The big news of the weekend is Mitt Romney's choice of words that drew rebukes from both John McCain and Fred Thompson's camp. Jonathan Martin has a good writeup of the exchange.
Romney, at a speech in Nevada, made the statement that he represents "the Republican wing of the Republican Party."
John McCain, on the other side of the country, used a speech in New Hampshire to offer a sharp critique of Romney:
"You might not always agree with me on every issue, but I hope you know I'm not going to con you. The most important thing we have in this life is our self-respect. And I'm not going to trade mine for anyone's vote or for any office. I'm going to tell you what I believe and let the chips fall where they will.
"As we all know, when he ran for office in Massachusetts, being a Republican wasn't much of a priority for him. In fact, when he ran against Ted Kennedy, he said he didn't want to return to the days of Reagan-Bush."
Not to be outdone, Fred Thompson's camp released a statement going after Romney:
"In 1994, Mitt Romney accomplished what people had long thought was impossible - he ran for Senate to the left of Ted Kennedy. I didn't know there was any room there. For him to now claim to represent the Republican wing of the Republican Party is yet another Mitt Romney flip flop."
Not surprisingly, Rudy Giuliani, who himself has questionable Republican credentials, has thus far opted to stay out of the fray.
It will be interesting to see if Romney's remarks elicit any more responses from the other "Real" Republicans in the race.
» Thompson's Veiled Shot from ElephantBiz
Fred Thompson will be speaking to the Conservative Party of New York tonight and excerpts from his speech indicate that he will draw a contrast between himself and Rudy Giuliani:This is not a time for philosophical flexibility, it is a... [Read More]
Tracked on: October 15, 2007 12:45 PM | Permalink to Trackback