Romney Blames Obama for His Campaign Challenges

Source: NY Times

DENVER — Mitt Romney, who has been criticized by members of his party in recent weeks for not campaigning aggressively enough and who trails President Obama in polls in most swing states, placed the blame for his campaign’s struggles squarely on the president himself Sunday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters as his private charter plane flew from Los Angeles to Denver, Mr. Romney blamed his relatively languid campaign schedule — five public events in the past seven days, compared with 11 fund-raisers — on the president’s decision to opt out of the federal campaign finance system four years ago, and criticized Mr. Obama for, he said, “trying to fool people into thinking that I think things I don’t.”

Asked why he was behind in the polls in most swing states, Mr. Romney accused the Obama campaign of distorting his record.

“I think that the president’s campaign has focused its advertising in many cases on very inaccurate portrayals of my positions,” he said. “They’ve been very aggressive in their attacks both on a personal basis and on a policy basis. I think as time goes on, people will realize that those attacks are not accurate and we’ll be able to have a choice which is based upon each other’s accurate views for the future of country.”

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Read more: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/romney-blames-obama-for-his-campaign-challenges/

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This article is a must-read. Romney actually accused the Obama campaign of distorting his position on abortion and on the auto industry bailout, and according to the article, he was calling for fact-checkers, AFTER his campaign had criticized them earlier.

And you should read the article for the full response from Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith, who said of Romney that "it certainly takes a lot of chutzpah for him — after his campaign bragged that it wouldn’t be dictated by fact checkers — to shed crocodile tears over a legitimate discussion of his record and policies." She also said that "If he’s so offended by his own positions, maybe he shouldn’t have taken them in the first place."