Iraq Front and Center as Romney Goes Door to Door
EmailABC News’ Matt Stuart reports: Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., took his campaign to the streets of Manchester Saturday, going door to door for the first time, posing for pictures and asking for votes.
Romney pushed his Iraq message, saying that it’s "going right" and "there’s more good news on the Iraq front than people have yet internalized."
Romney has become increasingly more confident regarding the surge in Iraq. At a debate in New Hampshire in September, Romney faced criticisism from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for saying that the "surge" was "apparently working." McCain responded, "Not apparently, it’s working."
On Saturday, Romney met a former Marine along the route who said that "being informed military" he was "really concerned" about the troops overseas and he wants a change. Romney disagreed with him, saying, "I’m a little more encouraged than you are," and encouraged him to "take a close look."
Romney kept the mood lighter at times. Stopping by one young couple’s house, he remarked at the large leaves on their tree, quipping, "Adam and Eve would not have looked as promiscuous if they had had leaves this big."
Along the way, he also met at least one unfriendly resident, McGuire, a Scottish Terrier who started barking as Romney knocked on the door. One reporter suggested he bring dog biscuits next time. Romney joked that he should "bring some of them out for you guys," referencing the crowd of media following him.
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Apprently Romney is a man of God. “Mitt Romney is a man of God. We should support him, not simply because he is the best-qualified candidate, but more importantly, he holds moral and political values consistent with those in the Bible.”
Posted by: Who Rocks And Who Sucks? | November 10, 2007, 2:43 pm 2:43 pm
Yeah Romney knows more about whats happening in Iraq from FOX News, than a Marine who served there. What a pompous jackass
Posted by: Andrwe | November 10, 2007, 3:33 pm 3:33 pm
Just what we need, another flip-flopper in the white house. His previous pro-abortion, pro-gay rights statements will eventually haunt him and turn the bible thumpers against him. Will the bible folks really vote for a “rich man to enter the kingdom” of the White House?
Posted by: Greg | November 10, 2007, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
How could Adam and Eve be promiscuous if they were the only two people on earth? Also, it’s funny he associates big leaves with promiscuity. Or maybe he associates Massachusettes with promiscuity, or doorbells, etc.
Posted by: cynthia | November 10, 2007, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
There are no former marines (except John Murtha of course) and even when forced to report that there is success in Iraq ABC still has to spew their bias.. Report a little more on the exchange , not the Soros ,moveon sound bite
Posted by: JACK | November 10, 2007, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
Dear Governor Mr. Romney:
If situation in Iraq you said is getting better after the surge then why don’t you send your children to fight for the country want to be a President.
You sound like George Bush never accept the reality. Please go to Iraq and take a stroll outside the green zone by youself without military escort and armour vest. If you can do it then I will accept your statement that things are getting better in Iraq.
Ranes
Posted by: Ranes Dalal | November 10, 2007, 5:13 pm 5:13 pm
Mitt Romney, like most of the candidates is doing what he needs to do to advance his candidacy. While I believe him to be an extraordinary person of integrity, he is not the person our nation needs to address the foreign and domestic challenges facing our nation. Frankly, for the good of our Country the Republicans need a severe thumping in 2008; electing any Republican as President would validate and continue too many failed policies. At this crucial point, we need either Hillary Clinton or John Edwards as President.
Posted by: rigel, Miami, Florida | November 10, 2007, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
Why doesn’t Romney go to Iraq and go on patrol with the grunts? I mean, he should put his butt where his claims are. Maybe he could visit some of those good news places in Iraq, too, without Blackwater covering his butt.
Posted by: Ardie | November 10, 2007, 5:29 pm 5:29 pm
Mitt romney is a loser, this is aman that feels his sons are too good to be in Iraq, but he has no problem with someone else’s kid being over there. I’m a vet and i know
Posted by: jay | November 10, 2007, 5:36 pm 5:36 pm
Ranes Dalal, do you have any idea what integrity is? If a person is willing to lie in order to get elected, or if they espouse ideals and values they do not hold then that is being unethical! When you lie to the People about what is going on in Iraq, that is being unethical. The fact that Romney is running for President does not somehow change the definition of ethical. No wonder this country is in the shape it is in when people think that it is ethical to lie, obfuscate, or ignore the truth.
Posted by: Ron Ranft | November 10, 2007, 5:44 pm 5:44 pm
I would go over to Iraq and serve but I’m too old and… what? They need truck drivers? New openings all the time?
Ahh, I can’t right now but things are really going well!
Posted by: Joe | November 10, 2007, 5:51 pm 5:51 pm
did romney get this great news from any of his 5 sons?
Posted by: margaret | November 10, 2007, 5:58 pm 5:58 pm
I’m not sure what goes well with kool aid. If I ever have the opportunity I’ll ask Mitt.
Posted by: Mark | November 10, 2007, 6:01 pm 6:01 pm
“might not have looked promicuous”…How does one look promiscuous?
Are we going to have another president with a five-year-old’s grasp of the English language?
We should require a presidential candidate to be fluent in at least one language.
Posted by: Old Writer | November 10, 2007, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm
Stage a plasticine “getting in touch with typical voters” PR op for the media to gobble up and then bash them. In true GOP/neocon fashion.
Things do seem to be getting better over there (relatively speaking) due to the surge.
Doesn’t matter, shouldn’t be there!
Just the same, it’s war. It’s still hell and it’s still an economic sinkhole on top of that.
Posted by: Er | November 10, 2007, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm
I think the reason why Iraq is getting better has something to do with the fact that Sadr ordered his army to keep under the radar, i.e. no fighting for 6 months (I think it was 6). I’m more worried about this, because what are they up to. These insurgents aren’t stupid. We aren’t winning because of the surge, just because they aren’t fighting right now. My hunch is they are planning, restocking, working on new more lethal tactics. I really hope that I’m wrong on this. We need to stabilize Iraq somehow.
Posted by: joe | November 10, 2007, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
Romney and McCain both have the same ‘look’ – its like they have been brain washed..a subservient demeanor..there is no fire in their eyes, no feral look, and no passion in their voice..kind of like Bush..none of them are leaders
Posted by: Rich | November 10, 2007, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
Mitt Romney is just shallow, insubstantial, narcissistic, smug, ignorant and cynical enough to win.
Posted by: ProfessorVP | November 10, 2007, 7:08 pm 7:08 pm
Hmm, mentioning Adam and Eve… definitely pandering for the Christian vote.
Posted by: ingred | November 10, 2007, 7:08 pm 7:08 pm
There is something eerie when one sees a self deceived individual going on about his fantasies and self delusion – the neo-cons made a huge mistake in believing that Americans have some sort of superiority-by-birth that places them above all others, we do not; neo-cons cannot fathom the fact that Iraqis are human beings with the same desires and power of thought that we have – The truth is that their country is occupied by a foreign power led by a delusional cadre of misfits who blindly follow an utopian ideology, blundering along while making up fantasies to fit their delusions. Rommey, along with the other Republican presidential hopefuls is just continuing in like fashion.
Posted by: FranXpatino | November 10, 2007, 7:28 pm 7:28 pm
I do not think much has changed in Iraq. The Iraqi Government still controls almost nothing, many areas in the south are run by Shia militias, the U.S. is arming the former Sunni fighters they once fought against and are now calling them “Concerned Iraqi Nationals” to offset the Iranian backed Shia militias. I do not even need to mention the Kurdish north where the U.S. does not have the resources or man power available to take on the PKK and the PKK know it.
Yes, the good news is that there have been fewer American deaths. The bad news remains the same. The Bush Administration is no closer to this “victory”. The Bush Administration and Romney for that matter are the most incompetent people I have ever seen. All they are doing is trying to save face while everyone else pays the price.
Posted by: Joe | November 10, 2007, 7:31 pm 7:31 pm
Who’s the bigger phony, Romney or Guliani?
Posted by: James B. | November 10, 2007, 7:38 pm 7:38 pm
This from a man has never served in the arm forces as well as his sons. Mormons are conscientious objectors.
Posted by: Imichael | November 10, 2007, 7:49 pm 7:49 pm
That Marine (once a Marine always a Marine) has more courage and integrity in his little finger than the entire Republican slate of canditates and serving politicians have combined with the exception of Senator Hagel who is a fine and honorable man.
1stLt USMC
Posted by: James R. Large | November 10, 2007, 7:52 pm 7:52 pm
I hope that Marine told Romney to ‘TAKE A REAL GOOD LOOK BETWEEN MY INDEX AND RING FINGERS!!!’
Posted by: Danielle in Indiana | November 10, 2007, 7:58 pm 7:58 pm
It is getting better also where there is no “surge”. The British and other international forces are reducing or eliminating their forces in Iraq with no adverse effect. Consequently they suffer fewer losses. Makes sense to me. Bring our troops home ASAP.
Posted by: Fred Celentano | November 10, 2007, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm
Yeah, the surge is going so well, deaths of American soldiers in Iraq have already reached a new record this year.
Posted by: Brian | November 10, 2007, 8:29 pm 8:29 pm
he isnt a man of god. he;s a man of fairy stories and magical thinking. he is also a fraud and so obviously fake, he wouldnt qualify to be a newsreader or talk show host.
Posted by: dexxjones | November 10, 2007, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
To make every American sacrifice equally.
A specially Federal income tax rate to pay for the war.
A military draft with no exemptions. That way politicians won’t talk through both sides of their mouth.
Tony – Korean War Veteran
Posted by: Anthony Galindo | November 10, 2007, 9:02 pm 9:02 pm
Romney is a bottom feeder and a liar to boot. As Massachusetts governor, Romney needed to be liberal. Since being a liberal Republican won’t win him the GOP nomination, he’s trying to remake himself as a born again conservative Christian. Problem is that he isn’t likely to win a general election with views held so dear by the GOP faithful and a supporter of anything stinking of Bush/Cheney. Does this mean that once Romney has the GOP nomination wrapped up, he’ll flip flop, move to the center, and bail on Bush’s idiotic policies?
Posted by: Roger H. Werner | November 10, 2007, 10:17 pm 10:17 pm
This is an example of another arrogant person who was too good to serve in the military and know thinks he is smarter than all the little people who do serve. Always remember that when it was his time to go he ran off to France to be a “missionary”. Why would we get rid of one president who thinks he is above all americans and pick another one who is wierd as the one we have now. This guy is scary!
Posted by: Dan | November 10, 2007, 10:45 pm 10:45 pm
Ron Ranft: From the content of your posting, it appears your comment was about mine. First, thank you for your comment. I have the sense in the way you are using the word “integrity,” none of the Presidential candidates could meet your standard, which is fine. From my perspective, none of the candidates are saints. It’s my sense that all have lied or misled the public about something. However, I would argue that all of the presidential candidates have more integrity than George W. Bush or Dick Cheney. Of the presidential field, it’s my guess that Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, and Mike Huckabee would be the cluster with the most integrity. I’d place Rudy Giuliani, an extraordinary American of considerable accomplishment, as having the least. The rest I would place nearer Paul, Gravel, and Huckabee than Giuliani.
Posted by: rigel, Miami, Florida | November 11, 2007, 5:57 am 5:57 am
If we purchased a two dollar item we would expect that it would function as the label claims.
we elect a president and a world leader ,they stand before the people tell us lies after lies and we still elect them,PLEASE, LETS HOLD THEM TO THE TRUTH.
when there is truth in goverment our contrary will prosper.
Posted by: Sgt.Robert Travis USMC ret | November 11, 2007, 7:05 am 7:05 am
Sgt. Travis: I agree. We must hold our elected officials accountable and we do that by first of all making ourselves knowledgeable about the candidates and voting. Second, if we see our elected officials not doing what we think they should be doing and if we can find reasonable alternatives, we express our opinion to sway others and vote them out of office. Unfortunately, it is not an efficient or elegant process, but it beats undemocratic strong-man/woman, theocratic, or elite rule.
Posted by: rigel, Miami, Florida | November 11, 2007, 8:33 am 8:33 am
Do people realize Mormons believe God was once a sinful man on another planet and died and became a god? You first have to be a man them die and you become a god of your own planet and populate it. Hello, christian concervative? No way
Posted by: j. | November 11, 2007, 6:44 pm 6:44 pm
Anyone running for President that would have a sick person with cancer arrested by the feds and put in jail for simply using a State approved drug prescribed by a doctor, is a cruel person with no compassion. He obviously has no respect for State Rights, freedom of choice, our personal liberty, or the Bill of Rights.
Posted by: Greg | November 11, 2007, 9:58 pm 9:58 pm
Is it any wonder the Scottish Terrier barked at Romney?
Remember how he strapped his dog to the car roof. Surely McGuire the Scottie hasn’t forgotten.
Posted by: Scottish Terrier and Dog News | November 12, 2007, 7:47 am 7:47 am
wow! I guess the abc posters are all full of venom!! I’ve never heard such hate! Are there any facts here, or is that a foreign word. I wonder that people who want to trash a good man.
Posted by: cc | November 12, 2007, 12:01 pm 12:01 pm