MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has dismissed claims that Mitt Romney comes off as too privileged to appeal to American presidential voters, saying that his likely rival, Hillary Clinton, is seen as the "most elite" politician in Washington.
"Clinton has just as many billionaire friends, and has led over the past 25 years the most elite, the most insular, the most Gatsby-like existence of any person in the political world today," Scarborough said on "Morning Joe."
"Her friends are at Davos, her friends are at Goldman Sachs. I mean, Hillary Clinton, when she said we’re not really that rich
— do you know why she said that? Because everybody she hangs out with are billionaires."
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Romney, who is expected to announce a White House run for the GOP nomination early this year, is attempting to portray himself as a populist leader,
according to the Huffington Post.
At the Republican National Committee's winter meeting last month, the 2012 presidential nominee suggested that poverty and income equality would be his main agenda of any possible campaign in 2016.
"Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before," he said. "Under this president, his policies have not worked. Their liberal policies are good every four years for a campaign, but they don’t get the job done."
But The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza says, "The problem for Romney is that he is regarded by many, at least today, as a wealthy plutocrat primarily concerned with feathering the nests of his affluent friends."
Cillizza added, "Romney might have the right message
— frustration and anxiety over income inequality is everywhere in the country
— but he seems like a uniquely poor messenger to carry it."
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