Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, speaks to local residents at a campaign stop Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, in Humboldt, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
by Frank James
The attack Mitt Romney is using against fellow Republican and former governor Mike Huckabee is a familiar one in politics: my opponent doesn't sound like one of us, he sounds like one of them.
In this case the "them" would be the Democrats. Romney is making the argument this weekend that on foreign policy, Huckabee sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican because he has accused President Bush of having an arrogant foreign policy that has antagonized much of the world.
Romney, at a campaign appearance in Humboldt, complained that the comment by Huckabee "is in my view more fitting from a person running from the Democratic Party than from our own.
This is how the Des Moines Register reports on Romney's comments at a stop in Humboldt, Iowa:
"It sounds like something Barack Obama or John Edwards would say - not what you hear from someone running for president as a Republican." Romney was referring to an article by Huckabee called "America's Priorities in the War on Terror" in the January-February issue of the journal "Foreign Affairs."
Huckabee says near the top of the lengthy article that "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists."
Having lost many of Iowa's social conservatives to Huckabee, Romney is apparently trying to hold or peel away foreign-policy hawks of the world-be-damned, John Bolton-Donald Rumsfeld school of foreign policy. Why does Romney think this will work?
He may be relying on data from an important poll released in June by Tony Fabrizio, the Republican pollster called: "The Elephant Looks in the Mirror: Ten Years Later."
The poll, a follow-up to one conducted 10 years ago, indicates there are seven segments of the present-day Republican Party.
From largest to smallest they are: Moralists, 24 percent; Bush Hawks, 20 percent; Dennis Miller Republicans, 14 percent; Government Know Best Republicans, 13 percent; then Fortress America; Heartland, and Free Marketers, all of whom come in at 8 percent.
"Bush Hawks," the second-largest group, are the president's most ardent supporters, as Fabrizio found, the only voter segment that says the country is moving in the right direction. They believe in a militarily muscular foreign policy that spreads democracy.
Criticizing Bush's foreign policy, as Huckabee has done, would definitely rub this group the wrong way. Which is why Romney is attempting to bring Huckabee's statements to the attention of these so-called Bush Hawks.
In the end, the Bush Hawks may be his only hope to win Iowa and South Carolina, where Huckabee now leads in the polls.
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Comments
It amazes me how desperate this Romney guy is. trying to use every opportunity to criticize his opponents.
Posted by: Greg | December 15, 2007 3:49 PM
I thought Rudy Ghouliani hired all of the Bushie WarHawks?
Rudy must have already fired all of the Bushie WarHawks and replaced them with some of his new Mistresses.
From the internet (s):
Mitt Romney Fields Questions From Reporters:
Reporter: So Joseph Smith put the golden plates in a hat?
Romney: Well, I really dont want to get into all the nuts and bolts about...
Reporter: And he translated what was on the plates with what, again?
Romney: The Urim and Thummim.
Reporter: Can you spell that?
Romney: No. Look, the point is that religion and politics should never be...
Reporter: And the angel Macaroni told him where the plates were?
Romney: Moroni! It's the Angel Moroni! And I really dont see why...
Reporter: Did anyone else see these gold plates?
Romney: Look, guys, this is getting way off-topic, and...
Reporter: Isnt it odd that Joseph Smith put the plates in a hat...then read the words on the plates to a transcriber...who was writing behind a curtain...and then Smith buried the plates so there's no independent verification that they ever existed?
Romney: Oh, they exist, pal...they exist! And if you say one more goddam word about...
Reporter: Hey, you're not supposed to swear!
Romney: I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just... I just want to talk about why my faith wont interfere with my being president, is all. So if I could just say...
Reporter: Now, your church considered blacks to be cursed during its first 150 years. So when that position was reversed recently, in 1978, was there an adjustment period where it was like, Hey, this is a little freaky...
Romney: No!
Reporter: Like, Hey, get outta my chair! Oops, I forgot, you're on our team now...
Romney: I'm not answering that!
Reporter: Governor Romney, about the Planet Kobol. As president would you have NASA send some sort of a probe to explore the surface of...
Romney: That's it! We're done here.
Reporter: Would you say your magic underw...er, sacred garments are in a twist?
Romney: God, I need a drink... Of water! Of water!
[Ker-SLAM!!]
Touchy.
Posted by: John E | December 15, 2007 3:52 PM
Oh boy, an open appeal to the neo-con militants. Ya see? I told ya. This is perfectly consistent with having been endorsed by the National review - that neo-con rag. A vote for Mitt Rommney is a vote for 4 more years of Duh'bya style government - and we don't need that.
Posted by: John W. | December 15, 2007 5:10 PM
I think Huckabee lies too easily. For example, he said his scholarship program for illegal aliens applied to kids who had been in school in the U.S "all their lives," when the program only required them to have been in high school for three years. Mark Halpern said, âHuckabee is unflappable, unfailingly genial, and willing to pleasantly deny the truth when it suits his purposes (such as claiming that he did not support the quarantine of AIDS patients in 1992).â
What I especially like about Romney is his apparent great kindness. Some years ago, the daughter of one of Romney's friends went missing in New York City. Romney shut his business down, and all the employees of the company went to New York City to look for her. Thankfully, they found her.
It would be a rare person who would shut his business down to help a friend. I read about this in Newsweek, and it made a great impression on me.
Posted by: Alfonse | December 15, 2007 5:56 PM
GO HUCKABEE! We at the WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH will be endorsing you NEXT WEEK!
JOIN US AT: forum.hucksarmy.com and join the fight to restore the theocracy!!
Posted by: Jonathan, Westboro/Topeka KS | December 15, 2007 6:03 PM
Where's Romney's flag pin??
This was news with 'Bama.
Posted by: CC | December 15, 2007 6:10 PM
Romney says Huckabee sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican???? You mean Mr. Flip-Flop believes Huckabee's more Democrat than Republican??? BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Now, I'm in no way going to vote for Huckleberry next year, but I will give him credit for sticking to his convictions and not changing who he is...even if it's a sexist, anti-gay, giving-college-funds-to-illegal -aliens kind of guy.
At least you know where he stands on his issues, unlike Romney and Guliani.
Posted by: Eric | December 15, 2007 6:54 PM
Gosh, John E - how clever of you to poke fun at a candidate by taking pot shots at the traditional stories of his religion. I agree with you - what we need are candidates who believe deeply in religions with more sensible mythology. I'm certainly glad we don't have anyone running who professes a faith in anything so downright silly. You're going to love this one: I know a guy who is totally committed to a church who taught him about a supernatural character that cheats a gruesome death after a life of wandering around, essentially as a homeless character preaching on street corners and allegedly doing things like walking on the surface of a lake, and healing the sick without any medical training! Ha! Can you imagine anyone following a religion like that?
John E: Who are you to poke fun at anyone's religious traditions? You are a bigot and a fathead.
Posted by: Steve O | December 15, 2007 8:11 PM
This article is intellectually dishonest and is just another step for the Baltimore sun in the direction of the days of Lincoln when papers where partisan. Romney is not pandering, nor is his support of Bush a new position for him as this article inaccurately suggests. Romney has supported Bush's war efforts and response to 911 which, has prevented another terrorist attack on our soil. England, Scotland, France, Spain, most mid east countries and many other allies have suffered through severe terror attacks during the years since 911. The US hasn't. Repeat--the US HAS NOT BEEN ATTACKED SINCE 911 despite the Dem's effort to undermine every anti-terror measure there is. Romney is a party unifier, he always has been and he always has had a measured respect for President Bush, unlike the demagogue Huckster who wants to get votes from the misguided who believe being more popular around the world in opinion polls matters more than being safe. Maybe Huck should take a shot at Congress as they have an 11% approval rating.
Posted by: DLounsbury | December 15, 2007 8:55 PM
Dennis Miller Republicans, a.k.a. the Chachie Republicans, guys who join fraternities, walk around in loafers and never, ever join the military but like to think that if only they could (they had family obligations they had to fulfill, mind you), they would attack.
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | December 15, 2007 9:05 PM
Huckabee wants theocracy, controlled and dictated (or at least influenced) by the beliefs of the evangelicals. Romney wants to forge ahead with declaring wars on foreign countries regardless of whether or not there is proof of a threat. I don't see much of a difference between them or between the establishment Republicans of today and the ones of 30 years ago. It is still all about greed, power, and imperialism. It's not what you can do for your country, it's what your country, its citizens, and the rest of the world can do for you.
Posted by: jerry h | December 16, 2007 12:26 AM
Mike Huckabee is a fad that won't last. He comes from Hope Arkansas need I say more.
Romney is right the surge is working and a RINO we don't need to lead us.
Huckabee is soft on illegals and wants to apologize for America sounds like a DNC talking point.
I like Mitt Romney or Giuliani--McCain is too old and cranky and the drivebys are for him to ruin our party.We'd had enough of the moderates who can't make up their minds and sellout to the Jackasses. Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | December 16, 2007 9:33 AM
At least you know where he stands on his issues, unlike Romney and Guliani.
Posted by: Eric | December 15, 2007 6:54 PM
Romney's veiws are evolving. Should have seen him on Tim Russert. FLIP-FLOPPER to the 10th power.
Smart though. I think he's the best the republicans have got. I think I'm going to be voting democrat this time around.
Posted by: Bush/Cheney/Impeach/Imprison | December 16, 2007 8:25 PM