In brief comments to reporters on Friday, White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe questioned the credibility of Mitt Romney’s most recent attempts to distance himself from controversial comments delivered at a private fundraiser last May.

“I think he said they were inelegant,” Plouffe said, referring to Romney’s initial reaction to recordings of his “47%” comments. “There is no elegant way to attack half the country, say they’re victims, say they won’t take responsibility. These are teachers. These are veterans. These are seniors. And the most important thing is his policies reflect that approach and that disdain because his entire economic philosophy is geared toward the very wealthy and burdening the middle class.”

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Romney tried to further distance himself from the remarks, telling Sean Hannity his comments were “completely wrong,” despite having defended his meaning at a press conference held the day after the tapes from the fundraiser were made public.

Noting how much time had passed since Romney originally delivered the remarks and his recent attempts to walk away from them, Plouffe added that the GOP nominee’s most recent disavowal should be viewed with some skepticism.

“I would take with a huge grain of salt trying to clean something up five months after you’ve said it for the first time and after you doubled down on it," Plouffe said.