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Gingrich mouths off; Romney tepidly advances
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by YankeeJim | January 27, 2012 at 01:32 pm
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A tactic often employed by devious people is to take their own weakness and go on the offensive by attacking an opponent. Newt Gingrich has a track record of dishonesty and betrayal, so attacking Romney by calling him “dishonest” is just laughable.
Even if I were inclined to consider a Republican candidate for President, and I am not, I would be turned off by what I see.
As for Romney, the big question is what is hiding in the past tax filings? Did he do anything illegal? I doubt it, but it is worth investigating.
Did he do something morally offensive as to paying a low tax rate and exploiting loopholes? Probably, but we won’t know until we see the facts.
“Gingrich professes shock at Romney’s ‘dishonest’ debate performance
By Amy Gardner and Philip Rucker, Updated: Friday, January 27, 4:03 PM
MIAMI —Former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday that the reason he seemed less combative during Thursday’s televised debate was that he was shocked by what he described as rival Mitt Romney’s “totally dishonest” replies to several questions.
In a telephone interview, Gingrich cited Romney’s remarks on immigration, his vote for Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1992 and whether he knew about an ad his campaign is running against Gingrich.
“I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen,” Gingrich said. At several moments during the debate, Gingrich simply leaned away from his lectern and looked down at his feet because he was so stunned by some of Romney’s statements, he said. He didn’t engage Romney at the time, he said, because “I wanted to fact check. I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was.”
Gingrich spoke as a new poll from Quinnipiac University showed Romney back on top in Florida’s high-stakes Republican primary, adding to the momentum for the former Massachusetts governor following a strong debate performance Thursday night.
Romney went on the offensive against Gingrich on topics including immigration, taxes and wealth, lobbying, and colonizing the moon. Romney said it was “repulsive” for the former House speaker to label him “the most anti-immigrant” candidate in the field. He blasted Gingrich’s moon proposal, saying that if a business executive had brought it to him, his response would have been, “You’re fired.” He goaded his rival into a discussion of his own taxes.
Seeking to capitalize on his gains, Romney reached out forcefully to Hispanic Republicans here Friday, saying he would champion political and economic freedom in Cuba and throughout Latin America.
Romney sought to woo Florida’s influential bloc of Cuban-American and other Hispanic Republican voters four days before the state’s critical primary. He promoted his immigration and foreign-policy agenda, and he used particularly tough language to describe his stance against Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
In Cambridge, Md., meanwhile, President Obama rallied House Democrats at an annual issues conference, urging them to prepare for a “robust debate” with Republicans during this election year, while also looking for opportunities to cooperate.
“It’s going to be a tough election, because a lot of people are still hurting out there, and a lot of people have lost faith generally about the capacity of Washington to get anything done,” Obama said. But whenever “the other side is putting some politics aside for just a nanosecond in order to get something done for the American people, we’ve got to be right there ready to meet them,” he added.
“On the other hand, where they obstruct, where they’re unwilling to act, where they’re more interested in party than they are in country, more interested in the next election than the next generation, then we’ve got to call them out on it.... We’ve got to push them. We can’t wait. We can’t be held back.””
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at 15:55 on January 27th, 2012
Makes you wonder just which debate Gardner and Rucker were at. Blitzer's questions were crap drawn from the CNN headlines and delivered with the same sneering mentality. I have to say upfront I don't like the guy. Also his questions were completely outshone by those asked by the public. Blitzer was so focused on his own opinions that he had already given on the listed question during his own shows he couldn't follow his own script. You could see in the guys face when one of the panel was answering one of his questions, "wait a minute, that's not what I said during one of my rants." At one point this behavior earning him a boo for harping on a subject the panel agreed to disagree on. Rick Santorum probably had the best night of all debate wise. Santorum was very firm with his own vision for 2013 and beyond and what he would do as President. No waffling. Ron Paul got the most genuine laughs, applause and cheers. Ron Paul isn't going to be President. There is probably not much question about that but, last night the public responded with, to repeat the word genuine, respect for him and his views. Romney, in his statements was more on the Obama attack. About the only plan Romney had was to undo everything Obama's done. Gingrich put more emphasis on American future in his answers and when he talked about a national direction and peoples place as participant things were very quiet. I'd say aside from the belittling about the moon space station idea [I thought about that as a good idea when they were building the international space station], Gingrich was speaking to the American heart and sense of self determination. The WP may have decided Romney won this debate but, I'd have to say Gingrich earned himself a second look that might be more beneficial down the road.
at 17:19 on January 27th, 2012
I am no fan of Blitzer either.