Pac Ads Zero in on Romney's '47 Percent' Comments Pro-Obama Super PACs have zeroed in Mitt Romney's controversial secretly recorded remarks to donors, cutting and releasing a number of new ads now posted online and scheduled to run on television in at least six key swing states. Weaving Romney's more damaging comments about the 47 percent of Americans he dismisses as hopelessly beholden to President Obama with images of "middle class" families and workers, the Priorities USA spot, "Doors," opens with a shot of the lavish Florida mansion that hosted the May 17 fundraiser. "Behind these doors Mitt Romney calls half the American people 'dependent on government, who believe they are victims," the narrator intones. Then, cutting to an image of a more modest, suburban home, a warning is delivered: "Behind these doors, middle-class families struggle and Romney will make things even tougher." Romney offered his own response to the criticism in the form of an op-ed piece in this morning's USA Today. In one passage he appears to back off his harsh characterization of the "47 percent" of Americans who don't pay income taxes but continue drawing money from entitlement programs. "Under President Obama, we have a stagnant economy that fosters government dependency," he wrote. My policies will create a growing economy that fosters upward mobility. Government has a role to play here. Right now, our nation's citizens do need help from government. But it is a very different kind of help than what President Obama wants to provide. Romney also assailed what he calls the "web of dependency" being weaved by the administration, promising to "pursue policies that grow our economy and lift Americans out of poverty." The promises come in tandem with a revived effort -- Sen. John McCain tried a similar tactic in 2008 -- to paint President Obama as a closet socialist bent on "redistributing" American wealth. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, jumped into the fray Tuesday night, telling local news affiliates in swing states Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia that Romney was "obviously inarticulate," but that the underlying theme of the Florida comments was sound. "The point we're trying to make here is under the Obama economy government dependency is up and economic stagnation is up, and what we're trying to achieve is getting people off of government dependency and back to a job that pays well and gets them onto a path of prosperity," Ryan said during an interview with Joe Hart, from Reno's KRNV. Speaking to Fox31 in Denver, Ann Romney accused her husband's opponents of misrepresenting his comments. "I've been on, obviously, on the trail a long time with Mitt and if you listen to the whole context of what Mitt talks about, he is talking about what's happening right now in America and how more and more people are falling into poverty," Mrs. Romney said. Fellow Republican Susana Martinez, the governor of New Mexico and honorary chair of Romney's Hispanic outreach group, was less forgiving. "We have a lot of people that are at the poverty level in New Mexico, but they count just as much as anybody else," Martinez said during a press conference Tuesday. She also defended her state's social welfare programs. "There is a net that does allow them to be caught and taken care of," she said, "whether it be through medical services, whether it be food services, whether it be with funding for apartments, for housing." Martinez is not, at this point, scheduled to appear with Romney during his coming Latino outreach effort. The candidate has plans to campaign in Florida, will speak with Univision during a forum tonight, and delivered an address at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce earlier this week. Romney acknowledged his difficulty in courting Latino voters during the secretly taped gathering in Florida. His father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, grew up with expat American parents in Mexico. Had they been born Mexican, "I'd have a better shot at winning this," Romney quipped. I mean, I say that jokinglyâ¦ But it would be helpful to be Latino.