Morning Read: McDonnell Comes To Romney's Defense

Ever the party stalwart, Gov. Bob McDonnell tried to come Romney’s defense after his “47 percent” gaffe.

A video was leaked by liberal Mother Jones magazine Monday showed Romney speaking at a private fundraiser, saying that “there are 47 percent who are with [the president], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.”

The video has left the GOP scrambling to try and downplay the comments and salvage the already suffering campaign. The Democrats, for their part, are trying to use the video to show that the GOP doesn’t actually care about half the country.

Here’s what McDonnell had to say Tuesday in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”

"I think what the governor is trying to say, and he said he didn't say it right, is what has been reported, but what he's trying to say is that the number of people on food stamps and that have to depend on the government because of the lousy Obama government, 43 months of 8 percent [unemployment] is unacceptable and he [Romney] wants more people to be able to get back to work, make more taxpayers so we can get ourselves out of this debt by having more people with access to the American Dream," McDonnell told Fox News.

"He would say it probably differently today, but it is a significant problem when you have this level of people that don't pay significant amount of taxes because they can't earn a good living," McDonnell said. "So job creation, economic development through these plans, I think, are exactly the right formula for the country."

McDonnell may have been passed up for VP, but he’s been quite the loyal friend to Governor Romney.

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