CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Mitt Romney, recognizing the damage to his campaign, on Wednesday night backed off his statement from earlier this year that he wouldn’t contend for the support of the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes. 
 
 “My campaign is about the 100 percent of America,” Romney said in his opening comments at a Univision forum here. 
 
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 reset Big Question: What should Romney do? 
 
 Romney repeated the phrase “the 100 percent” three more times in his initial statement. 
 
 It was the furthest the Republican presidential nominee has gone to clean up an issue that has dogged him for three consecutive days. Romney, in remarks that were surreptitiously taped, said at a high-dollar fundraiser in May that the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes were sure to back President Barack Obama. 
 
 “My job is not to worry about those people,” he said at the fundraiser, in comments that liberal magazine Mother Jones reported on Monday. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” 
 
 Taking a question on Wednesday about the controversial remarks from a pair of news anchors speaking in Spanish, the former Massachusetts governor struck a very different tone before a live audience at the University of Miami. 
 
 “The last several years, you’ve seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country,” the GOP hopeful said. “We had hoped to come back together. But instead, you’ve seen us pull apart. And politics has driven us apart in some respects. So my campaign is about the 100 percent of America. And I’m concerned about them. I’m concerned about the fact that over the last four years, life has become harder for Americans.” 
 
 Romney didn’t explicitly reference his now-famous comments about “the 47 percent,” but he sought to draw a difference between targeting potential supporters and wanting to help the entire country. 
 
 “I know I’m not going to get 100 percent of the vote, and my campaign will focus on those people we think we can bring in to support me,” he said. “But this is a campaign about helping people who need help and right now, the people who are poor in this country need help getting out of poverty, the people in the middle class need help because their incomes have gone down every year for the last four years.” 
 
 Taking questions for about 30 minutes from the Univision anchors and audience members, Romney used more gentle language on other issues as well, attempting to appeal to a crucial bloc of voters he’s trailing badly with in key states. 
 
 The Republican even embraced the Obama administration’s claim that his Massachusetts health care reform plan made him “the grandfather of Obamacare.” 
 
 “I don’t think he meant that as a compliment but I’ll take it,” Romney said, adding that such a depiction was likely not “helpful” during the GOP primary. 
 
 Romney, responding to a question about whether he’d repeal Obama’s health care law, went on to tout his signature achievement in Boston with language that has irritated conservatives in the past. ||||| stuck in the mittle Romney Denounces ‘Selectively Edited’ Fund-raiser Video, Promotes Selectively Edited Obama Video 
 
 After saying his views on the 47 percent were not "elegantly stated" but accurate, then pretending that he was merely saying he doesn't expect to get 60 to 70 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney tried out a new defense in the ongoing leaked video controversy. On Wednesday afternoon, his campaign sent out an e-mail titled "The Obama Campaign Leveled False Attacks Against Mitt Romney Based On A Debunked And Selectively Edited Video." (Ann Romney previewed this argument on Tuesday when she suggested the tape was "misinterpreted" or "taken out of context.") It's an odd claim to make in this case, considering that Mother Jones posted the full 49-minute video along with a transcript. Now in an ironic turn, NBC News is reporting that the video Republicans seemingly circulated in response, which features Obama discussing "redistribution," was edited to make his remarks seem more inflammatory. 
 
 The Romney campaign e-mail stated, "Politico Reported That The Mother Jones Video Was Selectively Edited To Give A False Impression About Mitt Romney’s Views On The Middle East Peace Process," according to Mother Jones. The site initially posted an edited video that showed Romney saying he would "kick the ball down the field" rather than seeking a two-state solution, which contradicts remarks he's made in public. The Politico story points out that many news outlets are reporting that Romney believes there's no possibility for peace in the Middle East, though "technically" that isn't true. In the full video he goes on to say that if America waits things out, "Palestinians will some day reach the point where they want peace more than we’re trying to force peace on them." Journalist David Corn, who obtained the hidden camera footage, told Politico that he didn't include the rest of Romney's remarks on Palestinians because he's made similar comments in public and the clip was supposed to highlight the newsworthy bits before the release of the full video. 
 
 Politico's Dylan Byers responded to the Romney campaign's use of his work, saying "there is nothing in my report that 'debunks' the video." A Romney campaign spokesperson then told him that they only object to the clip about Middle East peace negotiations, not the full fund-raiser video — though that isn't clear from the e-mail's reference to a "debunked Mother Jones tape." 
 
 A few hours later Republicans were facing questions about their own editing decisions. After the release of the fund-raiser footage, Drudge posted audio of then–State Senator Obama saying "I actually believe in redistribution" at a 1998 conference, which Romney and Ryan quickly started talking up. NBC News has unearthed video of the event, which shows that the widely circulated clip cuts out after "everybody's got a shot," omitting Obama's praise for "competition" and the "marketplace." Obama said: 
 
 I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities. 
 
 Still, the revelation doesn't really change much, since Obama's meaning isn't the point. As Jonathan Chait noted, Obama wasn't even saying anything outrageous in the clip released by Drudge, and seeing the quote in context doesn't change the fact that fourteen years ago Obama uttered the sinister-sounding word "redistribution." ||||| Not cool, guys. (Unless we're doing the editing.) 
 
 After saying his views on the 47 percent were not “elegantly stated” but accurate, then pretending that he was merely saying he doesn’t expect to get 60 to 70 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney tried out a new defense in the ongoing leaked video controversy. On Wednesday afternoon, his campaign sent out an e-mail titled “The Obama Campaign Leveled False Attacks Against Mitt Romney Based On A Debunked And Selectively Edited Video.” (Ann Romney previewed this argument on Tuesday when she suggested the tape was “misinterpreted” or “taken out of context.”) It’s an odd claim to make in this case, considering that Mother Jones posted the full 49-minute video along with a transcript. Now in an ironic turn, NBC News is reporting that the video Republicans seemingly circulated in response, which features Obama discussing “redistribution,” was edited to make his remarks seem more inflammatory. 
 
 The Romney campaign e-mail stated, “Politico Reported That The Mother Jones Video Was Selectively Edited To Give A False Impression About Mitt Romney’s Views On The Middle East Peace Process,” according to Mother Jones. The site initially posted an edited video that showed Romney saying he would “kick the ball down the field” rather than seeking a two-state solution, which contradicts remarks he’s made in public. The Politico story points out that many news outlets are reporting that Romney believes there’s no possibility for peace in the Middle East, though “technically” that isn’t true. In the full video he goes on to say that if America waits things out, “Palestinians will some day reach the point where they want peace more than we’re trying to force peace on them.” Journalist David Corn, who obtained the hidden camera footage, told Politico that he didn’t include the rest of Romney’s remarks on Palestinians because he’s made similar comments in public and the clip was supposed to highlight the newsworthy bits before the release of the full video. 
 
 Politico’s Dylan Byers responded to the Romney campaign’s use of his work, saying “there is nothing in my report that ‘debunks’ the video.” A Romney campaign spokesperson then told him that they only object to the clip about Middle East peace negotiations, not the full fund-raiser video — though that isn’t clear from the e-mail’s reference to a “debunked Mother Jones tape.” 
 
 A few hours later Republicans were facing questions about their own editing decisions. After the release of the fund-raiser footage, Drudge posted audio of then–State Senator Obama saying “I actually believe in redistribution” at a 1998 conference, which Romney and Ryan quickly started talking up. NBC News has unearthed video of the event, which shows that the widely circulated clip cuts out after “everybody’s got a shot,” omitting Obama’s praise for “competition” and the “marketplace.” Obama said: 
 
 I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot. How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities. 
 
 Still, the revelation doesn’t really change much, since Obama’s meaning isn’t the point. As Jonathan Chait noted, Obama wasn’t even saying anything outrageous in the clip released by Drudge, and seeing the quote in context doesn’t change the fact that fourteen years ago Obama uttered the sinister-sounding word “redistribution.”
– Mitt Romney wants to make absolutely sure you know that he's not for the 1%, and he's not against the 47%: The candidate is for all 100% of the US. He repeated the figure four times last night during a speech in Florida, starting with this declaration: "My campaign is about the 100% of America." Politico notes that this is the most he's backed off from his controversial 47% comments since the video came to light, though he didn't specifically mention the controversy. Romney was speaking at a forum for Spanish-language TV network Univision, and he also pivoted on issues close to Latinos, insisting that he wouldn't actually "round up" illegal immigrants for a mass deportation and saying that he's open to legislation that would give legal status to illegal immigrants' children. Later, at a Miami rally, he alluded to his father's use of government assistance, noting, "That’s the way America works: We have big hearts, we care for people who have needs, we help lift them up but then we don’t make it a permanent lifestyle." (Daily Intel notes that the Romney camp is also denouncing the "selectively edited" 47% video, which is odd since Mother Jones posted it in full—click for more on that.)