Fox News misrepresented Mitt Romney's statement that supporters of President Obama are the 47 percent of Americans who “pay no income tax” and “believe that they are victims.”

Fox claimed that Romney was actually talking “about our country becoming an entitlement society and too dependent on government,” and presented polling showing that most Americans agree with him.

But Romney's 47 percent remark was not simply an argument that Americans are becoming “too dependent on the government,” as Fox anchor Gregg Jarrett and the poll claimed. Romney disparaged Obama supporters, saying:

ROMNEY: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that 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. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them.

Romney also declared: “My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

But on Happening Now, Jarrett and his guest Steve Hayes hyped the findings of a Fox News poll that asked respondents if they agreed with “what Mitt Romney said on the tape about our country becoming an entitlement society and too dependent on government.” Jarrett claimed that 63 percent of Americans think Romney is right. Jarrett's guest Steve Hayes said that while Romney “made an argument that had some problems with it,” it is “indisputable” that Romney's “broader case is true.”

Fox has defended Romney's comments since they were first revealed, but it seems clear the only way the network can get Americans to buy into its defense of the comments is by mischaracterizing them.