Mitt Romney defended his father, George Romney, after Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the Republican presidential front runner's dad grew up on a "polygamy commune."
During an interview with Fox News Chief Political correspondent Carl Cameron on Friday, Romney, who is a practicing Mormon, emphatically stated, "My dad's dad was not a polygamist. My dad grew up in a family with a mom and a dad and a few brothers and one sister."
Saying he hadn't seen the comment, Romney told Fox, "They lived in Mexico and lived a very nice life there from what I understand and then when he was 5 or 6 years old there was a revolution in Mexico. They escaped... My dad had a very tough upbringing."
Schweitzer, a Democrat, made the comment in an interview when talking about Romney's problems with Latino voters. The governor said of Romney that it’s "kind of ironic, given that his family came from a polygamy commune in Mexico, but then he'd have to talk about his family coming from a polygamy commune in Mexico."
Romney's father, George, was born in Mexico and moved to the United States as a child before becoming the CEO of American Motors and the governor of Michigan.
Mormonism allowed polygamy at one time, but banned the practice in 1890.
