On Tuesday afternoon, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney gave his first television interview since Mother Jones published secret videos of Romney slamming 47 percent of American voters as Obama-loving freeloaders “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”

In the interview with Fox’s Neil Cavuto, Romney defended his claim that “47 percent” of the electorate was essentially government mooches whom he had no chance of winning over. Asked about his 47 percent line, Romney replied: “I’m talking about a perspective of individuals who I’m not likely to get to support me. I recognize that those people who are not paying income tax are going to say, ‘Gosh, this provision that Mitt keeps talking about lowering income taxes,’ that’s not going to be really attractive to them. And those that are dependent upon government, and those that think government’s job is to redistribute, I’m not gonna get them.”

Romney also used the Fox interview to try to divert public attention to an October 1998 clip of Barack Obama saying he supports “redistribution” of government resources. But the interview focused mostly on Romney’s remarks in the leaked videos posted by Mother Jones, which together have dealt the flagging Romney campaign a body blow with less than two months till Election Day. The full video from the Romney fundraiser is here.

Here’s the video of Romney’s Fox interview: