Romney scorns Obama voters in secret video

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney dismissed a large swathe of Americans - supporters of President Barack Obama, he said - as people who live off government handouts and do not “care for their lives” in a hidden camera video from May that only now has become public.The video, taken secretly at a fundraising event for Romney in Florida, was the latest setback for a campaign struggling with low poll numbers and reports of infighting.“There are 47 per cent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them,” Romney said in the video.At a hastily called news conference late on Monday night, Romney conceded the comments were not “elegantly stated’’ and that they were spoken “off the cuff”.“It’s not elegantly stated. Let me put it that way,” Romney said, in California. “I’m sure I could state it more clearly and in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that.”The video was posted on Monday on left-leaning Mother Jones magazine’s website. After first concealing the date and location of the video to protect their source, Mother Jones said they had been released from their agreement and wrote that the video was filmed at the home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder in Boca Raton, Florida, on May 17.It added to Romney’s problems as he tried on Monday to retool his campaign message with more specifics on policies after reports of internal disarray.He has slipped in polls in the last two weeks as the selection of running mate Paul Ryan and the Republican NationalConvention failed to make much of a mark with voters.