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Ann Marie Curling
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September 22nd, 2007 | | Posted in Analysis, Commentary, and Editorials, Business and Economic Expansion, Campaign Appearances, Character, Class, Ethics, F. Thompson, Fiscal Discipline, Jobs, Michigan, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani
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Here’s more commentary from Mackinac Island by Katharine Q. Seelye [Note: Emphasis is mine]
He spoke during lunch, but for all of the homecoming aspects of his visit, he chastised his party and distanced himself from its recent travails.
“At this critical junction in our nation’s history, I think Washington is failing us,” Mr. Romney said.
Mr. Romney’s bill of particulars against his party _ mainly, excessive spending and sloppy ethics _ echoes a new television ad he has released as well as an open letter to Republican leaders that is running as a full-page advertisement on Sunday in The Union-Leader in Manchester, N.H., and in the Roll Call newspaper.
At certain points in his speech, his criticisms seemed implicitly aimed at President Bush, such as when he said, “The Katrina clean-up didn’t look like Republicans were in charge.” But he also praised the president for preventing another terrorist attack on the United States and for “restoring personal integrity and dignity to the White House.”
Then again, he also called for an end to big spending and a return to the era of “Reagan Republicans and Teddy Roosevelt Republicans,” suggesting that the current administration had strayed in this regard.
He also had ethics on his mind. “We can’t have ethical standards that are the punch line for Jay Leno,” he said, an apparent reference to Senator Larry Craig, the Idaho Republican recently caught in a sex-sting operation. “We expect our elected officials to be good role models, not bad examples,” he said.
He said as president one of his first acts would be to bar the immediate family of his cabinet and staff from lobbying the executive branch. He also vowed to restore the words “In God We Trust” to the front of the new dollar coin.
His campaign aides had touted the speech as something of a turning point, and they earlier sent out a Chicago Tribune article in which Mr. Romney stated his concerns more directly.
“I think the Republican Party got lost,” he told The Tribune. “I think we’re seen as not being as fiscally conservative as we should have been. We’re seen as spending too much and borrowing too much.”
Mr. Romney was speaking with an eye over his shoulder at former Senator Fred Thompson, who has drawn the support of some fiscal conservatives who might otherwise have supported Mr. Romney.
Mr. Thompson actually was over Mr. Romney’s shoulder a few minutes later, talking briefly to reporters out on the hotel’s expansive front porch. The scene was a mad crush of cameras, tape recorders and microphones.
In response to questions, he said he had no particular strategy for Michigan
, where he is doing well in the polls. Asked how he would fix the state’s high unemployment rate, Mr. Thompson said: “Sound economic policy, low taxes, less regulation.”
Asked what separated him from the rest of the pack, Mr. Thompson said he wasn’t comparing himself for now with his fellow Republican opponents, although he did: “There’ll be opportunities to explain our differences when we have them,” he said, “and we can talk about how long we’ve had the principles that we’re now articulating,” a dig at both Mr. Romney and Rudolph W. Giuliani, who have adjusted their positions on various social issues.
Meanwhile, Mr. Romney had lingered after lunch to shake hands with scores of people and then held an “ice cream social” out on the hotel grounds.
This was in stark contrast to Mr. Giuliani, who addressed the group last night and then beat a hasty exit.
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