MANCHESTER, N.H. – Newt Gingrich on Sunday blasted rival Mitt Romney, saying reports about his career at Bain Capital, the subject of an upcoming short film by Gingrich’s super PAC, were “troubling.”
Gingrich also said it was “narrow minded” for Romney to attack rival Jon Huntsman for serving as ambassador to China under President Obama.
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“To quote the governor, you have to have broad shoulders, you have to be able to take the heat to be in the kitchen,” Gingrich told reporters at a campaign stop at a Mexican and Caribbean restaurant here.
In Iowa, Gingrich was savaged by negative ads from Romney’s super PAC, and his Super PAC has released a trailer for a 28-minute movie describing Romney as “corporate raider” who took over companies, gutted them, and laid off employees to turn a profit. The narrator of the trailer ominously declares, “For tens of thousands of Americans, the suffering began when Mitt Romney came to town.”
Gingrich said he hadn’t seen the film, but doesn’t see it as out of bounds as long as it’s truthful.
“I hope the Super PAC runs ads that are factually correct, that would be my public urge to them and as long as they’re factually correct, I think they’re a legitimate part of politics,” he said.
Gingrich had repeatedly cited a New York Times story about Romney’s time as governor during debates last night and this morning, but in the afternoon acknowledged that he really meant a Reuters story.
“The article apparently outlined in detail that Bain Capital acquired a company and in essence, looted it,” he said. “And then layed off 1,700 people. If that’s accurate, and there are three or four or five examples, I think that’s troubling.”
Gingrich suggested that the media ask Romney to hold an in depth press conference to address his career at Bain. He also blasted Romney’s moderate record, which he contrasted with his own.
“I am a Reagan conservative,” he said. “I first went to work for Ronald Reagan in 1974. I worked with Reagan in the 1980s when Mitt Romney was an independent. I worked to reelect George H.W. Bush in 1992, when Mitt Romney was voting in the Democratic primary for Paul Tsongas, the most liberal candidate for president. I was helping to author the ‘Contract with America’ in 1994 and Mitt Romney was running to the left of Teddy Kennedy and opposed the ‘Contract with America.’ So, I think you can go through our mutual careers, follow two parallel timelines, and the gap between a Massachusetts moderate and Reagan conservative are pretty clear. Now you can look at the track record with Michael Dukakis, with John Kerry. I’ll let you decide how likely it is that the Republican Party is now going to nominate a Massachusetts moderate. I don’t think it’s very likely.”
Gingrich also came to the defense of Huntsman, who Romney had gone after during the debate.
“Gov. Huntsman lived for years in Asia, speaks fluent Chinese, is extraordinarily prepared to be an American ambassador to China, and I suspect at that point he actually took the job as a citizen,” Gingrich said. “I would rather give Gov. Huntsman the benefit of the doubt and would suggest that it was a little bit narrow minded of Gov. Romney to use that kind of an attack.”
