You've gotta' love Mittens tying himself up in knots this Thursday when asked about his previous comments regarding President Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which was about to be dusted off again for a new round of attacks by one of these Super PACs -- or it was until someone leaked the story to The New York Times.
Speaking at a campaign event in Jacksonville, Florida, Mitt Romney said even though he doesn’t remember invoking Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Sean Hannity’s show back in February, he stands by his comments.
“I’m not familiar precisely with exactly what I said, but I stand by what I said whatever it was,” Romney said.
Earlier today Mitt Romney said he “repudiate[s]” a plan to attack President Obama by hyping his connection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in an interview with the conservative news site Townhall. Romney said he would like to focus on the economy instead
Romney also accused the Obama administration of "character assassination" for the recent attacks ads on his time at Bain Capital. Character assassination is something the Romney campaign should know a thing or two about since that's what they've done to every one of their opponents with negative advertising since this presidential campaign season began.
Mitt Romney Says Bain Attacks Are Part of Obama’s ‘Character Assassination’:
Mitt Romney said today that he is “disappointed” in President Obama’s campaign for being “focused on character assassination,” saying that he considers the president’s attacks on his career at Bain to be an attempt to make him seem to be “not a good person or not a good guy.”
“I have been disappointed with the president’s campaign to date which is focused on character assassination,” said Romney. “I just think that we’re wiser to talk about the issues of the day, what we do to get America working again, talk about our respective records.” Read on...
Transcript of Romney's remarks below the fold.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) When you say character assassination exactly what specifically were you talking about?
ROMNEY: I will let you take a look at it. But obviously his efforts to look at my work at Bain is to try and characterize me in a way that isn't accurate.
My effort at Bain Capital, as you know, was in every case designed to try and make the enterprises we invested in more successful, to grow them. There is this fiction that some have that somehow you can be highly successful by stripping assets from enterprise and walking away with lots of money and killing the enterprise.
That -- there may be some people who know how to do that. I sure don't. Our approach was to always try and make the enterprise more successful. And the purpose of the president's ads are not to describe success and failure, but to somehow to suggest that I am not a good person or not a good guy, and I think the American people will know better than that, if they don't already.
This really should be a campaign about the future and about who can get America on track again to create good jobs, who can do a better job for our kids. It is about jobs and kids. And having a campaign focused on character assassination is one of the things I find offensive, among many others, in the PAC and description that came in "The New York Times." If that's accurate, why, obviously that's something I repudiate.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Christian nation. It was responding to a quote that he had just played for you on the radio. Do you stand by that and do you believe that President Obama's world view was shaped by Reverend Wright, and, if so, do you see evidence of that in his policies?
ROMNEY: I am actually going to -- I am not familiar precisely with exactly what I said. But I stand by what I said, whatever it was.
And with regards to -- I will go back and take a look at what was said there. The focus of my campaign is going to be, as I have just suggested, on the future and on who can do best to build an America that has great promise and great opportunity for fulfillment of dreams.
