Mitt Romney Takes Fire In New Hampshire

Republican Presidential Candidates Put Former Massachusetts Governor On The Defensive

(CBS)  Campaigning in New Hampshire, Republican Mitt Romney found himself taking fire for a decision by a state judge he appointed last year while governor of Massachusetts, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

Romney is now calling on Judge Kathe Tuttman to resign. This summer, Tuttman freed Daniel Tavares, who had served 16 years for killing his mother, and did not require him to wear a monitoring bracelet. Tavares now stands accused of killing a young married couple in Washington state last week.

"I think that the judge showed an inexplicable lack of good judgment," said Romney.

Rudy Giuliani, whose crackdown on crime while mayor of New York City is a centerpiece of his campaign, began the attack on Romney.

"This whole appointment of a judge goes to a much bigger point -- that Governor Romney had a very poor record in dealing with murder and violent crime as governor," said Giuliani.

Giuliani pointed to FBI statistics showing murders and robberies rising in Massachusetts during Romney's term. Romney's campaign countered that overall crime, including car thefts and larcenies, dropped 8 percent during his four years in office. And the candidate himself fired back...hard.

"Of all the people who might attack someone on the basis of an appointment, I thought he would be the last to do so," said Romney.

Romney was referring to one of Giuliani's police commissioners, Bernard Kerik, who's now under federal indictment.

"He put someone in place as commissioner who had a very questionable past, and then recommended to the president of the United States this person be made the secretary of Homeland Security," said Romney.

The spat comes as Giuliani, the national front-runner, tries to gain greater traction in New Hampshire, where he trails Romney.

Meanwhile, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is going after Giuliani for his position on guns.

"He simply supported just about every gun control legislation that came down the pike," said Thompson. "And I just disagree with him on that. I saw he was at bill-signing ceremonies with Chuck Schumer and President Clinton and others for gun control legislation over the years, and he was very outspoken about it. Of course, he's not as outspoken about it anymore."

Thompson is also attacking Romney for his change of heart over the years on abortion rights, which Romney now opposes.

"Until about two years ago, when he decided to run for president, Governor Romney was the most adamant pro-choice advocate that I've ever seen," said Thompson recently.

Roger Simon, chief political columnist for Politico.com, tried to put the Republican political attacks in context.

"Rudy Giuliani is trying to slow Mitt Romney down," said Simon. "Rudy Giuliani cannot afford to have Mitt Romney win all the early states. We're in the end game now. If you've got something to use against an opponent, you better use it now."

[bryantford]

Rudy''s attacts on Romney are totally unfounded and down right mean. He says anything to make his apponent look bad whether it is true or not. It shows he is a desperate man trying to head off Romney''s victory in New Hampshire. His comments about Tuttman are two faced. What about his judgement in linking up with Bernie Kerik? Kerik is under a real indictment. At least Romney is acknowleges Tuttman made a mistake and called for a resignation. But Rudy, made a poor judgement call in recommending Kerik as homeland security chief and is protecting his big city mobocracy.

[westprophet]

HOPE FOR AMERICA: PRESIDENT RON PAUL
RonPaul2008.com

-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more erosion of Social Security to pay for militarization
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT (globalist trade cartels)
-- No more North American Union (loss of U.S. sovereignty)
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more national ID cards (Real ID Act)
-- No more government invasion of your privacy
-- No more federal Laws which force you to take unwanted injections
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more unlimited federal government

"Wars are poor chisels for carving-out peaceful tomorrows."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
- James Madison

"When the people fear their government, you have tyranny. When the government fears the people, you have liberty."
- Thomas Jefferson

[eastprophet]

RON PAUL IS THE NEW WAY
What we need is a President who will show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW way. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Presidential candidate, Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics and one to foreign policy. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I''ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherence to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky.

[northprophet]

COULDN''T VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN? REALLY?
Everytime I hear Democrats say "I hate the Republican Party. Look at what Bush has done.," I can''t help but think about all of Bush''s Democratic enablers in the Congress like Clinton, Obama, Pelosi, et. al. who made all of his dastardly deeds possible. They handed him every bit of legislation with which he has used to make himself the dictator that he now is on a silver platter. The Democrats in Congress don''t even seem to express any interest in investigating Bush for the crimes he and Cheney have surely committed against our country even though a vast majority of Americans think they should. What cowards! In fact, Obama and Clinton even voted in favor of legislation which actually allows Bush to pre-pardon himself and his administration for crimes dating all the way back to 9/11. What''s up with that? Look. Do yourself and your country a favor. Focus on the candidate, and the ideas and positions he or she represents, and then study the candidate''s track record of performance with respect to those positions. That''s all that really matters in the end. Elections are not a contest of two teams. Ultimately, It''s the politician who will either serve your interests or betray them while in office--not their party. Finally, Democrats, I ask you this: Would you have voted for Steven Douglas (a Democrat), who was ardently pro-slavery, against Abraham Lincoln (a Republican) simply because Douglas was a Democrat? I think most of you would.

[southprophet]

ONLY RON PAUL CAN BEAT CLINTON
Zogby''s Director of Communications Fritz Wenzel said on November 20 that Paul is the strongest of the GOP candidates to run against Clinton. "Among the larger universe of voters," which includes all parties, "yes, Paul would be a much stronger candidate than any of the other three [Romney, Giuliani, Thompson]," Wenzel said. Zogby recently announced that Paul was their winner in a nationwide blind-bio poll which included voters from all parties. "He is anti-war and the majority of Democrats are anti-war, he has some other ideas and policies and stances on issues more attractive to Democrats, particularly conservative Democrats," said Wenzel. "Even among Independents, he is far and away a more attractive candidate," he added. Paul is the only GOP candidate who is not threatening war with Iran, whereas Clinton vowed to keep that option "on the table." Paul also voted against the war in Iraq, which Clinton has supported. Because Democrats outnumber Republicans, none of the other GOP candidates can win against Clinton, because they simply won''t be able to reach across party lines and attract enough Democratic and Independent voters to beat Clinton. Only Paul can do that. "He''s right on schedule," Wenzel said. "He''s making all the right moves, going in the right direction...at a time when other candidates are not moving." Wenzel based his analysis on recent polls that show Paul could win in New Hampshire and that his support nationwide is intensifying.

[westprophet]

RON PAUL WINS BIG IN NATIONAL POLL
The results of a nationwide telephone poll, announced by Zogby on November 19th, reveals that Americans want to vote for a candidate who protects liberty; who wants to shrink government; and who wants to immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq - positions of Congressman Ron Paul. As part of a blind-bio, spread poll, likely voters (from all parties) were provided with descriptions of four different Republican candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for based on each one''s resume and political platform. 33% of pollees chose Ron Paul, 19% chose Rudy Giuliani, 15% chose Mitt Romney and 13% chose Fred Thompson. The results clearly illustrate that the country is crying out for Ron Paul, which is why mainstream media has launched a public relations offensive to marginalize his accomplishments and suppress the Congressman''s name recognition. In a seperate question, over 49% of pollees said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who would begin an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. In fact, Ron Paul won in every demographic of this poll including, but not limited to, religious voters, NASCAR fans, military families, African-Americans, etc..

[eastprophet]

RON PAUL WILL RESTORE U.S. SOVEREIGNTY
All of the trade deals and world government organizations, which all of the presidential candidates support (except Ron Paul), such as the ICC, NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and CAFTA, are all a major threat to our nation''s sovereignty. They transfer power from our government to unelected foreign elites. The ICC wants to try our soldiers as war criminals. Both the WTO and CAFTA could force Americans to get a prescription to take herbs and vitamins. The WTO has forced Congress to change our laws to meet their needs, and not our own. If anything, the WTO makes trade relations worse by giving foreign competitors a new way to attack U.S. jobs. The NAFTA superhighway, being built by a Spanish company, is just one part of a plan to erase our borders and create the North American Union, a single nation State like the EU, out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new, unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under the NAU scheme. There won''t be any borders anymore, or a free America. Our limited, constitutional government will be gone forever. Let''s not forget the UN either. It wants to impose a direct Carbon Tax on us. Ron Paul successfully fought this move in Congress last year, but if we are going to stop ongoing attempts of this world government body to rule over us, we need someone in the White House who knows how to say "No." We must withdraw from any organizations or treaty that infringes upon our nation''s sovereignty.

[northprophet]

A FOREIGN POLICY OF FREEDOM
All of the other presidential candidates want to continue our illegal police action in Iraq indefinitely, and they do not rule out a preemptive (nuclear) first strike against Iran. Conversely, Ron Paul voted against our (undeclared) war in Iraq, which was sold to us with lies. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies--the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. The war in Iraq has cost more than 3,500 American lives and almost a trillion dollars. We need a leader in the White House who will ensure this never happens again. Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have 750 foreign bases and troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft. We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing our borders against illegal aliens who are invading us from the South. No war should ever be fought without a Declaration of War voted upon by the Congress, as required by The Constitution. Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations. Too often, we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised.

[southprophet]

RON PAUL IS THE TAXPAYER''S BEST FRIEND
If he is elected President, Ron Paul will work to abolish the Federal Reserve System as well as the IRS, returning our country to the Gold Standard. He believes, as I do, that our current Income Tax System is unconstitutional, because it is a direct tax that is not equally apportioned as The Constitution requires. Whenever taxes are raised by the federal government, it should be done as The Constitution does require--in an indirect way, which is equally apportioned. This system would benefit all of us, creating more individual wealth, and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives. As President, Ron Paul will also work to abolish the Federal Reserve, a group of private banks, run by unelected officials, which loans our government unbacked money which they are allowed to essentially print out of thin air, making each dollar in your pocket worth less all the time, and increasing our national debt to these banks. Worse still. Most of our debt is owned by China (25%) and Saudi Arabia who finance our runaway military spending overseas. This is a threat to our nation. We need to bring our troops home from overseas, and use the trillions we would save thereby to reduce our debt, and to re-invigorate our currency. We can use this money to ensure that Social Security and other essential programs will still be solvent in the future. Vote for Ron Paul. He''s published three books on the topic of sound economics. RonPaulLibrary.org

[westprophet]

RON PAUL KNOWS HOW TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. Ron Paul has a plan: (1.) Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals. (2.) Enforce Visa rules. Immigration officials must track Visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their Visa or otherwise violates U.S. Law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired Visas. (3.) No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That''s a lot of people to reward for breaking our Laws. (4.) No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules, but taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services. (5.) End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. (6.) Pass true immigration reform. The current system, and those proposed by ALL other candidates, is incoherent and unfair, and would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country.

[eastprophet]

RON PAUL WILL PRESERVE SOCIAL SECURITY
Our nation''s promise to its seniors, once considered a sacred trust, has become little more than a tool for politicians to scare retirees while robbing them of their promised benefits to pay for militarization. Today, the Social Security system is both broke and broken. Those in the system are seeing their benefits dwindle due to higher taxes, increasing inflation, and irresponsible military spending. The proposed solutions, ranging from lower benefits to higher taxes to increasing the age of eligibility, are NOT solutions; they are betrayals. Imposing any tax on Social Security benefits is unfair and illogical. In Congress, Dr. Paul introduced the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act, which repeals ALL taxes on Social Security benefits, to eliminate political theft of our seniors'' income and raise their standard of living. Solvency is the key to keeping our promise to our seniors, and he introduced the Social Security Preservation Act (H.R. 219) to ensure that money paid into the system is ONLY used for Social Security. Also, it is fundamentally unfair to give benefits to anyone who has not paid into the system. The Social Security for Americans Only Act, which Ron Paul supported, ends the drain on Social Security caused by illegal aliens seeking the fruits of your labor. In short, if we stop our runaway military spending overseas, there will be plenty of money available to keep Social Security solvent for decades to come.

[hosers22]

Flange Squeal quote: "Your cult is NOT Christian, even by a longshot - and the other Republitards in the nation will not allow an infidel nonbeliever like Mutt win the nomination".

Bigotry at its finest. Very Christian of you.

[mattcbsmatt]

The liberal, because they are paid media controllers, accept money from the Mexican government, because their reason for existence is to promote illegal immigration every way they can.
Holy ***?
And they are crapping on him because he is the only presidential candidate that knows illegal immigration is illegal.
Holy ***, the only presidential candidate that knows illegal immigration is illegal

[bgodley]

Making the death of someone a political hit piece really is very unethical. It really shows Rudy''s character.
Mitt is interesting. He is clean cut with family values but unfortunately he is a politician''s politician. I mean I don''t think he would make much of an impact in office. He won''t be as bad as the current adminstration by any stretch but he does sway to popularity.
I am very concerned about our future and we need to make changes and I mean BIG ones. I have been a long time Republican voter and I am pulling for Ron Paul. He like Mitt seems very ethical but everyone knows Paul does what he says he will do. I just don''t see that with any other candidate. Maybe it is time we take a risk. Mitt is safer but Paul is more dynamic. I feel with all the economic news coming out we are in a bad place and we are literally going to have to rethink govt. to get out.

[kansas1946]

Go for blood guys. Keep trashing each other, that will make it easier for the Democrats later. I can''t imagine anyone voting for either one of these guys.

[gunownerdan]

There''s a reason why Dr. Ron Paul has made more money in one day than any other republican candidate!
ronpaul2008.com

[gunownerdan]

Dr. Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate who has a strong record of protecting the constitution and supporting liberty.
ronpaul2008.com

[tbholsinger]

From the start Rudy''s strategy has been to avoid any head-to-head matchups with Romney. He has had unmatched name recognition (post 9/11) and knew the best a relatively unknown candidate like Romney could do would be to focus on a small number of key states. Now Rudy is trying to damage Romney is those few states where he (Rudy) knows he isn''t going to win anyhow.

Romney is ahead in any state where the voters have had a chance to get to "know" him as well as they already *know* Rudy. It''s uninspiring politics on Rudy''s part, but he''s just hoping he can run out the clock before enough of the voters are able to get an idea about who Romney is. The fact is, Rudy is just flat out not at all likeable. Romney is somewhat more likeable, much more charismatic, and a helluva lot smarter.

[scottfromaz]

Prison overcrowded, thats fine send them to Maricopa County, let them live in Tent City with Sheriff Joe Arpaio for a couple months in the middle of the Arizona summer...

They will be good boys and girls for the rest of lifes after that. hahaha

[scottfromaz]

I think that Rudy has some explaining to do. Because the difference is that Romney holds his staff and admin. accountable.... Example: Larry Craig, Romney''s Idaho Chairman, as soon as he screw and there was proof. Romney removed him immediately. Same with this Judge, there is accountability.

With Rudy, instead of replacing Bernard Kerik for repeated fraud. He submits his name to the president for a higher office ?

It''s pretty clear here folks, Romney is the man to help this country right now.

Vote for Romney.