Mitt Romney Tells Protester: 'America's Right And You're Wrong'
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Mitt Romney campaign aides have been all a-Twitter today about an exchange their candidate had with an protester who confronted Romney as he was shaking hands after an event outside his campaign headquarters Thursday morning in Charleston, S.C.
"What will you do to support the 99 percent seeing as how you are part of the 1 percent?" the protester asked Romney.
The former Massachusetts governor replied: "Those who try and divide the nation, as you're trying to do here and as our President is doing, are hurting this country," he said, adding: "America's right and you're wrong."
Romney strategist Eric Fehrnstrom tweeted out a link to the video earlier today, writing "GREAT VIDEO," and communications director Gail Gitcho did the same a few hours later. The Romney team even posted a link to the clip on their YouTube site.
"This is Mitt Romney at his best," Fehrnstrom told ABC News. "I don't think I've heard a better argued indictment of President Obama's class warfare rhetoric. The fact it came in an unrehearsed moment while Mitt was being heckled on a rope line adds to the power of it."
It's not the first time Romney has dealt with Occupy Wall Street protesters at his events. He and campaign surrogate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had a spirited run-in with a group of them at a campaign event ahead of the New Hampshire primary.
Here's the full exchange:
PROTESTER: "What will you do to support the 99 percent seeing as how you are part of the 1 percent?"
MITT ROMNEY: "Let me tell you something: America is a great nation because we're a united nation. And those who try and divide the nation, as you're trying to do here and as our President is doing, are hurting this country seriously. The right course for America is not to divide America and try and divide us between one and another. It's to come together as a nation. And if you've got a better model, if you think China's better, or Russia's better, or Cuba's better, or North Korea's better, I'm glad to hear all about it. But you know what, you know what, America's right and you're wrong."