GOP candidates in SC vow to carry tea-party banner
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - September 5, 2011
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the Obama
administration flouted the Constitution to push a political agenda.
Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota stridently called Obama's
policies "unconstitutional" at the same tea party-backed forum on
Labor Day. And Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the third member of his
party's top tier, told a separate town hall-style audience earlier
in the day that he has a better record on jobs than the president.
With Labor Day marking the unofficial start to the 2012
campaign, the contenders were painting themselves to the tea party
during an afternoon forum with Sen. Jim DeMint in his home state -
site of the first nominating contest in the South. The event was
designed to probe the candidates on their views of spending, taxes
and the Constitution - bedrock principles for the tea party
activists whose rising clout is likely to shape the nominating
process.
"I don't think I've ever seen an administration who has go
further afield from the Constitution ... than the Obama
administration, not just with regulation, but with energy policy,
with financial regulatory policy and, with the worst example,
Obamacare," Romney said, outlining conservatives' broad indictment
of Obama's tenure.
It also was a prime opportunity for the candidates to level
pointed - though, in many cases, familiar - criticism of Obama.
"The track record we have creating jobs, I'd put up against
anyone running for president of the United States, particularly the
current resident of the White House," said Perry, whose late entry
into the race threatens Romney's one-time aura of inevitability
with support from tea partyers.
And Bachmann sought to sustain her status as a movement darling
and suitable alternative to Romney. Although she never engaged him
directly, her remarks seemed centered on Romney.
Bachmann warned that Obama and Democrats' health care
legislation was taking away freedoms and giving Washington abject
power.
"They will become a dictator over our lives," she said of
federal requirements included in the overhaul that requires
Americans to have health insurance. Massachusetts requires a
similar mandate.
"This is the foundation for socialized medicine. Make no
mistake about it. It will change the face of this nation forever,"
she warned.
After keeping the tea party at arm's length most of this
campaign, Romney appeared at two tea party-related events this
holiday weekend, first in New Hampshire on Sunday and then Monday
here. He slightly tweaked his pitch and acknowledged critics of
Massachusetts' health plan.
"Our bill dealt with 8 percent of our population, the people
who weren't insured," Romney said.
"He dealt with 100 percent of American people. He said, `I'm
going to change health care for all of you.' It's simply
unconstitutional. It's bad law. It's bad medicine. ... It has got
to be stopped and I know it better than most."
Aware of the tea party's potential to pick the nominee, all
candidates have tailored their pitches to appeal to the libertarian
and grassroots activists.
Bachmann, a former federal tax lawyer, called the Constitution
"that sacred document" and challenged Obama's understanding of
his powers under it. She cited Obama's advisers, whom she called
"czars," the Justice Department's decision not to appeal a
court's overturning of a federal marriage law, and his immigration
policies.
"These are areas where we see unconstitutionality," she said
of Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate and former constitutional
law lecturer at the University of Chicago.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich played up the founding
fathers' writings on liberties during his appearance: "These
rights are inalienable. That means no politician, no bureaucrat, no
judge can take that away from you."
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a favorite of the GOP's libertarian
wing, decried government largesse: "People were supposed to carry
guns, not bureaucrats." He also warned against a Washington that
gives the Federal Reserve too much power, a favorite rallying cry
for his steadfast supporters.
And pizza magnate Herman Cain of Georgia, who does well during
these forums with amusing quips but hasn't built a serious campaign
organization, again was critical of Washington.
"The idea in Washington, D.C. ... is if you reduce the growth,
that's a cut," he said. "That's not a cut. That's deceiving the
American people."
Ahead of the forum, Perry spoke at a town hall-style meeting
before heading home to Texas in a last-minute schedule change to
monitor raging wildfires. He phoned DeMint to apologize for his
schedule change; DeMint said Perry needed to be home.
Romney, who had initially planned to bypass the South Carolina
forum, changed his schedule last week to join DeMint, whose backing
he enjoyed during his first presidential bid.
While DeMint is tremendously popular here in his home state and
with his party's tea party faction, he isn't rushing to publicly
pick a favorite this time and has suggested he might not back a
candidate in the primary.
That's not to say wooing the tea party is without peril.
After Washington's debt showdown this summer, an Associated
Press-GfK poll found that 46 percent of adults had an unfavorable
view of the tea party, compared with 36 percent just after last
November's election.
---
Associated Press writer Bruce Smith contributed to this report
from Myrtle Beach, S.C.
