Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, rejecting Newt Gingrich’s claim to be the more conservative of the two, argued that Gingrich sided with liberals on two of the biggest issues of the last several years, as Romney attempted to associate Gingrich very closely with Democratic ideology and campaign strategy.
“In our time, on the two big conservative issues, he came down on the side of the liberals,” Romney said on Morning Joe. “So for him to say he’s more conservative is a bit of a stretch.” Romney faulted Gingrich for appearing in a global warming ad with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — “that’s not conservatism,” Romney said. Gingrich has admitted the ad was a mistake and noted that he testified against Al Gore’s preferred global warming legislation, but he also said in 2007 that he would “strongly support” carbon emissons caps.
Romney also faulted Gingrich for describing the Paul Ryan Medicare reform plan as “right wing social engineering,” another position that Gingrich has moderated by explaining that he doesn’t believe Medicare reform should be enacted without support from the American people.
When host Joe Scarborough asked Romney about a third major issue, the individual mandate in health care, Romney followed the same line of attack, albeit less effectively. “I opposed the idea of a federal mandate from the beginning,” said Romney, who enacted an individual mandate in Massachusetts. “[Gingrich] had a federal mandate [advocacy] in his history and only recently has changed his view on that.”
His defense on that front would be more compelling if he hadn’t suggested in recent years that “we’ll end up as a nation that’s taken a mandate approach” and said “I like mandates” in various interviews.
Romney countered another Gingrich attack in a manner that may reveal his plan for the primary and general election. “I’m proud of the private sector,” Romney said. “There’s no question but that Speaker Gingrich and more significantly the DNC and President Obama are going put free enterprise on trial.”
