U.S. Sen. Scott Brown distanced himself on Tuesday from remarks Mitt Romney made at a private fundraiser where he said 47 percent of the country is “dependent upon government” and believe they are “victims.”

"That's not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in,” Brown said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Brown’s opponent, Democrat Elizabeth Warren directly criticized Romney’s remarks.

“Romney just wrote off half the people in Massachusetts and half the people in America as deadbeats,” Warren told the Washington Post in an interview circulated by her campaign. “This is a separate category of contempt for half of our fellow citizens.”

The Republican presidential candidate’s remarks were criticized by people throughout the political spectrum after Mother Jones magazine published a video of Romney speaking, which had been taken surreptitiously.

Romney was recorded telling donors, “So my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." On Monday night Romney said he could have made his point more “elegantly.”

– A. Metzger/SHNS