Add Mitt Romney to the list of presidential candidates distancing themselves from some loud voices in the audience of Monday night’s CNN/Tea Party Express debate.
In a CNN appearance on Thursday, Wolf Blitzer asked Romney to reflect on the memorable moment from the debate when members of the audience cheered for the idea of letting an uninsured man die rather than pay for his care with government funds.
Romney said the moment took him aback.
“I was disappointed by that response,” Romney said. “We’re a people that care very deeply for one another, we respect the sanctity of human life, whether an unborn life or someone in the middle of their life or at the end of their life.”
Romney’s main opponent for the nomination at this point, Rick Perry, also criticized the cheering members of the audience after Monday’s debate.
Progressive groups have attempted to tie the candidates to the cheering members of the crowd, saying the moment exemplified the difference between the tea party GOP and the Democrats on health care.