Mitt Romney surrogates hammer Newt Gingrich amid poll rise
DES MOINES – Mitt Romney’s top surrogates this morning hammered away at Republican presidential rival Newt Gingrich, drawing some of their most direct contrasts yet as they cast the former House speaker as a politician whose ideas may be interesting but whose rhetoric can be dangerous.
“Speaker Gingrich says interesting and insightful things,’’ former Senator Jim Talent of Missouri said on a conference call aimed at stemming Gingrich’s recent rise in the polls. “He also says outrageous things that come from nowhere.’’
On a call organized by the Romney campaign, Talent and former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu offered harsh contrasts that mark a new phase for the Romney campaign in which it is trying to become more aggressive and ignite a Republican electorate that so far has not fully embraced the candidate.
At one point, Talent said flatly, Republicans would lose the election if they choose Gingrich as their nominee.
“If the nominee is Newt Gingrich, then the election is going to be about the Republican nominee, which is exactly what the Democrats want,’’ Talent said. “If they can make it about the Republican nominee, then the president is going to win.’’
Sununu -who famously clashed with Gingrich while serving as White House chief of staff – said the former speaker’s “irrational behavior’’ had no place in the Oval Office, and he challenged one of Gingrich’s greater perceived strengths – that he’s a candidate willing to promote big ideas to thorny problems.
“The off-the-cuff comment, for example, that Gingrich throws out on occasion is a reflection of the off-the-cuff thinking that he goes through to deal with issues,’’ Sununu said. “And that is not what you want in the commander in chief.’’
Sununu and Talent also resurrected comments that Gingrich made earlier this year on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’ Gingrich at the time suggested a budget plan offered by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a party darling, would be “right-wing social engineering.’’
“For Newt Gingrich in an effort of self aggrandizement to come and throw a clever phrase that had no other purpose than to make him sound a little smarter than the conservative Republican leadership – to undercut Paul Ryan – is the most self-serving, anti-conservative thing one can imagine happening,’’ Sununu said. “He’s more concerned about Newt Gingrich than he is about conservative principal.’’
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