Posted on 01/14/2012 8:10:39 AM PST by marktwain
Duncan, S.C. After spending days locked in a bitter fight with some conservatives over his attacks on Mitt Romney as a corporate raider, Newt Gingrich made it clear tonight that he wants to change the topic and get back to attacking Romney from the right. Calling Romney "too liberal for South Carolina," Gingrich told reporters Friday evening that over the next few days there are "going to essentially be, I think, three themes" of his campaign. Gingrich then made the case against Romney on abortion, guns, and taxes:
"The first is a clear contrast between the Romney record in Massachusetts and my record in the Congress. So, for example, all of you have now seen the ad we have on abortion where even after he said he was pro-life, he appointed pro-abortion judges. He has tax-paid abortion in Romneycare. He has Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, in Romneycare. The state actually helped build an abortion clinic. And he personally intervened to override his public health department, which was prepared to grant a conscience waiver to Catholic hospitals on the morning after abortion pill. And he intervened to say no they could not exercise conscience, which I think is a pretty remarkable position. These were all after he said he was pro-life."We're also going to draw a sharp contrast--I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms and have been recognized by the National Rifle Association for lifetime legislative achievement. By contrast, Governor Romney said he was comfortable with Massachusetts gun control laws. And he increased the taxes on guns in Massachusetts by 400 percent. I think in a state like South Carolina that's pretty definitive of who is the conservative and who isn't.
"Third is taxes. I fought tax increases by Romney, I mean Reagan, by Bush, and by Clinton. Governor Romney, by contrast, raised taxes about 730 or 740 million dollars. You can see all that at RomneyTaxes.com. And we'll be drawing that contrast."
Just for good measure, Gingrich added a fourth line of attack against Romney: his record on helping create jobs as an elected official. "It's clear in public policy that the two times I was engaged in helping create jobs, first with Reagan which led to 16 million new jobs and then as speaker with Bill Clinton which led to 11 million new jobs, the scale of job creation dwarfs his record in Massachusetts where his tax increases and his regulator approaches actually led them to rank 47th," he said.
Gingrich seemed to want to talk about anything but Romney's record at Bain. Yesterday, he tried to pivot away from the Bain attacks by claiming that some "so-called conservatives" have been criticizing him because he wants a full accounting of the Wall Street bailouts. (In reality, of course, Gingrich has been criticized for the Bain attacks, not his position on the Wall Street bailout.)
"All I said about Bain is he should explain it," Gingrich said Friday evening, following his appearance at a presidential forum with Rick Santorum. But what exactly was the connection between Wall Street and Romney? Gingrich's answer was more than a little murky. He told reporters that Romney is linked to Wall Street by his donors, but insisted he wasn't trying to somehow link Romney's Bain experience to Wall Street:
QUESTION: It seemed to be you’re sort of putting Romney with that group [bailed out financial institutions]. Are you saying that there’s no connection whatsoever?GINGRICH: Well, if you look at your top ten donors, they’re all from Wall Street firms. I’m not saying that I’m putting him with them. But look where his money comes from. Look who’s paying for the ads. And I’ll let you decide.
QUESTION: Speaker Gingrich, were you trying to connect his experience at Bain to the Wall Street banks and the bailouts?
GINGRICH: No.
As he begins the week long-sprint toward South Carolina's January 21 primary, Gingrich is keeping all of his fire trained on Mitt Romney. When asked by a reporter to draw any contrasts between himself and Rick Santorum, his chief conservative rival in South Carolina, Gingrich declined. "I think my primary message is going to be about my background," he said.
But Gingrich did make the case that he has the best shot of stopping Romney. "If you look at the polling data, clearly, if conservatives are going to rally around one candidate, it's probably going to be me," Gingrich said. "And if they do rally around one candidate, it's clear Governor Romney will lose."
The candidates where stupid to allow the debates to be framed and moderated by liberals.
Boy, don't you know the anti-gun wackos are just loving this! They appear to be poised to have BOTH major party candidates being anti-second amendment. As a gun owner, I am really worried about the next election.
(And please don't bother to flame me with the names of any third party candidates because none of them has a snowball's chance in Hell of being elected.)
Finally, maybe sanity returns to Noot.
All he’d have had to so is make the argument that Obamacare is the #1 most dangerous, wrong-headed, and destructive program in the history of the USA, and that it was based on Romney’s signature program in MA. That’s it - he could have wiped the floor with Romneycare, but no, some genius decided to attack capitalism instead...
Yeah, go Newt. Unfortunately you’re our best shot.
Very true, but where can you get conservative moderators? All the media is either for the Kenyan Muslim, or for Willard.
Nobody was attacking capitalism, that’s just how the media spun it. Way to go for getting duped.
I think bringing up Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital was good because it directly impinges on one of the two plinths of his mythical electability (1. His record in the private sector and 2. His record as governor, which he doesn’t seem to want to talk about much).
Unfortunately, I don’t know how much the average voter cares anymore that RomneyCare was the prototype for ObamaCare. Sigh.
Gingrich has been running Taxes, Abortion and guns since day 1 in South Carolina...
The Establishment likes the Mitt Martyr play they get from ignoring that.
That’s why he is separating from Santorum...how is Santorum attacking Mitt...oh he’s not, he’s attacking Gingrich.
The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party.
Newt was for the AWB, before he was against it???
Thats like the pot calling the kettle black...
The only “proven” pro-Second Amendment guy left in the race is Perry IIRC...
And I’m still not that excited about his campaign yet...
Romney and Newt will cancel each other out in the next few contests...I don’t know much about Santorum’s Second Amendment position...He may be ok, but I don’t see him as a strong candidate to knock off Obama in the big one...
I think folks need to start paying more attention to their Senatorial and Congressional races and stop worying about this one race for now...
John Bolton just endorse Romney...So I think he wants a job a Secretary of State in the next administration or something...
Somehow, I’m thinking we should just go ahead and skip the rest of this process and just let the republican leadership anoint Ronmey and get it over with...
If you don’t tow the republican leadership position you’ll be ostrasized and labled hated in that elitist circle $%*^...
I’m rapidly tiring of the BS being foisted upon us...And it’ll bring us 4 more years of Obama, because of the feckless party leadership and representation we have now...
There is not enough of us beating this juggernaut over the head to get their attention yet...
Maybe 4 more years of Obama will...
Just my opinion...
In 20 years of being in the House, Gingrich never had a rating below A+ or A.
Just sayin.
If the voters of South Carolina vote for Newt Gingrich or Rick Perry they are throwing their votes away and helping America hater/destroyer POTUS Barack Hussein Obama to get re-elected. Both Gingrich and Perry are toast as potential POTUS nominees because they have jumped the shark and gone over the line!!! that is what emotion, hate, envy and lies bring forth!!!
The race is now between Romney, Paul, Santorum and Huntsman!!! Huntsman is too weak and won’t last, but he is a good man!!! And......this race is far from over. More players will join the fray and quest as time moves on!!! Gingrich and Perry have joined the “dark side”, the Devil and Obama!!! Pubbbies, Conservatives, Freepers, broom and dump both of them immediately. Let the two of them join the the Hate America Democrat Party, which is where they belong!!!
LOL Huntsman ??
Gingrich is catching Romney and gaining more separation from Santorum.
Governor Perry is the only true conservative left in the race. That he's wallowing in the single-digits despite a successful executive record and solidly conservative credentials says a lot more to me about so-called "conservative" voters than in does about Rick Perry.
He wasn’t attacking the RIGHT, he was attacking the corruption.
Mitt IS corruption.
You and the rest misrepresenting the critiques of Romney’s Bain years as “an attack on capitalism” are amoral liars and fools.
OH I agree, but you also HAVE to see the Perry is going no where.
Please don’t criticize All of us Conservatives on this site for seeing the obvious, It doesn’t make us any less Conservative.
Look out now, stormhill, FReepers who question the tactics used by Newt’s superpac (sorry, I should have made that clear) are branded as “dupes” and “amoral liars and fools” now.
Now Santorum is trying to get in the Mitt VP line....
Just damn! We need Mr. Spock to run some Vulcan Mind Probes to see who ain’t FOS.
That’s why he is separating from Santorum...how is Santorum attacking Mitt...oh he’s not, he’s attacking Gingrich.
Santorum is not hitting anyone but Obama. Funny how when Gingrich was not hitting people he is great. Now that he flip flops and hitting Republicans he is great. Santorum is the only one who is not a flip flopper in this group.
Exactly right. It is what some of us have been trying to get across. Even Rush cannot see it. Newt was right and very accurate. It was spun wrong by liberals, MSM, and some RINOs. The trashing of Newt was so sickening that we should be ashamed at some of America.
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