The right's many attacks on Mitt Romney
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| Republicans from across the party spectrum — from libertarians to conservative bloggers to pillars of the GOP establishment — have taken their presidential nominee to task over the last two weeks. First, Mitt Romney took flak in the wake of attacks on U.S. outposts in Egypt and Libya, when the GOP standard-bearer’s first response was to slam the Obama administration for comments made by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. This week, Romney found himself in hot water after a leaked video showed him saying at a private fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans “are dependent upon the government” and that “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” (Also on POLITICO: Romney rescue plan: More Mitt) Here’s a look at who’s keeping some distance from Romney… On the “47 percent ” comment: Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard: “… Romney’s comments, like those of Obama four years ago, are stupid and arrogant.” David Brooks, The New York Times: “[As] a description of America today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.” Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal: “It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one.” Kevin Glass, Townhall.com: “Romney’s just wrong on the facts here.” Jonah Goldberg, “The Corner” blog, National Review: “Ultimately Romney’s division of the electorate has an odd Marxist twang to it, as if those dependent on government are simply voting their naked economic self-interest. “… Which raises the other, bigger, problem with the blanket derogation of people who don’t pay income taxes. Undoubtedly moochers and layabouts are overrepresented in the ranks of the non-filers of income taxes. But so are the working poor (thanks to, among other things, the Earned Income Tax Credit), retirees, college students, et al.” David Frum, Newsweek/The Daily Beast: “Mitt Romney has just committed the worst presidential-candidate gaffe since Gerald Ford announced in 1976 that ‘there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.’ “Irreparable? To Romney’s image, yes; to his election chances … we’ll see.” Michael Warren, The Weekly Standard: “The political argument, that those who are ‘dependents’ won’t be voting for Romney anyway, is demonstrably wrong, and the content and tone of Romney’s remarks don’t strike many conservatives (and others) as particularly presidential.” “To the extent Republicans do, they’re handicapping themselves.” W. James Antle III, The Daily Caller News Foundation: “Since when has it been the job of Republicans and conservatives to make sure everyone has IRS obligations?” Linda McMahon, GOP Senate candidate, Connecticut: “I know that the vast majority of those who rely on government are not in that situation because they want to be. People today are struggling because the government has failed to keep America competitive, failed to support job creators, and failed to get our economy back on track.” Ross Douthat, The New York Times: “… Romney finds himself conducting a winnable (yes, still) campaign from the weakest possible position.” Reihan Salam, National Review: “We need conservative politicians who are willing to explain why low-income and middle-income parents should be removed from the tax rolls during the years they are making the biggest investments in their children, and who are willing to make the case for the EITC program as an alternative to worklessness and lifelong dependency.” Susana Martinez, governor, New Mexico: “We have a lot of people that are at the poverty level in New Mexico, but they count just as much as anybody else.” Scott Brown, U.S. Senator, Massachusetts: “As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in.” Matt Welch, Reason: “This is economic determinism at its worst, going against the very message the Republican Party was trying to sell to the world during its quadrennial national convention last month.” Dean Heller, U.S. Senator, Nevada: “You got to understand, I grew up with five brothers and sisters. My father was an automechanic. My mother was a school cook. I just don’t view the world the same way he does.” On Libya… Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal: “Romney looked weak today… At one point, he had a certain slight grimace on his face when he was taking tough questions from the reporters. And I thought, ‘He looks like Richard Nixon.’” Rep. Peter King, R-NY: “Gov. Romney in the big picture is right. … I would have waited 12, 24 hours and put out a more comprehensive statement.” Ed Rogers, GOP strategist: “Not much is required of Gov. Romney on this. He has to be poised. He has to be sure-footed. He has to be precise. He was none of those.” Steve Schmidt, senior campaign strategist on McCain’s presidential campaign: “What the Americans people are looking for after 11 years of war in their presidential candidates is coolness and calmness and a steady hand, and political statements have the tendency to inflame situations as opposed to steadying them. His response is evaluated through the prism of his capacity to be commander in chief, not on the political sting he can land on the incumbent president.” Scott Galupo, The American Conservative: “The point of Romney’s attack was to invidiously link Obama with the Egyptian and Libyan protesters — to imply that he doesn’t love America enough to stand up for values such as free speech.” David Frum, Newsweek/The Daily Beast: “Mitt Romney has received much (deserved) criticism for his maladroit comments on the 9/11 embassy attacks. But you know what? There is a critique to be made of the Obama administration’s approach to Islamism, especially in Egypt — and it doesn’t require anyone to hurl false charges that the president ‘sympathizes’ with the killers of Americans.” John E. Sununu, former senator, New Hampshire: “They probably should have waited. You look at the way things unfolded, you look at the timing of it, they probably should have waited.” Matt Lewis, the Daily Caller: “Fair or not, Romney’s presser turned out to be bad politics. Injecting himself into the debate stepped on what had been a favorable narrative.” John Ullyot, GOP strategist: The Libya incident has “developed into another distraction that has put foreign policy — not a strong suit for the G.O.P. ticket this time — front and center in an uncomfortable way in a campaign that is becoming less and less about the administration’s job record.” Jon Huntsman, former GOP presidential candidate (on the Arab Spring, generally): “I don’t know what Gov. Romney is proposing at this point… It’s kind of a problem.” Some general head-shaking: Joe Scarborough, former congressman, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and POLITICO columnist: “… If we want to win the battle of ideas in the long term, we should be willing to face the fact that Mitt Romney is likely to lose—and should, given that he’s neither a true conservative nor a courageous moderate. He’s just an ambitious man. Nothing wrong with that, except when you want to be president.” Laura Ingraham, conservative talk show host: “If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new, with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be…” Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk show host: “The only problem is, right now Romney’s not running a conservative campaign. But they’re gonna set it up to say, ‘Well, the right sat home,’ or, ‘The right made Romney be other than who he is.’ They’ll try to deflect the blame, but they got who they want.” Rupert Murdoch, chairman, News Corp.: “Election: Romney must draw clear line: offer specific path to restore American dream versus ugly Obama class war with jobs disappearing.” The Wall Street Journal, editorial page: “Mr. Romney’s pre-existing political calculation seems to be that he can win the election without having to explain the economic moment or even his own policies. As this flap shows, such vagueness carries its own political risks.” | |
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