Romney spokesperson: His individual mandate could have saved woman's life

A spokesperson for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday shocked conservatives by suggesting that a woman whose husband was laid off from a Bain Capital-owned plant would have lived if she had been covered by a health care law similar to President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

During an interview on Fox News, host Bill Hemmer asked Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul to respond to an ad released by the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action that linked former factory worker Joe Sopic's job loss to his wife's eventual death from cancer.

"When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant I lost my health care, and my family lost their health care," Sopic says in the ad. "And a short time after that my wife became ill."

"I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he's done to anyone," he adds.

On Wednesday, Saul didn't dispute the facts, but called the attack "disgusting."

"Obviously, it's unfortunate when anyone loses their job," she explained. "This particular case was a plant that was closed years after Gov. Romney left the company.

Saul continued: "And to that point, you know, if people had been in Massachusetts under Gov. Romney's health care plan, they would have had health care."

Romney has spent much of the election season running away from his record of creating an individual health care insurance mandate in Massachusetts so it wasn't surprising to see conservatives calling Saul's remarks a misstep.

"OMG," Redstate's Erik Erickson tweeted. "This might just be the moment Mitt Romney lost the election. Wow."

"Not sure if the Romney camp realizes what a huge opening they've just created for Ds on Obamacare," the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein agreed.

Watch this video from Fox News' America's Newroom, broadcast Aug. 8, 2012.

(h/t: Politico, Talking Points Memo)