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Romney gets joint drubbing [GOP CHATTERING ABOUT RUDY-MCCAIN TICKET...]
Politico ^ | Oct 15, 2007 08:17 AM EST | Mike Allen

Posted on 10/15/2007 5:56:39 AM PDT by AngryNeighbor

Sensing weakness, Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have formed an unspoken alliance to try to torpedo Mitt Romney just as many voters are tuning in to the Republican presidential race.

“I'm not going to con you,” McCain said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when asked about Romney. “It’s important to be honest with people.” The two are teaming up at a time when the heat is escalating in both nominating contests. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) started attacking Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) by name last week after resisting for months in the service of his “new kind of politics.”

On the Republican side, Romney must figure out how to retain his strength in Iowa and New Hampshire now that loyal Republicans are hearing a lot more about him than the soothing messages they were getting from his heavy schedule of television commercials.

McCain has been running a mostly positive race, even refusing at one point to read a text by his aides that included attacks on Clinton. So his joint barrage with Giuliani is enough of a departure that it is even sparking GOP speculation about whether they might form a future ticket.

The two are friends and Giuliani said that if he weren’t running, he’d support the senator from Arizona. If Giuliani were the nominee, though, he’d need someone to help him turn out the Republican base, and McCain wouldn’t be much help there.

Romney aides see they are facing a fight and are pushing back hard. Kevin Madden, Romney’s national press secretary, said: “Other campaigns will flail about and try and attempt to launch angry attacks on us, and we’re prepared for that.”

“Angry” is aimed at one of Giuliani’s big vulnerabilities – his volatile temperament and the mixed view that New Yorkers had of him when he was mayor. The Romney campaign plans to push that idea – at first subtly and perhaps later overtly – in coming days.

Giuliani and his campaign moved ruthlessly to capitalize on Romney’s statement in last week’s debate that a president should “sit down with your attorneys” in deciding whether congressional authorization was needed to strike Iran.

In a post-debate interview, Giuliani made sport of Romney. “That's one of those moments in a debate where you say something and you go like this," Giuliani told ABC’s Jake Tapper, cupping his hand over his mouth — " ‘Wish I can get that one back.’ "

The former Massachusetts governor, trying to regain his footing, went on the offensive Friday in Sparks, Nev., saying: “Conservatives that have heard me time and again recognize that I do speak for the Republican wing of the Republican Party," Romney said. That was an echo of a crowd-pleasing 2004 line by Howard Dean that he represented the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party."

In New Hampshire the next day, McCain uncharacteristically dumped on Romney by packing many of Romney’s vulnerabilities into one brutal paragraph: “When Governor Romney donated money to a Democratic candidate in New Hampshire, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans. When he voted for a Democratic candidate for president, Paul Tsongas, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans. When he refused to endorse the Contract with America, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans.”

Democrats are also getting an increasingly blunt brawl. Obama had been attacking Clinton by inference, making clear references to her record and letting press coverage fill in the name. But in an op-ed on Thursday in the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, he connected the dots himself: “I strongly differ with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was the only Democratic presidential candidate to support this reckless amendment. … Sen. Clinton says she was merely voting for more diplomacy, not war with Iran. If this has a familiar ring, it should. Five years after the original vote for war in Iraq, Sen. Clinton has argued that her vote was not for war — it was for diplomacy, or inspections.”

Obama told CNN he was “moving into a different phase of the campaign,” and followed that up with a speech criticizing Clinton by name. Opponents note a correlation between his disappointing polls and the coarsening of his rhetoric.

An Obama aide says: “I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as folks in Washington think it is. I know their line, ‘Whatever happened to the politics of hope?’ Iowans expect to know what the differences are in this race, and he’s not making personal attacks. What’s he’s doing is in line with what voters expect.”

And it’s now clear that, Republican or Democrat, they can expect a lot more of it.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008election; elections; giuliani; mccain; mittromney; romney; stoprudy2008
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To: MEGoody

Hillary must be chuckling


61 posted on 10/15/2007 8:59:51 AM PDT by juliej (Vote GOP!)
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To: AngryNeighbor

Only ticket that will win is Thompson/Duncan Hunter; otherwise too much base support is lost.

GOP better wise up soon.


62 posted on 10/15/2007 9:02:04 AM PDT by Cedar (Forever pro-life)
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To: MNJohnnie

That was damn good reading.


63 posted on 10/15/2007 9:09:00 AM PDT by Hi Heels (Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult)
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To: bw17

I don’t think that Thompson left Law & Order so he could be a vice president.


64 posted on 10/15/2007 9:10:37 AM PDT by xzins (If you will just agree to murder your children, we can win the presidency)
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To: AngryNeighbor
The RNC and the Republican establishment will have it's way regardless. We're going to have a RINO ticket whether we like it or not!

Don't bet on it newbie. The RNC and the Rep establishment also thought that they would get an amnesty bill.

65 posted on 10/15/2007 9:12:08 AM PDT by kabar
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To: AngryNeighbor

Un-friggin-real.


66 posted on 10/15/2007 9:15:47 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: AngryNeighbor

They had better stop “chattering” about it ‘cause that is one lame, Liberal-infested, ticket.

Yuck!


67 posted on 10/15/2007 9:36:37 AM PDT by madison10 (Trying to buy USA Made Christmas gifts this year? Good luck with that.)
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To: live+let_live
Does she have ‘Guitar Hero’? If I’m the only one there I want to have something to do.

LOLOLOLOL

68 posted on 10/15/2007 9:39:54 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Tagline Removed By Moderator)
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To: AngryNeighbor

If we get a Rudy-McCain ticket I’m almost inclined to vote Hitlery just to get it over with. At least with her I can expect the worst and have a slim chance of being pleasantly surprised. I’m getting tired of voting the R and getting slugged in the gut for it.


69 posted on 10/15/2007 10:02:01 AM PDT by Domandred (Eagles soar, but unfortunately weasels never get sucked into jet engines)
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To: juliej
Hillary must be chuckling

Perhaps. But I refuse to vote for Rudy or Ronnie.

70 posted on 10/15/2007 10:35:46 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Domandred

It would take a lot to be worse than Hitlery.


71 posted on 10/15/2007 10:42:45 AM PDT by juliej (Vote GOP!)
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To: Mygirlsmom

We’re painting the roses red...


72 posted on 10/15/2007 10:47:00 AM PDT by rjp2005 (Lord have mercy on us)
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To: AngryNeighbor

“GOP CHATTERING ABOUT RUDY-MCCAIN TICKET...]”

Wow, two guys that I will NEVER vote for on the same ticket? That’s convenient.


73 posted on 10/15/2007 10:48:06 AM PDT by Grunthor (http://franz.org/quiz.htm)
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To: Plutarch
A Giuliani- MCain ticket would be a stick for both eyes.

Boy, wouldn't it? It would just be more of the same, inside the beltway, establishment status quo agenda. We can be sure that shamnesty will go through if those two are in charge (if it hasn't already by then).

And it was not that long ago that McCain was singing the praises of Mitt Romney. McCain on Romney: A man of "unimpeachable integrity, decency and honor." Ah, politics. See McCain youtube clip here. Priceless.

74 posted on 10/15/2007 11:05:20 AM PDT by redgirlinabluestate
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To: bw17
Precisely. A Giuliani/McCain ticket is a loser come 2008. A Romney/Thompson ticket is a winner.

I think common sense conservatives are figuring that out. Mark DeMoss, who is extremely influential in evangelical circles, sent a letter out to the masses warning of a possible Rudy nomination victory and promoting the idea that rallying around Romney was the best way to stop that from happening.
Related thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1909920/posts (Evangelical publicist sends letter to evangelical leaders urging them to rally Romney support).

75 posted on 10/15/2007 11:34:53 AM PDT by redgirlinabluestate
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To: redgirlinabluestate
Isn't that the letter where DeMoss basically advocates throwing out principles to follow Romney because he's raised gobs of money, even though he's spent it all and still had to "lend" himself over $17 million to keep his campaign afloat?

By that screwy logic, DeMoss should be supporting Giuliani, because he's got the most $$$ in the bank.

76 posted on 10/15/2007 11:37:53 AM PDT by kevkrom (The religion of global warming: "There is no goddess but Gaia and Al Gore is her profit.")
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To: kevkrom
Reading comprehension problems? DeMoss encourages support for Romney for several reasons, including:

1. Someone who most closely shared my values;

2. Someone who has proven experience and competence to lead and manage large enterprises;

3. Someone who can actually win the nomination (without which it is obviously impossible to challenge or beat Hillary Clinton, or any other democrat—people who certainly don’t share our values).

So how did I settle on Mitt Romney? After spending months researching his life and his record, and hours with him (and his wife and staff) in his home, his office and on the road, I am convinced his values practically mirror my own—values about the sanctity of life, the sacredness of marriage, the importance of the family, character and integrity, free enterprise and smaller government. But more than one candidate shares my values; which leads me to my second criterion....

77 posted on 10/15/2007 12:02:01 PM PDT by redgirlinabluestate
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To: redgirlinabluestate

He’s rationalizing supporting a faux conservative — the bulk of his “reasoning” is based on fundraising numbers which coincidentally ignore Romney’s negative cash flow outside of his own personal contributions.


78 posted on 10/15/2007 12:07:12 PM PDT by kevkrom (The religion of global warming: "There is no goddess but Gaia and Al Gore is her profit.")
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To: kevkrom
No, DeMoss has presented concrete and common sense reasons for his support of Romney after thorough research, personal meetings and private reflection. Further, Romney's fundraising has kept up and surpassed Rudy's, not counting his own donations after three quarters.

In any event, if any conservative thinks we will be able to beat the Clinton machine without the kind of cash Romney can bring in (his and ours) then that is one naive conservative.

79 posted on 10/15/2007 12:12:19 PM PDT by redgirlinabluestate
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To: Little Ray

That makes 2 of us.


80 posted on 10/15/2007 12:19:30 PM PDT by MamaB
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