by Rick Pearson
NASHUA, N.H.—Closing out the final weekend before the nation’s first primary campaign, Republican Mitt Romney chastised rival John McCain for inferring the former Massachusetts governor was a flip-flopper on issues, maintaining he would “take being right over being consistent every day of the week.”
Romney also said he’d be better equipped to take on Democratic Sen. Barack Obama in a general-election match up than McCain, an Arizona senator. Romney said Obama has shown in the Democratic campaign that when it comes to taking on “long-serving senators,” the Illinois Democrat “just blows them away.”
Speaking to more than 300 people inside the Elm Street Middle School, Romney displayed a much more aggressive style in taking on McCain than he did in competing in Iowa’s caucuses last week, where he finished second to former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. His remarks carried a certain tone of urgency, reflecting the stakes for the well-financed Romney who, despite winning the little-regarded Wyoming caucuses on Saturday, can ill-afford a second major defeat in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Romney came under fire from his Republican rivals the night before for lacking consistency on issues. At one point in the debate, McCain got in a dig at Romney, labeling the former Michigan governor a true agent of “change,” referring to Romney’s change of heart on such issues as abortion.
At the Nashua school, a supporter asked Romney what was wrong with changing one’s mind.
“There’s nothing wrong with changing one’s mind. But, you know, some politicians, as I said, are more interested in insults than issues,” Romney said. “And if you want somebody who’s never changed their mind, then you’re going to find somebody who oftentimes sticks to the wrong view.”
Romney then blasted McCain for saying earlier in the day on “Meet the Press” that he stood by his vote against President Bush’s tax cuts and that he would do it again.
“He’s simply wrong. He’s consistent, but he’s wrong,” Romney said of McCain. “And I’ll take being right over being consistent every day of the week.”
Romney advanced his criticism of McCain to label the Arizona senator a “Washington insider,” contending, “Americans are not looking for Washington insiders. They’re looking for change and change is what we’re going to give them.”
And he took on McCain’s support for a failed immigration reform plan that would have given undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship. McCain has since said his focus would be on securing the nation’s borders.
“Here’s what the truth is: Sen. McCain and many others like him feel that all those who have come here illegally, once you put the criminals aside, everybody else should be able to stay here the rest of their life,” Romney said. “In my opinion, that’s a form of amnesty. In my opinion, that is wrong. That will only encourage more illegal immigration.”
Noting Obama’s victory in the Iowa caucuses, Romney said Republicans will be making an important decision in choosing a nominee.
” Are we going to have somebody as a nominee who’s going to be able to stand up to Barack Obama, who I think could very well be their nominee,” Romney asked.
“He’ll stand up and talk about change. He hasn’t ever done it, but he’ll talk about change. And he’ll be able to stand up, as he is right now against long-serving U.S. senators who talk about their experience. He just blows them away,” Romney said of Obama’s Democratic campaign.
“Are we going to do the same thing and put another long-serving U.S. senator up against him for him to talk about,” Romney asked, referring to an Obama-McCain match up. “Or are we going to put somebody up—I hope it’s me—somebody up who has spent his lifetime not just in politics, not in Washington, but changing things; changing businesses for the better, changing the Olympics for the better, changing a state for the better.”
Romney said regardless of the eventual Democratic nominee, be it Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York or former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, “I’ll show that I brought change and they only talk about change.”
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