Romney: I can bridge the partisan divide

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns in Muskego, Wis., March 31, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Steven Senne

(CBS News) MUSKEGO, Wis. - Mitt Romney said on Saturday that he will work to end the political polarization that has stymied policymaking in Washington - remarks that echoed then-presidential candidate Barack Obama's promises in 2008.

In response to a question at a town hall meeting here about the partisan divide in Congress, Romney said that as governor of Massachusetts, he was able to pass legislation even though the Legislature was overwhelmingly Democratic.

"I didn't criticize in a public and personal way the Senate president or the speaker of the House," he GOP presidential front-runner said. "They would attack me because that's what Republicans and Democrats do to each other. At one point, one of the two of them -- I won't mention which one -- sent me a note. And he said, 'I've noticed that you don't respond to my attacks, I'm going to stop attacking you.' And there began a better relationship."

Romney suggested that politicians have to stop thinking only in terms of being Republicans or Democrats, a theme reminiscent of President Obama's 2008 comments that there was no red America or blue America, just a United States of America.

But there's still a campaign going on, and Romney, despite his talk of partisan cooperation, harshly criticized Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday for his comments about the administration's proposed global minimum tax.

"If you're here as an American company, well we're going to tax you for enterprises wherever they are in the world," Romney told an audience at the Faith and Family forum in Pewaukee. "Doesn't he understand that just means that our enterprises will leave and go somewhere else? They just kill economic freedom. They make it harder and harder for our economy to grow and put people back to work."

Biden on Wednesday said at a manufacturing plant in Davenport, Iowa that the Obama administration wants to cut tax rates on manufacturers by 20 percent, and cut them even more for high-tech manufacturing, although he did not specify a rate. "We want to create (what's called) a global minimum tax, because American taxpayers shouldn't be providing a larger subsidy for investing abroad than investing at home," Biden also said.

Several conservative commentators and bloggers took the remarks to mean that the vice president was describing a tax increase on some corporations. The White House has said that the goal of the proposal, called the international minimum tax, is "to eliminate tax incentives to ship jobs offshore by ensuring that all American companies pay a minimum tax on their overseas profits, preventing other countries from attracting American business through unusually low tax rates."

[ladyang]

Shaking the etch-a-sketch kinda soon, aren't you romney? What a joke you neocon/teabaggers have put up!

[greco99-2009]

Mitt is a failed one term governor, who will never be elected to any office in Massachusetts. Ever. He will also lose his home state. The people of Mass know that he is a liar and that Mitt will sell out anyone. Look at Mitt's lies when he from his time in Mass. Stunning.

Maybe Mitt can't see the difference between the parties. Maybe he's not lying o that one. Maybe he will support Obama or join his cabinet after he loses this election.

Mitt is one of the least experienced candidates in decades. Consider, Mitt's foreign experience is limited to knocking on doors in France for three years without making a single convert.

It is well known that Mitt was a draft dodger, and he said his kids 'had better things to do' than serve. Yet this hypocrite engages in clueless, uninformed and irresponsible saber rattling.

Santorum was right - Obama is better !

Once Mitt realizes this he will surely shift his positions once again...

[TJphoto]

No you can't Mitt. Politicians have a vested interest in keeping the Country divide. It's called re-election. As long as it continues to work they will dig in behind party lines. I'm not divided anymore. I believe each and every member of Congress is a POS.

[Filmguy870]

TOOL!

[tpeks40]

What a knob! Romney hasn't got a clue, and it looks like Biden is right...Romney is out of touch with reality. Why would any Democrat work with this tool after the grief the Republicans have given the President, stonewalling everything he's proposed? It's good for the working man that this goof is so wishy-washy. He doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell to win over the rational thinking voter.

[fedup12]

Romney: I can bridge the partisan divide

=======================================

Well maybe! He is a democrat in sheeps clothing.

[stupidrules3]

"Romney suggested that politicians have to stop thinking only in terms of being Republicans or Democrats"

That statement is political suicide in the republican party. Working with democrats is not on their agenda. It is an appeal to the moderates and independents without whom he cannot win and it may very well cost him with the base. It is equivalent to Gingrich calling the Ryan plan "right-wing social engineering."

[ddaryl1]

this guy will say anything to get this job.

Obama may have not delivered on all promises, but no president has ever done that.. However Mitt is a blatant lying sack of dung

[greco99-2009]

Many have noted that Mitt's level of dishonesty is much greater than other contemporary politicians - especially with regards to so-called 'core issues'.

There is no shortage of examples of Mitt's deliberate and outrageous lies.

My favorite Mitt Lie: "I never said that" when confronted with one of his prior quotes.

[Dgunner]

Romney is the largest and best hidden threat to be unveiled through his mormon religon . The wrath of supporting a man who supports false doctrine will fall unto the heads of the people and thier children . This man will change America and thier group thinking like a storm through the desert .He is scary but worse the millionaires and billionaires that give him tons of money to get what they want are the second largest threat next to satanism.The American people know that millions of dollars are given and something has to be returned. I think the american people have or are just about fed up with favoritism in washington . Until the people get together with one purpose and stop the favoritism. This country will continue to fail in the world markets far beyond the life span of thier great grand children.

[RandallRichard]

So how is a self described "severe conservative" going to bridge the partisan divide? Can he flop back to being moderate after he gets the nomination without losing the Republican base? Or will Mitt the severe conservative moderate liberal have to wait until after the election to become moderate or liberal again?

[occupy_cbs]

Good point, since the "severe conservative" has swung so far to the right in order to placate the right-wing extremists, I think that willard the cultist will just say anything at this point as a typical vulture capitalist wanting to do more favors for the top 1%.