Romney repudiates supporter at town hall who called Obama a ‘monster’

Mitt Romney repudiated a supporter who referred to President Obama as a “monster” during a town-hall meeting Tuesday in Ohio.

Given the opportunity to ask a question, the supporter provided a list of grievances with the Obama administration and referred to the president as a “monster.”

{mosads}”That’s not a term I would use,” Romney replied.

The questioner then defended her use of the phrase as the crowd laughed and applauded.

“Well, I can — I’m an angry mom,” the woman said.

Romney came under flak in May when he did not repudiate a supporter who suggested at a town-hall meeting that the president should have been tried for treason. At the time, the Obama campaign blasted Romney for not immediately repudiating the questioner, as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) famously did during his 2008 presidential bid when a supporter called the then-Illinois senator an “Arab.”

“Today we saw Mitt Romney’s version of leadership: standing by silently as his chief surrogate attacked the President’s family at the event and another supporter alleged that the President should be tried for treason,” said Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith in a statement.

McCain later defended Romney from the Obama attacks, saying the president’s team had little ground to stand on after shying away from criticism of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. The union boss generated controversy in September when, discussing the Tea Party, he called for workers to “take these son-of-a-bitches out” in the coming election.

“Again, a double standard. When the head of a major union in the United States of America says that you’ve got to ‘take out,’ then that’s OK. But when Mitt Romney in a middle of a town-hall meeting doesn’t immediately repudiate a remark — and of course Mitt Romney doesn’t think the president should be tried for treason — but people are free to give their opinion at town-hall meetings. That’s what town-hall meetings are all about,” McCain said on the “Kilmeade & Friends” radio program.