Biden on Romney’s ’47 percent’ remarks: ‘I’ll let his words speak for themselves’

Vice President Biden refused to fully weigh in on Mitt Romney’s comment that “47 percent” of Americans are “dependent on government” and would not vote for him.

“I’ll let his words speak for themselves,” Biden said to reporters after a campaign speech in Ottumwa, Iowa, on Tuesday.

{mosads}Biden’s speech noticeably did not mention Romney’s comments, which were released in a video clip Monday evening by Mother Jones magazine. In the video, Romney, speaking at a private fundraiser in May, says 47 percent of the country would never vote for him and instead feel they are “victims.” Romney said that same 47 percent believed “government has a responsibility to care for them.”

The video clip has put Romney on the defensive; the former Massachusetts governor attempted to staunch the bleeding Monday night in a press conference in which he said the comments were “inartfuly worded.”

Democrats have attempted to capitalize on the remarks, sending out fundraising emails quoting Romney. In an email late Monday night, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said the comments revealed “disgust and disdain for half of our fellow Americans.”

Instead of touching on Romney’s comment, Biden attacked the Republican presidential ticket on healthcare and job creation, saying that Romney’s record of job creation is one of sending them overseas rather than bringing them to the United States.

“I found it stunning that in what was otherwise a really good speech that Gov. Romney made accepting his nomination that he said emphatically that as president he would take a jobs tour,” Biden said in the speech. “Well, folks, based on his record, it’s gonna have to be a foreign trip for when he talks jobs.”