wolfman23601]

I’m not rich and I don’t want to be rich. Not that I would’t love to hit the jackpot, just don’t want to put in the 80-100 hour weeks at this point in my life... 50 hours seems to work well for us right now. Will probably do it when my kids grow up.

[scooby321]

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett American's two wealthiest people are deomcrats.

The wealthiest Family are Democrats the Rockefeller

[Mountain Mary]

Dem for Bush has it right. “We’re the party of people who want to be successful”. Using word “rich” just makes people angry that they aren’t and he is.

[Mach9]

I’m not a Romney-”basher.” He’s simply not the best candidate.

First off, why frame his response from an utterly inept Democrat mantra (party of the poor)? Why not rephrase, if we MUST use their descriptions of themselves, the response? The GOP’s the party of responsibility, of rugged AMERICAN inidividualism, of focused hard work, of success-driven, tax-paying, high-achievers. If the Democrats are the party of or for the poor, we’re the party whose taxes assure that the poor won’t starve, roads will be built, our children will be educated, our country will be defended. To be “rich” is the goal of lottery-ticket-buyers, not of Republicans. Or how about “Republicans like to MAKE their money, not to stand in line waiting for it.” Good grief, man, there are a thousand better messages than the one his incompetent staff (Schmidt!) chose for him.