IT’S JUST MATH: 75% > 25%
WITH ROMNEY VERSION 5.0, MITT HAS STARTED ANGLING FOR THE ANYONE-BUT-ROMNEY VOTE
ROMNEY IS REBOOTING HIS CAMPAIGN TO ATTACK NEWT GINGRICH
HEADLINE: “Newt Gingrich Poll Vault Prompts Mitt Romney Reboot” [Politico, 12/7/11]
The Romney Campaign Is “Making An Immediate Shift In Tactics.” “The Mitt Romney campaign is making an immediate shift in tactics, a move that is necessary because, as one Republican close to the campaign put it, “What they are doing now isn’t working.’” [ABC News Radio, 12/6/11]
Romney Campaign Strategy: Use Surrogates To Make References To Gingrich’s Past. “Integrity: When former Vice President Dan Quayle spoke about the importance of Romney’s integrity ‘when he’s in public life. When he’s in private life,’ that was no accident. Romney will not go after Gingrich on personal issues, but ABC News has learned that you can expect to see Romney surrogates making fairly direct references to Gingrich’s tumultuous past, in the vein of what Quayle did. You can also expect to see Ann Romney and the Romney family on the trail much more, especially in South Carolina, to create a visual contrast. Their presence on the trail ‘speaks for itself.’” [ABC News Radio, 12/6/11]
Romney Campaign Strategy: Attack Gingrich’s Temperament. “Temperament: The Romney team sees Gingrich’s temperament as a weakness. Romney himself will highlight the importance of temperament by discussing his record as a leader. Surrogates are likely to go after Newt directly. The question that will be posed is, ‘Who do you want to make decisions?’ One Romney adviser added, ‘Gingrich is everything people don’t like about Washington.’ Romney might not try to directly rough up Gingrich at the ABC News debate Saturday in Iowa, but he will try to establish that contrast in leadership and temperament and hope Gingrich digs a hole for himself. ‘Gingrich never does well when he’s doing well,’ a Romney aide said.” [ABC News Radio, 12/6/11]
ROMNEY RECENTLY HIRED SARAH PALIN’S SPEECHWRITER…
In Recent Weeks Romney Hired Former Palin Speechwriter Lindsay Hayes. “[Romney campaign’s chief strategist, Stuart] Stevens, who has made a second career out of writing dialogue for recurring TV characters, persuaded Romney to surrender the speechwriting responsibilities to him — and in recent weeks, Stevens in turn has deferred to the punchy prose of Lindsay Hayes, a former speechwriter for Sarah Palin.” [New York Times, 11/30/11]
…AND HIS SPEECH TODAY AT THE RJC CHANNELS THE RHETORIC OF TEA PARTY FAVORITES GINGRICH, CAIN, AND PALIN
Mitt Romney: “President Obama is replacing our merit-based, opportunity-based society with an entitlement society.” [Romney, Speech to Republican Jewish Coalition, 12/7/11]
Newt Gingrich: "Over the last 40 years, we have become an entitlement society. We have evolved into people who say 'Give it to me now.'" [Telegraph Herald, 5/4/06]
Herman Cain: ''We must go from an entitlement society to an empowerment society, which means we help people help themselves.” [New York Times, 11/6/11]
Mitt Romney: “That which is earned by some is redistributed to others. And the only people to enjoy truly disproportionate rewards are the people who do the redistributing – the government.” [Romney, Speech to Republican Jewish Coalition, 12/7/11]
Newt Gingrich: “Now you have a president who says openly, you know, some people make too much money, and maybe he should decide. Now, I mean, his idea of redistribution is that politicians decide how much you ought to get to keep of what you earn.” [Newt Gingrich, On The Record With Greta Van Susteren, 5/20/10]
Newt Gingrich: ‘He wants to redistribute wealth. I want to make sure everybody has a chance to create wealth. You know, if somebody hasn’t created it, you can’t redistribute it.’” [Newsmax, 3/5/11]
Sarah Palin: “Voters were not told what it was that he truly believed in until we saw some snippets here and there that were uncensored, unedited when he alluded to his desire to redistribute wealth and to fundamentally, transform America. Now, people are realizing what he meant by that. Fundamental transformation of America and they are saying no, that is not what we need. What we need is a great restoration of America.” [Fox News, 8/12/11]
Mitt Romney: “President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy.” [Romney, Speech to Republican Jewish Coalition, 12/7/11]
Newt Gingrich: “The Administration's commitment to "multilateralism" at the U.N. is nothing more than appeasement.” [Human Events, 8/9/11]
Herman Cain: “Appeasement is not a strategy. As Ronald Reagan proved, strength is the strategy.” [World Net Daily, 5/2/11]
Mitt Romney: “This election will come down to a president who wants to ‘fundamentally transform’ America, and a Republican candidate who can restore America and get back to the founding principles that made this nation great. “ [Romney, Speech to Republican Jewish Coalition, 12/7/11]
Newt Gingrich: “President Obama Wants To Change America Into A Different Country. I Want To Renew The American Dream.” “‘I think President Obama wants to change America into a different country. I want to renew the American dream, that all of us are endowed by our creator with certain alienable rights, that we have the right to pursue happiness.” [Newsmax, 3/5/11]
Sarah Palin: "We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want; we must restore America and restore her honor." [National Journal, 10/2/10]
Source: DNC
