Romney on Perry turf assails 'career politicians'

[August 31, 2011]  SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney castigated "career politicians" Tuesday as he tried to distinguish himself from chief rival Rick Perry while on the governor's home turf in Texas.

"I am a conservative businessman. I spent most of my life outside of politics, dealing with real problems in the real economy," Romney told the Veterans of Foreign Wars annual convention in San Antonio. "Career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don't know how to get us out."

Romney didn't mention Perry by name during the speech, which comes as national polls show Perry with more support than Romney. For months, Romney has led the pack seeking the GOP presidential nomination and largely ignored his would-be rivals.

Even so, the contrast Romney is seeking to draw is clear. He was a businessman who founded a venture capital firm and headed the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City before serving a single term as Massachusetts governor. Perry is Texas' longest-serving governor and has been an elected public official for 27 years, having served as lieutenant governor, agricultural commissioner and a state representative before becoming governor in 2000.

A Perry spokesman dismissed Romney's jab: "Gov. Perry was a farmer and served in the military for a combined 19 years," Mark Miner said. "Mitt Romney must have been talking about someone else in his remarks today."

Perry himself then suggested the presidential race had no room for verbal barbs, saying during an appearance on the Sean Hannity radio show, "Frankly, I don't know Gov. Romney well enough on a personal basis.

"But look, this race is not going to be about personalities, from my perspective, and certainly not be going to be personal. It's going to be about records and who can get America working again. And our nation can't endure four more years of this rising unemployment and rising taxes and rising debt."

Romney also hammered the Obama administration in his speech, saying "we stand near a threshold of profound economic misery. Four more years on the same political path could prove disastrous."

Romney went on to assert that as president he would not apologize to foreign leaders for America, something he accused Obama of doing.

"Have we ever had a president who was so eager to address the world with an apology on his lips and doubt in his heart?" Romney asked.

Although the president has indicated to foreign leaders that America is not above reproach, he had never apologized for U.S. actions, either as a candidate or as president.

Romney's remarks Tuesday provide strong clues about his strategy for trying to derail Perry, who jolted the race earlier this month by formally becoming a candidate.

At a time when the electorate is suffering economically and has shown a willingness to embrace outsiders, Romney is trying to paint Perry as just another politician on the inside who doesn't understand how to create jobs. He doesn't mention that Texas added tens of thousands of jobs on Perry's watch, although how much Perry had to do with his state adding so many jobs is a matter of debate.

At the same time, Romney is seeking to portray himself as the outsider -- even though he's essentially been running for president since 2006. He lost the GOP nomination to John McCain in 2008 and spent the next couple of years quietly laying the groundwork for a second bid. To voters looking for a candidate, Romney promotes his time as an executive at consulting firm Bain and Company and as the founder of Bain Capital, a venture capital and investment company.

Romney's advisers are eyeing Perry's rise in popularity closely. Perry's late entry forced a recalibration of Romney's pitch as a proven executive in both the public and private spheres. With a decade as Texas governor, Perry's candidacy stands to edge out Romney's claim as the most experienced executive in the race.

And Romney is shifting his schedule to court tea party activists. He will speak on Sunday to a Tea Party Express event in New Hampshire and visit Sen. Jim DeMint's Labor Day forum in the tea party favorite's home state of South Carolina.

During his speech to a San Antonio audience about half the size of the one Perry drew at the VFW convention a day earlier, Romney pointed to his years outside Washington and in the private sector, saying they gave him a fresh perspective on how best to manage federal defense spending.

"I look at that kind of inefficiency and bloat and say, 'Let me at it,'" Romney said. He won his most enthusiastic applause when he promised to slice billions of dollars in waste, inefficiency and bureaucracy from the defense budget to free up money for modern ships and planes, more troops and ensuring that veterans have the care they deserve.

Romney lingered for about 10 minutes after his talk, shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for pictures with veterans. Many of those who came forward to greet him were from Massachusetts or Michigan, where Romney's father was governor.

Addressing the VFW, the nation's oldest major organization of veterans, on Monday, Perry said the U.S. should avoid "military adventurism" abroad. He also said that when it comes time to fight, U.S. combat troops must be led by American commanders.

Perry also said U.S. authorities have turned their backs on too many veterans returning home from recent combat, saying "we must take care of them; every one of them."

[Associated Press; By WILL WEISSERT]

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