After Mitt Romney was caught making the now infamous comments about 47 percent of Americans being freeloaders with a “victim” mentality, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan took the opportunity to back up the anti-welfare sentiment by bashing the president’s public assistance policies. Politico reports:

“Barack Obama is a drug dealer of welfare,” he said, speaking on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” “He wants permanent dependency, in my judgment, of all these folks…somehow getting benefits, benefits, benefits and paying no taxes.”

Buchanan’s comments came the day after a video surfaced of Mitt Romney, who, speaking at a private fundraiser in May, said 47 percent of Americans, who don’t pay income tax, are “dependent upon the government.” Romney and some Republicans, like Buchanan, didn’t back down from those comments when the controversial video came to light, saying instead that the remarks should spark a broader conversation about the role of government in citizens’ lives, and why the poor economy forces more people to rely on help from the government.

“We used to have FDR talking about relief being a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit,” Buchanan said. “We got to get off this welfare, is what he said. And in that sense it’s a narcotic.”

Buchanan made sure to add that Mitt Romney's views on welfare are completely opposite from President Obama's.

Read the full story here.

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices.  Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. 

(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press)