Republicans Recoil At Romney
The controversy surrounding Mitt Romney’s inflammatory attack on nearly half of Americans at closed-door fundraiser with millionaire donors shows no signs of abating. In fact, it only appears to be growing. Even Romney’s own running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), criticized Romney during a television appearance last night.
The controversy made the front pages of at least 41 swing state newspapers this morning. Editorial boards across the country, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Mercury News, Nashua Telegraph, Concord Monitor, Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Toledo Blade, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Denver Post, Boulder Daily Camera, Kansas City Star, Seattle Times, Roanoke Times, Philadelphia Daily News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Richmond Times-Dispatch all condemned Romney in today’s paper.
And now — and even worse for Romney, his fellow Republicans are distancing themselves from him and even, in some cases, outright attacking Romney for his comments. Check out the growing list of prominent Republicans who want nothing to do with Romney’s derisive, sneering attack on nearly half of the American people.
1. Susana Martinez (R-NM)
The governor of New Mexico knows her state won’t be won through a hard-right campaign strategy, which is likely why she’s disavowing Romney’s write-off of 47 percent of the county. Martinez said of Romney’s comments that “New Mexico has many people who are living at the poverty level and their votes count just as much as anyone else.” Where her policy is concerned, though, Martinez isn’t quite as compassionate to the working poor or those who need government assistance. She has cut food stamps, and insinuated Democrats believe welfare is a “way of life.”
2. Scott Brown (R-MA)
Brown’s campaign for re-election with Elizabeth Warren has been one of the most closely-watched, and hotly contested, in the country. Losing any voters over the comments of his party’s standard-bearer might cost him the race. So Brown ditched Romney in a statement Tuesday, saying, “That’s not the way I view the world.”
3. Linda McMahon (R-CT)
Like Romney, McMahon is extremely wealthy and has been accused of being out-of-touch. In her largely Democratic state of Connecticut, that narrative won’t get her elected, so she’s decided to chastize Romney for his 47 percent comments, saying, simply, “I disagree with Governor Romney’s insinuation that 47% of Americans believe they are victims who must depend on the government for their care.” McMahon might say she disagrees, but she’s previously said that “Forty-seven percent of the people today don’t pay any taxes.”
4. Dean Heller (R-NV)
Senator Heller told POLITICO that he doesn’t “view the world the same way” as Mitt Romney when it comes to the 47 percent dividing line. “Every vote in Nevada counts,” he said. “Every vote. And as a United States senator, my job is represent every one of those votes, whether they voted for me or against me.”
5. Ovide Lamontagne (R-NH)
Lamontagne, the gubernatorial candidate from New Hampshire, said in response to Romney’s comments, “There’s no 47 percent in New Hampshire as far as I’m concerned.”
6. Mark Meadows (R-NC)
In a statement similar to Lamontagne’s, the North Carolina Congressional candidate Mark Meadows said, “I’m concerned about all 750,000 people… I am here to represent the people of this district,” jokingly adding, “It might come as a surprise, but Mitt Romney didn’t call me before he made those comments and ask for my advice.”
7. Bill Kristol
Kristol’s column about the leaked Romney video were perhaps the most damning. He titled his piece, “A Note on Romney’s Arrogant and Stupid Remarks” and went on to say that Mitt Romney “seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him.”
8. Peggy Noonan
Noonan spoke out in a blog post that offered a harsh indictment of the Romney campaign telling them to “snap out of it.” “It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one,” she writes, “It’s not big, it’s not brave, it’s not thoughtfully tackling great issues. It’s always been too small for the moment.”
9. David Brooks
Brooks said that Romney’s comments “[suggest] that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits… doesn’t know much about the culture of America,” “doesn’t know much about the political culture,” “knows nothing about ambition and motivation,” and that his interpretation of how the country works “is a country-club fantasy.”
10. Mark McKinnon
McKinnon, who worked for both former Pres. George Bush and presidential candidate John McCain, expressed his disappointment with Romney in an article for The Daily BeastWednesday, writing “Well, the release of the Romney tape was a moment that certainly revealed something about him. But not what I was hoping for…. How can anyone support a candidate with this kind of a vision of the country? Isn’t a divided America under Obama what folks on the right rail against?”
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