The New York Observer, January 28th, 2008
As Rudy Giuliuni's campaign continues to deflate—he just finished speaking to less than 50 supporters at an airport in Sanford, Florida (where Jon Voight was introduced by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum as "Midnight Cowboy, National Treasure, Deliverance")--the battle between John McCain and Mitt Romney is escalating.
The McCain campaign just released a statement from the Senator saying Romney's campaign is based on "the wholesale deception of voters," calls him the "liberal governor" and even makes mention of Ted Kennedy as an ally on Romney's healthcare plan in Massachusetts.
Full statement:
“Mitt Romney's campaign is based on the wholesale deception of voters. On every one of the issues he has attacked John McCain on, Romney was for it before he was against it.
“He was for campaign finance reform, and even proposed taxing political contributions.
“He was for cap and trade, and even supported a tax that increased the price of gasoline at the pump.
“He called our immigration bill ‘reasonable’ and ‘not amnesty.’
“The truth is, Mitt Romney was a liberal governor of Massachusetts who raised taxes, imposed with Ted Kennedy a big government mandate health care plan that is now a quarter of a billion dollars in the red, and managed his state's economy incompetently, leaving Massachusetts with less job growth than 47 other states.”
UPDATE: The McCain campaign also sent out these comments the Senator made in Jacksonville, Florida this morning:
"One thing we should give Governor Romney credit for, he is consistent, He's consistently taken both sides of every issue, he has consistently flip-flopped on every issue … If you say different things in different parts of the country and take more than two sides on every issue, it's not going to work over time. That's why we're going to win over Governor Romney both tomorrow, and on Super Tuesday."
“As the liberal governor of Massachusetts, he raised taxes by $730 million dollars. Just take a look at his record as governor. Certainly his big government mandated health care plan for Massachusetts, which is now half a billion in the hole, is certainly not conservative."
