Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney offers cookies to members of the media on the charter airplane, Thursday, May 17, 2012, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Mitt rebukes Ricketts PAC, stands by own comments on Wright
Via POLITICO's Juana Summers, Mitt Romney's latest comments in the Jeremiah Wright back-and-forth:
"I want to make it very clear, I repudiate that effort. I think it's the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign. I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the futures and about issues and about a vision for America," Romney told reporters Thursday. "I've been disappointed in the president's campaign to date, which has been focused on character assassination. I just think that we're wiser to talk about the issues of the day, what we do to get America working again, talk about our respective records." …
Romney was also questioned about a February appearance on Sean Hannity's radio show in which he brought up Wright himself during the GOP primary, but said he was unfamiliar with the specific quote.
"I'm actually — I'm not familiar with precisely, exactly what I said. But I stand by what I said, whatever it was. And with regards to — I'll go back and take a look at what was said there," he said.
Ricketts flack says Wright attack plan has been rejected
TD Ameritrade billionaire and super PAC financier Joe Ricketts has rejected a plan to attack President Barack Obama for his association with the firebrand preacher Jeremiah Wright, according to a spokesman for Ricketts.
Brian Baker, who heads the Ricketts-backed Ending Spending super PAC, called the proposal to tar Obama with Wright-themed ads "an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects."
"Joe Ricketts is a registered independent, a fiscal conservative, and an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration, but he is neither the author nor the funder of the so-called 'Ricketts Plan' to defeat Mr. Obama that The New York Times wrote about this morning," Baker said in a statement. "Not only was this plan merely a proposal — one of several submitted to the Ending Spending Action Fund by third-party vendors — but it reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take."
Baker continued: "Mr. Ricketts intends to work hard to help elect a President this fall who shares his commitment to economic responsibility, but his efforts are and will continue to be focused entirely on questions of fiscal policy, not attacks that seek to divide us socially or culturally."
That's a swift, categorical statement that reflects the scale of the uproar over the proposal reported in the Times. And for all the Democratic demands this morning for Mitt Romney to declare that the Wright issue is out of bounds, the Ricketts team's statement more or less confirms that as a practical political matter, the issue is probably too hot to handle anyway.
Brian Baker, who heads the Ricketts-backed Ending Spending super PAC, called the proposal to tar Obama with Wright-themed ads "an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects."
"Joe Ricketts is a registered independent, a fiscal conservative, and an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration, but he is neither the author nor the funder of the so-called 'Ricketts Plan' to defeat Mr. Obama that The New York Times wrote about this morning," Baker said in a statement. "Not only was this plan merely a proposal — one of several submitted to the Ending Spending Action Fund by third-party vendors — but it reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take."
Baker continued: "Mr. Ricketts intends to work hard to help elect a President this fall who shares his commitment to economic responsibility, but his efforts are and will continue to be focused entirely on questions of fiscal policy, not attacks that seek to divide us socially or culturally."
That's a swift, categorical statement that reflects the scale of the uproar over the proposal reported in the Times. And for all the Democratic demands this morning for Mitt Romney to declare that the Wright issue is out of bounds, the Ricketts team's statement more or less confirms that as a practical political matter, the issue is probably too hot to handle anyway.
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Why is Wright off-limits?
Joe Ricketts has ties to Obama and the Democrats, despite his GOP donations this year.
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