Romney criticizes Rudy on NYC budget
Posted: Saturday, November 24, 2007 10:28 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Erin McPike
ROMNEY WEEKEND CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK
AMHERST, N.H. –
Romney dialed up his attack rhetoric a notch
this morning at a town hall forum at Souhegan High School here. Just a
few minutes into his speech, he set his sights on Giuliani, calling him
a good friend first before launching into his attack.
“I know he did a good job as mayor of New York City,” Romney began,
“but on spending and fiscal matters, there was a problem there, because
when he came in, there was a budget gap, but when he left, he left a
budget gap twice as big as the one he inherited, over $3 billion.”
He went on: “And Mayor Bloomberg has said he’d never leave a deficit
like that to the person that follows him. And by the way, that $3
billion deficit doesn’t include the costs associated with 9/11.”
Giuliani also is in New Hampshire today for a bus tour of the state,
but it wasn’t just the former mayor who took hits from the state’s
Republican primary front-runner.
“You’re going to see a lot of whining next year from the Democratic side,” Romney told the crowd, and added that “optimism and hope” will be the banner for Republicans.
As usual, Clinton was the primary target. He said so far, his favorite moment of the campaign was when his picture showed up in her most recent ad in the Granite State. “She said, ‘Mitt Romney: Part of the Republican attack machine.’ Isn’t that great?” he said to laughter and applause. “It’s really exciting to have a campaign that’s that strong. She hasn’t seen nothing yet, of course.”
And further into his remarks, he joked, “Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards – did you see them at the debate the other night? I hope not. I looked. I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t inhale, but I did look,” he said, taking a veiled swipe at Bill Clinton.
Obama withstood the same attacks from Romney that he often does, which is opposition to the war in Iraq. “Thank heavens Barack Obama wasn’t president nine months ago, saying ‘Gosh, it’s not going very well right now, so let’s just pull out.’”
He also worked in a couple of lines against Edwards toward the end, saying that since he had talked about Clinton and Obama, “it wasn’t fair” not to talk about Edwards. Enter his criticism of Edwards’ hypothesis of “the Two Americas.”
Later in Derry, N.H., Romney confirmed with reporters on the steps of the Derry Opera House in front of dozens of cheering supporters early this afternoon his belief that Judge Kathe Tuttman should resign her judgeship. Shortly thereafter, he zoomed down through the county's holiday parade.
Late Friday afternoon spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told the Boston Globe that it was the campaign's belief that Tuttman showed a lapse in judgment and should resign after allowing convicted killer Daniel Tavares to be released from the prison sentence he served for 16 years. Tavares reportedly had threatened to kill Romney and has now allegedly killed a young married couple since his release. Romney today said he came to that decision after reviewing the case and meeting with his staff to discuss it.
He was also asked about Obama's judgment. Obama this week told a group of New Hampshire high school students that he had tried drugs when in high school. Romney explained: "President Bush said it best when he said, 'When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.'" And as presidential candidates, he thought they should all leave it at that, because no one is perfect, but again insinuated that they should set an example.
After the short session with more reporters than usual, he hurried down another set of stairs and joined the Derry holiday parade -- beginning with a brief session of pretending to conduct the high school band. As he's done before, he ran back and forth across the parade route (but stuck disproportionately to the right side). Several times those on the other side of the street tried to summon him over, and at one point, he did run across, saying, "Oh, there are girls over there!"
Most of those staffing him kept falling behind him in his jogs when trying to shake hands as quickly as possible with everyone he brushed by.
