He also says political leaders need to try harder to work together and spoke about his cooperation with Democrats while Massachusetts governor. And he pledged to respect and regularly engage with Democrats if elected.
Romney also came to the Berlin VFW – a smoky room with dartboards and a BINGO board that read, “M-2012” – and immediately sought to connect with voters in a state that is vital to his presidential campaign.
“I was just here a couple weeks ago doing some shopping. Good to be back,” Romney said, in one of the remote areas of the state. “I was over at the do-it yourself home center. Then I had a little lunch, and some raspberry pie.”
He was asked why he didn’t have a drug policy on his website. He was urged to create a better system for airline security, if he’s elected. And several times today, he was asked about the New York Times opinion piece by billionaire Warren Buffett calling for increased taxes on the wealthy as a way to cut the deficit.
“I disagree with Warren. And I do want to keep the Bush tax cuts in place,” Romney said. “If he’d like to pay more, I’d like him to write a big check. A few billion from Warren would help out, so send it in Warren, and get your friends to do the same, that’d be terrific…I say that kind of tongue in cheek.”
Romney continued to focus on President Obama throughout the day, never mentioning any of his Republican rivals unless prompted. But he subtly appears to be testing out new lines that make the case that his experience in the private sector trumps any experience in government.
“This for me is not about the next step in my political career,” Romney said tonight. “I don’t have a political career. I spent 25 years in business.”
“I don’t care whether I’m popular,” he added. “I don’t care if I get reelected.”
One woman here pointedly questioned Romney several times about how he would distance himself from the Tea Party movement, which she called an uncompromising “right wing fringe.” Romney has tried to embrace some of philosophy of the Tea Party, but is distrusted by some of the movement’s activists.
“The great thing about the Tea Party movement is that Republicans of all backgrounds and interests have all coalesced around a few common themes, which is government is too big and spending too much,” Romney said. “I happen to agree with that. You’re seeing the Republican Party united in a way that I haven’t seen before.”
He also went into a bit of media analysis over why the Tea Party movement gets characterized as out-of-the-mainstream.
“The nature of the news is to show those things that are unusual,” he said. “If someone lights their hair on fire, that’s very exciting – I don’t mean literally, I mean figuratively – and we follow that person. If some congressperson says something really wacko, that’s what makes the evening news, because it’s really wacko. And in any group you’re going to have people who get pulled out and the opposition party says, ‘This is what they stand for.’ With the Tea Party, the Tea Party folks stand for government being too big and too intrusive and they want it smaller. And I agree with them.”
Continuing with using analogies to get a point across, Romney also tried to make the case that he was far better positioned now than he was four years ago -- and compared the experience to catching a good wave.
“To be successful in politics, you have to be a good politician and you have to catch a good wave,” he said. “And right now the issue that the American people care most about – and that I care deeply about and have for a long time – is the economy, short term and long term. That’s what I know, that’s in my wheelhouse. What America needs and what I know have come together in a way that will help me, I believe, be successful in getting the nomination.
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