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Yesterday Newt charged Romney to tell his super pack to stop running negative ads, some of which are all lies, to which Romney said he couldn’t do that and Newt should get out of the kitchen if he can’t take the heat. When asked about it Romney’s response, he said:
Defending the right to lie as a candidate is a pretty bad idea. The Washington Post just gave the newest Romney ad four Pinocchios. Do you know how hard it is to write and run ad that has four Pinocchios? That means there’s no honesty in the ad, except maybe the tag line. …
If Romney would like to take credit and admit these are his staffers, these are his donors, this is his negative campaign, and it’s dishonest, fine I can take the heat. But all I have is some guy running around going ‘oh me, I’m really innocent because I’m a businessman and I’m not a politician and I wouldn’t do anything negative and gosh I wish those people weren’t doing anything negative because gee I really feel bad but I can’t tell them not to do anything negative because that would be a boo boo.’ What he said yesterday morning on MSNBC insulted the intelligence of every American. Give us a break Mitt, just be honest!
When asked if one of his former staffers is starting a super pac for him, he responded:
He is, and my message publicly is, it had better be positive. Because I will disown it and I will attack it. And if Romney wants to disown the people who have given millions of dollars, and he wants to attack his own personal staff for being negative, and, by the way, being dishonestly negative, that would be an honorable thing to do. That would show he’s a leader. Right now he’s proving he’s learned politics pretty darn well.
What a great response by Newt! I would think the people of Iowa would eat that up because it sure is good in my ears.
Here’s the full audio:
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UPDATE: Here’s the link to the Washington Post article that gave Romney’s super pack 4 Pinocchios.
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