Posted on 07/22/2007 6:54:32 PM PDT by Victor
NASHUA, N.H. - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took aim at Democratic rivals on Sunday, calling them all unprepared to lead the country and comparing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's economic plan to that of Socialist Karl Marx.
"It would be helpful to have a person leading the country who understands how the economy works and has actually managed something," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters after a GOP fundraiser. "In the case of the three Democratic front-runners, not one of them has managed even a corner store, let alone a state or a city."
Romney, who leads Republicans in New Hampshire, has focused his criticism in recent weeks on Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards rather than rival Republicans. It's a strategy he hopes will help him maintain his lead over Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"I wanted to focus on the Democrats," he said. "By and large, the best way to further my interest is to let people know what I would do and to distinguish that from what the Democrats would do."
His prime target was Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton just gave a speech the other day about her view on the economy. She said we have been an on-your-own society. She said it's time to get rid of that and replace that with shared responsibility and we're-in-it-together society," Romney told the crowd. "That's out with Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx."
A Clinton spokeswoman shot back, challenging Romney's record.
"Given how often Romney flip-flops, tomorrow he will be touting his membership in the Communist Party," Kathleen Strand said.
Romney also repeated his criticism of Sen. John Edwards.
"To have someone like Senator Edwards stand up and say there's not a war on terror, that it's a Bush bumper sticker" is unacceptable, he said. "There is a war being waged by the terrorists. If I or any other Republican president is running this country, there will be a war waged on the terrorists."
An Edwards spokeswoman said Romney's own vacillations should give voters pause.
"It seems the only thing that Governor Romney has chosen to stand firm on is the misguided, out-of-touch belief that we should continue with George Bush's failed foreign policy in Iraq," Kate Bedingfield said.
Romney also attacked Obama's health care plan.
"Barack Obama said we're going to have to have the government take over health care. He at least had the integrity to say he wants to raise your taxes," Romney said. "The right answer is not a government takeover, it's not socialized medicine. It's not Hillarycare."
At a town hall meeting in Exeter later Sunday, he said, "I don't want the guys who ran the (Hurricane) Katrina cleanup running my health care system."
Earlier Sunday, Romney was in Washington courting Hispanic voters by extolling the virtues of faith, family values and immigration.
"If you say, name people who are hardworking, seek education, love God, love their families and value freedom — it's Hispanic-Americans, just like other Americans," Romney told a crowd at the Republican National Hispanic Assembly's annual convention.
"I want to make sure we continue an open door in immigration that welcomes people who come here with those kinds of values," he said.
During an Iowa visit last week, Romney struck a hard line on illegal immigration. He criticized Giuliani for making New York "a sanctuary city for illegal aliens" by failing to enforce the immigration laws on the books. Romney also noted that as governor, he had deputized state police to enforce immigration laws and denied driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
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Mitt is taking on the Hildabeast. He’s acting like the frontrunner.
I will be very curious to see how Fred handles her....
Excuse me, Associated Press--- it's Communist Karl Marx.
Mitt’s getting some good press coverage lately. Nice to see him take on the Hildabeast.
Get out the popcorn. It’s just starting to get good.
This is what the Republican candidates should be doing. Good going Mitt.
If Romney said this, I take back all the negative things I said about him.
Give 'em Hell, Romney!
"To have someone like Senator Edwards stand up and say there's not a war on terror, that it's a Bush bumper sticker" is unacceptable, he said. "There is a war being waged by the terrorists. If I or any other Republican president is running this country, there will be a war waged on the terrorists."
This comment by Edwrads deserves more airing and more ridicule. It is emblematic of how the Democrats just don't get it.
bump!
American Traditions and American Economy: What to Expect from Mitt Romney as President
I loved Romney’s comments! I do like him the best of the supposed top three, but Duncan Hunter is really my favorite candidate in the race.
Great picture! You might enjoy this cartoon a friend sent me today who likes Hillary about as much as I do, which is not at all!
http://www.michaelhodges.com/hillary.html
While I completely agree that the AP is in essence trying to downgrade Marx's communist reality, I actually see it as a bonus. The AP has identified the underlying truth that Socialists are essentially Communists with elections.
As PJ O'Rourke said: "Socialism is Communism one drink at a time."
What an astute observation! ;-)
Good perspective. Thanks.
To take on the Beast, he must have first snuck into the Beast den and done a Sandy Burglar on her FBI files.
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