Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who recently claimed that "corporations are people," urged the Occupy Wall Street protesters Monday not to "attack a whole class of Americans."
"I've been really disappointed and in some respects a little frightened by the president's rhetoric -- this class warfare -- trying to find someone to blame," Romney told supporters at a town hall event in New Hampshire. "Stop blaming. Be a Truman Democrat. Say, 'The buck stops here.' Take responsibility. Do not divide the American people."
"What you are seeing right now is an effort on the part of some to see if they can't create such enmity, such division that that a certain group of people can get themselves re-elected. Look, come together. Respect other Americans. This idea that we're going to go after Wall Street or corporate executives here or people of a different color there, it's a terrible idea, it's a terrible sentiment... Let's not fight any street in America, but come together. People, if they're bad actors, go find them and punish them big time, but don't attack a whole class of Americans, whether they're rich or poor, white or black."
He continued: "Despite the fact that we're not as big as China or as big as India, we're going to keep out-competing them, not just for a few more years but forever. This next century must be an American century where America leads the world. I'm convinced that will happen as long as we have leadership that doesn't divide us or try and find scapegoats to attack. And you're seeing that happen Wall Street protests and you're seeing the president use it in his rhetoric."
Earlier at the same event, Romney had said that he wasn't running to take care of rich people, according to CNN.
"Rich people can take care of themselves. They are doing just fine. I am running for middle class Americans."
