The Top Campaign Gaffes of 2012

A look at who has put his foot in his mouth on the campaign trail

With Michelle Obama’s Beyonce comments sparking controversy, (read about that HERE) we decided to take a look back at some of the other most talked about campaign missteps and misstatements of the 2012 presidential election news cycle.

Firing people is fun…

January 9, 2012

If there were an Olympics for political gaffes presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney just might be a gold medalist. At the height of the GOP primary, he said the words that are guaranteed to be repeated thousands of times on airwaves in Democratic attack ads, "I like being able to fire people…" Apparently he forgot that most voters are not people in a position to hire and fire but most of us are worried about being hired and fired by someone else so that we can support our families and ourselves.

…and “I’m not concerned about the very poor.”

January 31, 2012

Romney then followed that misstep with one that’s arguably worse, though that may be hard to believe. When he said the words, “I'm not concerned about the very poor,” during an interview ith CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, even supporters shook their heads at how tone deaf he sounded. Though some argued that the remarks in their entirety were not that bad, they were still pretty bad: "I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it." 

The Hot Mic heard ‘round the world

March 26, 2012