Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus stuck to GOP talking points on State of the Union this morning, holding President Barack Obama accountable for the nation’s abysmal jobs numbers and touting GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s business background.
State of the Union host Candy Crowley accused the RNC Chairman of unfairly benefitting from help from Republican-leadning Super PACs. Because legally campaigns and party committees cannot legally coordinate with PAC’s, the RNC nor the Romney campaign is not responsible for ads run by Republican-aligned PACs.
Crowley was referencing reports that conservative billionaire Joe Rickets and a group of influential Republican strategists plan to form an anti-Obama PAC that would run attack ads on Obama’s connections to his former Pastor Reverend Wright. Obama distanced himself from Wright in 2008 after Wright came under attack for inflammatory statements. Wright now says the Obama campaign tried to offer him money in 2008 to stop preaching until after the Presidential election.
Since coming under scrutiny this week from both Republicans and Democrats, including Mitt Romney himself, Ricketts said he would not fund the Wright ads.
Priebus was quick to defend the RNC, pointing out that Democrats had just as much support from PACS as Republicans, despite Crowley’s claim that “you have a lot more Super PAC’s than we [Democrats] do.”
“I think both sides have the same problem,” Priebus responded. “We don’t know who’s got what and how it’s going to shake out. Certainly Obama spends nights raising tons of money, whether it’s George Clooney and Hollywood, or people on Wall Street.”
Priebus also pointed out that the economy is not improving, no matter how hard the the Obama campaign tries to spin the issue, and that this fall’s election will be more about President Obama’s dismal record than it will be about Romney.
“Not only did he [Romney] help create more net jobs than Barack Obama, he helped save the Olympics, he helped save companies out there that were hurting, and the fact is every state has its own unique challenges, Candy, and we all know that,” Priebus said.
