Politically Punchy: This Week in Political Punches
Battles between Newt and Mitt continue to rage in the South. Santorum and The Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert super PAC are getting hits in, too. Here's our rundown of the fiery tempers and those taking the heat this week:
| Throwing the Punches | Taking the Hits | What's Being Attacked |
| Rick Santorum Adviser in Iowa | Mitt Romney | After the Des Moines Register said Santorum was the real winner of the Iowa caucuses, a Santorum adviser in the Hawkeye State said of Romney , "He sounds like a kid who didn't get what he wanted for his birthday so he smashed the cake." |
| Mitt Romney | Newt Gingrich | The former Massachusetts governor went after Gingrich's record, saying that for Newt to claim credit for jobs created while he was in Congress was like " Al Gore taking credit for the Internet ." Watch the video here . |
| The Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert super PAC | Negative campaign ads | The Pro-Colbert super PAC released an ad promising to decimate the other candidates with negative ads as retribution for their negative ads, in "an orgy of pure distortion leaving nothing behind but the clean campaign we all deserve." |
| Mitt Romney | Newt Gingrich and Winning Our Future | The Romney campaign sent out an email transcribing an interview with one of the business owners featured in a film put out by the pro-Gingrich super PAC, Winning Our Future, in which the owner indicates that the super PAC took his words out of context. The whole thing deals mainly with the super PAC, but at the top is a banner with a picture of Gingrich next to Nancy Pelosi and the words " unreliable leader ." |
| Three GOP candidates + House Speaker John Boehner | President Obama | After Obama rejected plans for an extension of the Keystone XL Pipeline, Republicans came out with rhetorical fists flying. Rick Perry said it showed Obama putting campaigning ahead of his duty to the country. The Romney campaign sent out a statement that took a similar vein, saying it demonstrated Obama's "lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment." Boehner said, " This is not good for our country ." |
| Rick Santorum | Mitt Romney | Romney's statement that a pro-Romney Super PAC ad attacking Santorum for allowing felons to vote "sounded accurate." In response, Santorum said Romney "supports lies and promotes lies" to get elected. |
| Mitt Romney | All Super PACs | Obviously fed up with the constant Super PAC attack ads and subsequent criticism, Romney said at Monday night's debate that he "would like to have Super PACs disappear." |
| Cyndi Lauper | Anti-Romney ads | An unnamed ad-maker used Lauper's song "True Colors" in an ad attacking Romney. An unhappy Lauper tweeted, "Romney can discredit himself without the use of my work." |
| Newt Gingrich | Mitt Romney | Among other things, Gingrich attacked the former Massachusetts governor's ability to speak French. Gingrich's latest web ad hits Mitt for his connections to Democratic Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. |
| Less Political Punches | ||
| Pippa Middleton | The Paparazzi | Prince William's sister-in-law sent a cease-and-desist letter to international media agencies, as a warning that Pippa is prepared to take legal action if their photographers don't leave her in peace. |
| Reality Tea | Kim Kardashian | One website dug very deeply into an episode of "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" and say they now have proof that the show is not-so-much reality TV. |
| The Bald Barbie Movement | An American Cancer Society Blogger | Commenters called for American Cancer Society director of media relations Andrew Becker to hit the pavement after he wrote a blog post arguing that bald Barbies would make healthy children disproportionately fear getting cancer. |