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ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- In his first campaign appearance in this pivotal primary state since his drubbing at the hands of Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, Mitt Romney unveiled a new strategy Sunday night to stop the former speaker's momentum: Hit Gingrich. Hard.
Speaking before a crowd of more than 700 supporters at a rally here, Romney deviated from his standard remarks early, looking to define the candidate who mauled him in South Carolina in a different light by bringing up the tumultuous end of Gingrich's tenure as speaker of the House of Representatives.
"So I've had the experience of leadership. Now Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader. He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House," Romney said, as boos rang out at the mention of Gingrich's name. "And at the end of four years it was proven he was a failed leader. And he had to resign in disgrace. I don't know if you knew that. He actually resigned after four years in disgrace. He was investigated under an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of Republicans, voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership."
Direct assaults like this from Romney on the stump are rare enough to be startling to those who hear him speak daily, but Romney didn't stop there, also tying Gingrich to the housing crisis in a state where the collapse in home values has been acutely felt.
"Over the last, what 15 years, since he left the House ... he talks about great bold movements and ideas, well, what’s he been doing for 15 years? He has been working as a lobbyist, he was working as a lobbyist and selling influence around Washington," Romney said. "He was working for Freddie Mac, heard of those guys? He says that he’s just been a historian, I would like him to release his records; what was his work product? What was he doing at Freddie Mac? Because Freddie Mac figures prominently into the fact that people in Florida have seen home values go down; it’s time to turn that around."
In the hours since Romney's double-digit loss in South Carolina, senior advisers to the campaign have said that the effort to contrast Gingrich and Romney more pointedly will continue in earnest all across Florida in the coming days, including on the debate stage Monday night.
On Monday, Romney surrogates Tim Pawlenty and the Speaker Designate of the Florida House, Will Weatherford, will hold a conference call with reporters cheekily titled "Definitely Not a Lobbyist," in which they will discuss Gingrich's work for Fannie and Freddie. Also Monday morning, Romney will hold just one public campaign appearance, a roundtable to discuss housing issues. It's a safe bet that Fannie and Freddie and Gingrich's work there will come up.
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I love that people are still so bent on Mitt's tax returns. Never mind all of the crap in Gingrich's past, but lets get all hung up on a person's personal tax statements. Gingrich is the slimiest of politicians. He got fat (literally) off of lobbying for failing businesses that devastated our country while Romney was working to fix them. He is a womanizer who cheated on his sick wife (twice) and then called out President Clinton for his morals. If he wants to dig into Romney's personal life, then he better not act so appalled by calls for his personal affairs.
Just saw Mitt on TV asking Newt to disclose how much he made off the housing collapse........I would like to know the same about him........I want to see his tax returns during the years the rest of us were losing our savings, homes and jobs.
Newt has no chance of beating Obama. The only one of the Republicans who stands a chance is Mitt Romney. So tell me. What is more important to Conservatives. Their moral values who, up until now, they have not been willing to comprimise on, or beating President Obama?
If they have been truthful about what they have been preaching for the last three years about wanting to save America from those Godless socialist, then they are going to have to vote for Newt or one of the other Tea Party favorites.
If they vote for Romney, then they obviously were lying about wanting to save America, and are only interested in defeating the President.
Conservative true colors about to be revealed!
Or they could vote for Santorum and get someone who isn't one giant ethics violation and is very conservative. Of course he might be a nut case but hey, aren't all the republican nominees?
Mitt speaks HALF TRUTHS.... go to house.gov and search for Newt Gingrich and you will find the full ethics committee report including the info about the $300,000 he paid WHICH was to cover expenses of the investigation.... Read it for yourself, decide for yourself..... Don't let what Romney mutters be what determines how you vote; use your own mind!!!!!!
He was fined after congress voted to levy those fines against him.
I would vote for Obama over dirty Newt. The dems have so much dirt on Newt he can not beat Obama.
We can expect dirty campaigns from all concerned, during the rest of the republican primarys and then straight through the general. Romney left no choice in the matter, he started in Iowa, when he didnt even have to, before he started the mud slinging, he could have beat Newt with one hand tied behind his back. Now he has the king of dirty slinging feces at him, everybody is going to come out stinking. All the cologne in the world wont be able to cover the stench of the republicans running for the highest office in the land.
Romney's 2010 and 2011 tax returns won't show the American people anything but how much "Carried Interest" Gov.Romney has claimed for those years.Those will reveal nothing that will show the "Principal"which he has hidden in deferred accounts ,which are hidden overseas.
Nor will it show that he's likely been paying capital gains tax rates on what should be ordinary income for the last 20 years.
It's just making Ron Paul look better and I'm not a Ron Paul fan!
I will NEVER understand politics. I know these guys are competing for the nomination right now, but don't they realize that all the dirt they sling now will be used against whoever actually is the Republican nominee in the general election??? I don't get why they just can't campaign on their platform. Inform the public of what YOU plan on doing to fix the problems of this country. Tell us HOW you plan to make it happen. Explain to us how YOUR plan will work/be better than that of the current administration. These are the things I want to hear about. The GOP wants to win against President Obama so badly, but how can they do that when their candidates are airing all the dirty laundry in the primaries?? This is so frustrating. Everyone knows about Newt's infidelity and his ethics violations. If I want to know more about this I will research it myself. That's what informed voters do. It appears the Republican nominees are going to shoot themselves in the foot before they even get started against President Obama. It really doesn't matter as I will be voting for the green party this year. It's just weird to me that they can't look far enough in the future to see what they are doing to the GOP chances of beating President Obama.
P.S I get the Democratic parties do this too, but they are not holding a primary right now so that is just a mute point. If they were and this same mud slinging was going on I would hold the same opinion. This is why I am a registered independant. The major parties are so disappointing.
Obama and Clinton did do this during their prmary
Newt Gingrich and Family Values:
Using daughters from your first wife to convince everyone that your second wife is lying about your third wife.
pretty hilarious when you think about it.
I don't know if it's a new strategy or not, but there is a youtube video of a "Romney supporter" telling that he is paid to stand out there and wave the sign for Romney. When asked if he likes Romney, he replies that he likes Newt!! But Romney pays!
What a farce Romney is!
Todd,
How about the Union's paying Occupiers to push Obama's Class warfare?
Little Mitt, the ultimate Flip-flopper.....So far the only thing he hasn't flip-flopped on is his Mormonism and I'm expecting him, out of sheer desparation, to do that next. He will announce his alliegance with the Southern Baptist Church. Go, Little Mitt, Go!!!
The more the Liberal News Media joins in with MITT ,the more the American People will support Newt---American People now dislike The Major News Media as much as they do Obama...
Yet you don't have a problem using the "liberal" media to bash the "Liberal" media. You're a parasite to complain about something even while being able to use it to complain with.
If tt was strictly liberal, comments like yours wouldn't be posted would they?
Mainstream media at its finest: Badly reporting or outright ignoring Ron Paul.
I choose neither Obozo, Mittens(Romney), Noob(Gingrich) or Frothy(Santorum).
And don't forget the hundreds of dead people that voted in South Carolina and other states to come.
If Willard Romney did NOT give his church 10% of his GROSS INCOME EACH year, he cheated his church…. and Gordon B. Hinckley WILL KNOW for sure !! OMG !
To be of good standing, all Mormons MUST tithe, or give 10 percent of their GROSS INCOME to the church.
Have you wonder WHY HE STUMBLES AND REFUSES TO SHOW THE LAST FEW YEARS OF HIS INCOME TAX RETURN?? 10% of any figure is EASY TO CALCULATE- WILLARD MAY BE DISGRACED !!
IL ove the GOP on GOP fighting. And they're both right about each other. They're giving the voters enough reasons NOT to vote for either one. In a rational world, Obam would win hands down against eitehr of these hipocrites. In a RATIONAL world, that is.
It's pretty evident by now that "our" politicians are not like the rest of the citizenry. There's no use in debating which one has worse values and morals and voting records. There's only one hope we can all have: That these moronic buffoons can agree to compromise. That's the way it always worked and it's the missing link right now.
If one of these crooks shows he's willing to meet the others halfway, I'll listen to him/her. If not, they are just the problem and not the solution.
This message to Romney, Gingrich and Obama: "It's the economy stupid! America wants jobs! People are getting tired of Class warfare, trying to create fear about the other candidate, campaigning where the money is, not for the sake of the people that elected them. Negative campaigns are turning everyone off. Gingrich tried to run a clean campaign and Romney went for the throat. Gincgrich defended by fighting back and Romney lost his big lead. Shouldn't that tell them something? We have a lot of problems facing this Country, we don't care about politicians egos. Get on message and stop the bull shi.... America wants a leader in November and she's watching.
haha comes out swinging --- maybe if he swings like newt he will win more debates!!!
If Little Mitt gets the nomination, he will have been so bloodied by all of Newt's bitchness that the Democrats will have all their TV commercials in place for the entire campaign. And Newt will not go down easy.
Wow Romneys nose didnt grow?? Gingrich the lobbyist?? While with Freddie and Fannie he recommended they be more regulated and wanted them broken into smaller parts. If thats lobbying for someone I would hate to have him against me. The censorship was over whether he had commited a tax violation by teaching a college class on Renewing American Civilization and was it too politically leaning to make it in violation of tax exempt status. wow thats a real world rocker. Mitt Gov get over yourself and tell the truth stop lying and get back to the issues and convince us that you are the best candidate.
Republicans say "fair" when they really mean "benefits me".
When they say something is not "fair", they are really saying that it doesn't "benefit me".
The rich (and by extension their Republican employees) like tax cuts for the wealthy because it "benefits" them. Therefore, Republicans say they are "fair".
But tax cuts for the rest of Americans don't benefit the Republicans or the wealthy. Therefore Republicans say they are "unfair"
that line of questioning suxed my 7 year old daughter could have done a better job then nbc...they should have gotten newt and romney off the damn stage and let rick and ron have at it we needed real issues addressed not @!$%# that caused a cat fight between the two ladies on stage...i pray that the florida voters see what nbc is doing and votes without the basisness that we here have seen this is bull @!$%#! cuz that debate was rigged and pretty much told florida the 2 out of the 4 nbc wanted them to vote for...
i am a democrat voting for a republican that should tell you something about ron paul and what he stands for!!! give him the opportunity to say something during that whole thing you called a "debate" i heard him talk maybe 7 times...wtf nbc