E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
SPARTANBURG, SC -- Mitt Romney's campaign launched a barrage of attacks against Newt Gingrich just three days before South Carolina's primary amid signs the former House speaker could threaten Romney's bid for his third straight win in the primary cycle.
The former Massachusetts governor led his campaign in opening a fusillade against Gingrich, who's persisted at or near the top of the polls in tests of Saturday's first-in-the-South primary.
In a sign of how seriously his campaign is taking Gingrich as a threat, Romney broke from his usual form on the campaign trail -- which usually involves attacking only President Obama -- to instead deliver a rebuke of Gingrich's claims on his record on job creation.
"The speaker the other day at the debate was talking about how he created millions of jobs when he was working with the Reagan administration. Well, he'd been in Congress two years when Ronald Reagan came into office, " Romney said. "That'd be like saying 435 congressmen were all responsible for those jobs. Government doesn't create jobs. It's the private sector that creates jobs. Congressmen taking responsibility or taking credit for helping create jobs is like Al Gore taking credit for the Internet."
Romney's words were just one part of an offensive that extended to his surrogates, who hosted a conference call and launched web videos questioning Gingrich's leadership abilities.
First Thoughts: Newt-mentum returns?
The assault began earlier this morning with a web video released by the Romney campaign entitled "Undisciplined Leader," in which former New York Rep. Susan Molinari, who served with Gingrich in the 1990s, delivered the first blow.
"I served with Newt Gingrich in Congress. Newt Gingrich had a leadership style that can only be described as leadership by chaos,” Molinari said in the video. "I worry about the Republican Party’s chances to defeat President Obama if Newt Gingrich is the nominee."
On a conference call with reporters later in the morning, former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, another Romney supporter, continued the attack, and warned that if Gingrich were to become the Republican nominee it would hurt the party.
"Each one of us [who served with Gingrich] has personal stories we can tell about going home and having to clean up after our speaker," Talent said. "It had an impact on the 1996 presidential election and, if he's the nominee, it will have an impact on the 2012 election and the impact's not going to be good for the conservative movement and the Republican Party."
If this all sounds familiar, it might be because the Romney campaign employed the exact same tactics following the first surge in the polls Gingrich had enjoyed in Iowa in early December. At that time, Talent and Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu lanced Gingrich for "off-the-cuff thinking" and "irrational behavior" on a similar conference call, with Sununu continuing to voice the attacks for days in interviews on television and in print.
Related: Santorum targets Gingrich in S.C. stumping
It now appears those attacks may continue. Today, the Romney campaign confirmed reports that Sununu will travel to South Carolina on Thursday to campaign for Romney.
This afternoon, the Gingrich campaign responded to Romney's comments on job creation.
""I fully expect the Romney campaign to be unendingly dirty and dishonest for the next 4 days because they are desperate, they thought they could buy this. They discovered that they can't buy this. I think they have internal polling that shows them loosing. I think they will do anything to try at any level and I need your help. People power will be money power. And I need your help," the candidate said at a town hall meeting.
"If your curious of what kind of leadership style Romney would use as president, today we are seeing what panic looks like," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told NBC News.
NBC'S Alex Moe contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Newt is about only one thing: the self-aggrandizement of Newt. Yes, he's good at slinging one-liners, but look at his abysmal record. He's a serial adulterer. People he purportedly led in Congress refer to his style as "leadership by chaos." He's a total loose cannon interested only in hearing his own voice. (Ask Paul Ryan for starters.)
As for Romney paying about a 15% tax rate, it's called the capital gains rate, folks. If you risk your capital by investing in America, the Internal Revenue Service rewards any gains you make by taxing them at a 15% rate. We aren't talking about any fancy loopholes here. Just risk and reward. If you think that people will keep investing in new products or companies in the US while paying the same tax rate as on earned income, you are in for a surprise. The taxpayers aren't paying them back when they suffer huge losses in the market (unless of course you are friends of Obama and the government bails you out.)
You talk about Newt being all about Newt! You libs really crack me up! Obama is the biggest narcissist who's ever lived and the worst President! Yep, you libs are absolutely hysterical!
Romney comes across as the biggest douche bag while being completely disingenuous and flying fast and loose with the truth.
Govenment does not create jobs? Seems like Mit needs to study our economic history during and after the Great depression. As I recall, Corporate America was in no position to create jobs then, unlike now, when it is a conscious choice not to do so, even though they are sitting on more money in the banks than ever before, and have a work force more productive than ever before. Make it financially worth while for Corporate America to hire workers, though tax incentives in the form of credits for workers hired, and not the insanity of lower taxes for the job creators who do not use the funds they keep as a result of tax cuts to hire new workers.
unseal the ethics records newt....then all your followers will be like duh duh duh duh duh..I didnt know he did this or said that
Newt is the worst of the worst. He is ethically and morally unfit for public office. People need to be reminded that he was the ONLY Speaker of the House ever censured and forced to resign from Congress. He disgraced the nation. Witness his his multiple marriages and many affairs, some reported on and some not. Let us not forget that he successfully avoided having to serve in the military during the Vietnam War. That"s okay, but it isn't okay when he turns around and becomes a self-styled military expert, anxious to go to war with the world. In the parlance of the time, he is a "chicken hawk." But then again, he wouldn't have made it through boot camp anyway. Finally, he is a pathological liar. And people want to elect him? Unbelievable.
At least he has opinions and Romney doesn't know what to say without some feedback on peoples opinions. Never ventures out on his own. That's why he only gets 25% of the public supporting him. Maybe a good Secretary of State who would never be accountable!
This story reminds me of the other one on the vine about the sperm donor. And anyone knows if there are signs that there is rising, you stop stroking it.
Did you miss your med's?? Your point is?????
super x
It was a joke! The story about sperm donor was funny, but the comments were hilarious.
This was the byline of this story.
"The attacks come amid signs the former speaker is rising."
And then the story under that is "Romney leads in SC, but by tighter margin"
If Newt is rising, of course it by a tighter margin.
The laughs just keep getting better, or I need to cut down on the Michelob.
I think Newt is smarter and at least the guy has opinions on how to fix the Economy. Romney says we must do something I say no @!$%# Mitt
Mitt lacks compassion and the ability to empathize with others. Not a good people person. Why is he even interested in being President? If one was unfamiliar with or disliked children why apply to work at Chuck E. Cheese?
Newt is just vicious and totally self serving. He is bursting at the seams with contempt for anyone who has the temerity to question even his most far fetched statements. He was run out of the Speaker's spot, his own party doesn't want him....so why would he think, if elected, he could be effective? And I don't think he should hold his breath waiting for that invitation to speak at the next NAACP convention considering his behavior at the last debate.
People have been impatient with Obama, expecting instant results. Undoing 8 years of mismanagement and lies is no easy task. Filled with impatience, some states elected a bunch of loony Republicans last election. Notice how these states are trying to undo their mistake as soon as possible? Most gratifying.
Look at Wisconsin, they got twice the required signatures to put a recall election of their governor up to the voters. They also have more than enough to put the Lt. Gov up for recall and some State Senators too. All of these are Tea Partiers, extreme right wing loons. The chickens are coming home to roost for the GOPTP.
Obama supporters should be cared for by the government. Obviously they are too stupid to work for a living. Oh. I forgot government employment. Overpaid. Underworked. Ridiculous pensions. Inflated benefit packages etc etc etc. Of course if the socialists can get more people dependent on government hand-outs they can simply out vote the real workers. That's what democratic class warfare Obama style is really all about. What did we expect from the first affirmative action community organizing president. Obama's father left Kenya to get away from people like his son and to suck the blood out of civilized people.
U, you, ewe, shud lern ta spel if'n ya wanna rit artikels.
Romney camp people.......aim that cannon straight at Newts gigantic mushroom head
Boooooooom!
As a lifelong Democrat I could never vote for a Republican. My major recourse now is too not vote.President Obama has spent most of his term running aound on vacation or speechmaking for money to get reelected.unfortunately he and his old Chicago friends have done nothing that has furthered the American citizen. Cost of living to military vets and retirees dissapeared for 2 yrs . Now we got one due to needing election votes,it is not going to work at this time in this election period. Best Dems can hope for is an opponent to run against him.
How about Ron Paul? He hates Washington more than you, wants to cut military, but not for vets or retirees. Not really Pug or Dumb, but in a class all by himself. American.
In 31 months, Obama was on vacation for 61 days compared to Bushs 180 days for the same time period.
Ron Paul?? anyway the Teabaggers are on the run - Romney will win the nomination
With all the already existing tax breaks for the 1%ers one would think, according to the logic of the far right, that there would be full employment. The fact is that those 1%ers aren't creating private sector jobs but are getting rich on investments and by shipping American jobs over seas. When I see hundreds of thousands to millions of jobs created by the huge companies and the 1%ers due to the low taxes and no or few regulations I will believe them. No evidence that the Bush tax cuts or the deregulation created jobs. Quite the contrary all the cut, cut, cut during the Bush Administration had us well down the road to recession well before Obama took office. I am not happy that Obama has been able to make more improvements than he has but he has had to deal with a Congress that has done less than any Congress in decades.
So if Newt attacks relentlessly Mitt isn't supposed to fight back? Newt is one of the nastiest, snarkiest (is that a word?) candidate I have seen in some time and he gets what he deserves.
I love watching these guys tear each other up. It saves the Democrats the hassle of doing it to the eventual nominee.
What a bunch of pathetic con-artist the Republicans are running. These clowns aren't fit to lead an outhouse cleaning crew much less the nation. To hell with ALL of them.
Paid for by the Obama re-election campaign?
Gingrich can't win and is dishonest at his core. Pay attention to Callista never leaving his side. There is good reason for that but it hasn't stopped his woman hopping.
If his past wifes could not trust him why should we. I understand divorces will happen, but you don't need to cheat on your wife prior to the divorce.
Calista is probably afraid to leave him alone with the family dog
It's like Alien vs. Predator: No matter who wins, we lose.
Here we go again. Romney is bad for being successful. Wake up. I want the smartest business man doing the work and not a disgraced Senator who was brought up on ethics charges, fined $300,000, and then ran out of the senate. That's who you want?
Romney speaks of the few companies that have succeeded, how many did ther dismantle for a profit?
Starbuck - thats the business. You find companies that are about to go under that are under valued. The company is then reviewed to determine if it could be restructured to become profitable. If it is, the needed changes are made, company boards are created, and then investment firm becomes nothng more than an investor / advisor. Sorry, those companies going under anyway are dismantled for their marketable assets. Yes, jobs are lost but they were going to be lost anyway. The only difference is the ownership changed before that day. Not sure how that makes Mitt bad? That would be business. This is not a little league game. There will be a winner and there will be losers. We do not live in a socialist country, every thing is not equal.
Corporate raiders. How many has he put out of work ?
Buck I believe you are referring to Gingrich. He was not a Senator but Speaker of the House. The House is the lower chamber of Congress. The Senate is the upper chamber. They are different. They are supposed to be the primary forces running our government. They make the laws and the President executes them. Without them the President can't make laws. I know Bush wanted to be dictator but he didn't get away with it.
Mitt & Newt are both liars-birds of the same feather
Newt is all done anyway, hes got sister Sarahs kiss of death endorsement.
Both of these guys are not jobs creators and their record shows it. Romney only created low paying jobs for people over sea's so he could make more profit and pay less in taxes why'll he fired american workers who helped him gain his wealth. Gingrich claims he created jobs under Reagan but how long ago was that? Did he create jobs under G.W Bush Sr before he was kicked out of congress for writing bad checks? Where is the evidence of any job creation? Plus the last debate he was in he needs to get his facts right, the U.S has only 13% of non-whites in this country and for him to say that the majority of the 13% are on food stamps with the help of the right wing media is a total slam against the intellect of people. The truth of the matter is that the majority of people on food stamps are white and the facts and records backs it up. So to call President Obama the Food stamp king is ok because he is helping out alots of the 87% of the people that are left because they need the help. And i don't know of any one who's ego is so big that they would rather go hungry if they had a choice. This is not a black or white issue but Gingrich is sure trying to turn it into one to get votes from people in South Carolina who's intellect in that state is not that great to begin with. One Man is a flip-flopper and the other one is a pure con man, what a hell of a choice to have to pick from.
This is hillarious since niether of these two wussy morons are going to beat Obama. Obama is a great president who will mop the floor with these two rich man loving, middle class hating, no job producing, losers....end of story:)
Obama is a cancer in our Oval Office and we need to cut him out and send him back to Chicago with the rest of the crooks
Who does the gopers have that can actually beat him? He will be going back home in 2016.
Best bet would be for Mitt and Newt to stop right now, one run for president, and the other be the running mate. It is the only way the socialist/marxist ogabooga bama is gonna get beat. Stop the inhouse fighting, agree to unite and beat the worthless a$$hole that has had four years and has done nothing! Defeat the do-nothing, no-nothing,good-for-nothing, current occupant of the Whitehouse!
Fixing Bush Jr's major mistakes takes time no matter how it is but the best Man is President Obama even if congress has disappeared.
devon leonard, you actually believe obama is a "great" president? LOL! LMAO! I got some swamp land in Florida you might be interested in! It is just as worthless as the so called president we now have!
Carter, Clinton, and Obama are great compared to both Bushes and Reagan without question.
"I think they have internal polling that shows them loosing. "
"If your curious of what kind of leadership style Romney would use as president..."
Umm... Are the articles on here now being written by high school dropouts?
Newt the toot is going down!! All the Teabaggers put together and their hypocracy will never get the Grinch far- Romney is a shoe in!