Santorum: Romney’s comments on poor show ‘callousness’

Rick Santorum said comments Mitt Romney made about lacking concern for the poor illustrated the former Massachusetts governor’s “callousness.”

“I think it shows a callousness on the part of Gov. Romney — you know this is people we’re talking about who are on the margins of society,” Santorum said Thursday on St. Louis radio station KMOX. “Again, what it shows of Gov. Romney is that he looks at the poor differently. That being poor is a disability.” 

In an interview Wednesday morning on CNN, Romney said he was more worried about the middle class than the very rich or very poor.

{mosads}“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I’ll fix it,” Romney said in the interview. “I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90 [percent] to 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling. I’ll continue to take that message across the nation.”

Romney’s Democratic and Republican opponents were quick to capitalize on his comments. Newt Gingrich suggested Romney’s remarks showed he is trying to divide the country.

“I am fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other,” Gingrich said later Wednesday in Reno, Nev. “I am running to be the president of all the American people, and I am concerned about all the American people.”