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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

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Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



More Brownback vs. Romney

Posted: Monday, August 06, 2007 2:20 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:

From NBC's Carrie Dann
A day after the clamorous exchange over abortion between Romney and Brownback at the GOP debate, and a few days after Romney's testy interview with Iowa conservative radio host Jan Mickelson on the same subject, our ears perked up when we heard that Brownback would be a guest on Mickelson's show today. But the fireworks subsided a little, as Brownback sounded just one shot against the former Massachusetts governor before using the rest of his airtime to talk up his conservative credentials in advance of Saturday's Ames straw poll.
 
Brownback stood by his accusation at the debate that Romney has flip-flopped on abortion, pointing to an ABC News fact-check on the automated anti-Romney calls that his campaign is making in Iowa. Targeting Romney's nuanced position on embryonic stem cell research, Brownback insisted, "that's a pro-choice position. It views life as a tool to use and not as sacred." (Romney opposes the expansion of stem cell research, but does not object to the use of excess embryos from fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded.)
 
But the gloves didn't stay off long for Brownback, who barely mentioned the scuffle again as he went on to plug his key conservative policies and talk up his campaign's organization in the state.

*** UPDATE *** The Romney campaign emailed us to clarify that he opposes the expanded FEDERAL funding of embyronic stem cell research, but that he would not ban the current privately funded research that involves the use of IVF embryos that are being discarded by fertility clinics.

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Comments

These guys are pretty good at beating up each other but I don't think they will win any battles with Democrats.
If Brownback had any sense he'd realize he's doing alot of the Democrat's work for them. By tearing into Romney(deserved hypocrisy) on near meaningless social issues that never pan out for the GOP base that advocate them. In the meanwhile Brownback doesn't have a snowball's chance..
My God how boring!
Democrats thank you Brownback! Keep up the good work!!
Brownback's and unreconstructed bible-thumping neanderthal; romney's a weak-kneed, spoiled, son of a multi-millionaire who, himself, made another major pile of money. He talks a tough game (double Guantanemo, etc.) but has probably never seen more blood than comes from a scraped knee after falling from a $2500 bike. Luckily, with our 2party system we can avoid being stuck with either of these nobodys.
Let us pray......You do Rom's god, I'll do Brownbucks!
Please save us from these wacked out men that act like asshooooooo
like watching 2 sissie girls spatting.They could not possibly hurt each other--neither have nothing to lose----but it is fun to watch.
"Onward Christian Soldiers"-hymn
Mark, Yes Obama said that. And then he back tracked. Who are you trying to kid. Obama said a bunch of times on major news programs that he would sit down with six of the top enemies of the USA. Who you trying to defend on that one. It was a great comment from Mitt Romney and a goofy defense by you. Report the news. Let us decide what Obama is saying...
Good Job Sam!! Hey Democrats what's your platform besides Gay Marriage, Choice to kill your unborn child, Removal of God From our country. You need to look at your party, your party is the party of death. And furthermore all of you Gay Democrats don't comment on thabortion issue it doesn't pertain to you anyway.
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain" -- John Lennon
Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are the only two good Republican candidates. I could probably pinch my nose and vote for Mitt Romney as well.

The Northeast's media obsession with Giuliani must stop. If he were merely mayor of Chicago he wouldn't stand a chance. He has as much chance of holding a high-level government office as Bernie Kerik.
Honestly, Brownback crawled out from under the fanatic deep south.  Romney is the real contender.  I am thrilled we finally have a candidate that is presidential, has lucid intelligence, is a fierce debater, and will win the confidence of our allies, understands organizational leadership and has a normal respectable family.
Nothing is NORMAL about Roamney! A flipping liar.
Romney is by far the most articulate candidate on either side of the aisle vying for the White House.  He also has posed some of the more interesting ideas.  His healthcare plan in Massachusetts, while perhaps needing some retooling, is a huge step forward in the right direction and vastly superior to socialized medicine.  Yes, Romney changed his views on abortion.  So what?  Sam Brownback is a desparate candidate who has run a lousy campaign, who has no money left, and no way to grab the spotlight except to attack someone on a far higher plain than he.  Not becoming.
It looks like Sam Brownback's doing a great job as always!
Sam Brownback is "THE person for America to send to the White House" He best represents the America I know and love. He is honest and fair.
The degree to which Sam distorts and deceives on his brownbacker website is unbelievable. Click over to here (http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/?p=2751) for a comprehensive de-bunking of his ridiculous assertions.


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