Thread: Huntsman hits Gingrich, Romney

Dec 08, 2011

Huntsman hits Gingrich, Romney

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 15m ago

Jon Huntsman will say Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are "no better" than President Obama in a speech today at the National Press Club.

In an interview essentially previewing his speech themes, the GOP presidential candidate tells The New York Times that his two rivals are part of a political culture that Americans can't stand.

"We don't need a lobbyist in chief. And we don't need a panderer in chief. We need a commander in chief," Huntsman, a former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China, told The Times.

Huntsman is bringing up the rear in national polls on the GOP nomination, but his numbers are much better in New Hampshire where he's in the middle of the pack.

The Times, which obtained a copy of his speech, reports Huntsman will unveil a plan to limit the terms of U.S. House members to six two-year terms and U.S. Senators to two six-year terms as a way to improve the Washington culture.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... critics-/1

More attacks on the GOP by the GOP

just like they did on Cain.

Romney Allies Go On Attack as Gingrich Surges

Updated: Thursday, 08 Dec 2011, 9:52 AM MST
Published : Thursday, 08 Dec 2011, 9:51 AM MST

(The Wall Street Journal) - With voting now just weeks away, the Romney campaign is throwing off the gloves in a late bid to undercut support for the surging Newt Gingrich.

Mitt Romney used two of his top surrogates Wednesday morning to open fire on Gingrich as a fickle, untrustworthy leader with a pattern of undercutting conservative principles and initiatives for his own self-advancement.

The attacks, a dramatic departure from the Reagan rule that Republicans shouldn't assail fellow Republicans, marked a swerve away from the Romney strategy of keeping the criticism focused on President Barack Obama and running as if the former Massachusetts governor were already the Republican nominee.

But the assault, launched over a conference call with national political reporters, illustrates how alarmed the Romney campaign is by the commanding leads that Gingrich now has in the majority of early voting states.

The attackers were two well-known Republicans, former Sen. Jim Talent and former White House chief of staff and onetime New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, both of whom are top advisers to the Romney campaign.

"The speaker is running as a reliable and trusted conservative leader, and what we are here to say, with reluctance but clearly, is he is not a reliable and trusted leader because he is an unreliable or untrustworthy leader," said Talent, offering his criticism in a somewhat circular form.

"Speaker Gingrich says interesting and insightful things," Talent said, adding that "he can explain them well." But "he also says outrageous things that come from nowhere, and he has a tendency to say them at the exact time when they undermine the conservative agenda."

As Exhibit A, the two Romney supporters highlighted Gingrich's biggest stumble of the campaign: his harsh criticism in May of the sweeping House budget plan, written and put forward by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.

Gingrich outraged many conservatives when he blasted the Medicare portion of the Ryan budget as "right-wing social engineering."

"Paul Ryan was completely blindsided," Talent said. "That's why he said 'With allies like this, who needs enemies on the left?' "

If Republicans nominate Gingrich, Talent said, "then the election is going to be about the Republican nominee, which is exactly what the Democrats want."

Sununu, well known in New Hampshire for his sharp tongue, didn't hold back when his chance came to blast Gingrich.

Gingrich's criticism of the Ryan plan, he said, was "an effort of self-aggrandizement" that "had no other purpose but to try to make himself look a little smarter than the conservative Republican leadership."

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/news/r ... c_16299104

Dec 08, 2011

Perry links Gingrich, Romney to Obama on health care

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 1h 36m ago

Rick Perry is hitting Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and President Obama on health care in his latest TV ad hitting the Iowa airwaves.

In the ad (posted at the bottom), Perry seeks to tie his GOP rivals to the Democrat they'd all like to replace on the issue of government-mandated health insurance, the central point in the sweeping national law signed by Obama that conservatives love to hate.

The ad is the latest in a series unveiled this week by Perry, who is in fifth place well behind Gingrich and Romney in recent Iowa polls. It comes on the heels of another spot attacking Obama on religion.

"We don't want government-mandated health care, yet Newt Gingrich supports it. And Mitt Romney? He put it into law in Massachusets. Worse, Barack Obama forced it on the entire nation. Rick Perry. He'll repeal it, starting Day One," the announcer says in the ad.

Perry ends by saying he won't let "big-government liberals" ruin the country.

Romney has been widely criticized for signing a Massachusetts law requiring most residents to obtain health insurance, which Obama has said was a model for the national law.

Gingrich once supported a health insurance mandate -- but he says he did so in opposition to what Hillary Rodham Clinton was proposing at the time.

Like Perry, both Gingrich and Romney have said they want to repeal the national law signed by Obama.

The ad war that has been heating up this week is a byproduct of the money race, which Perry and Romney had been leading. By the end of September, Perry had more than $15 million in the bank to spend in the run up to the 2012 primaries and caucuses, followed by Romney with about $14.7 million.

Both GOP candidates have recently been spending more to get their messages on Iowa and New Hampshire TV, aided by independent groups that can spend unlimited amounts of money. Gingrich this week began airing his first TV spot, one that stays away from any personal attacks and focuses on the need to rebuild America.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... -romney-/1