|
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- President Bush hasn’t been getting a great deal of love on the campaign trail in recent months and years, even from Republicans, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) gave him some on the eve of Iowa’s first-in-the nation caucuses. He even used the L-word – “love.” In a riff on former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) “Two Americas” campaign speech Wednesday, Romney said the country is united where it counts and used the theme to praise Bush. “We’re a nation united that stands behind our fighting men and women. We honor them and respect them,” Romney said at a conference center here. “We love what they’ve done for us, and we also love a president who has kept us safe these last six years.” Romney has been more defensive of Bush’s foreign policy and presidency than his top GOP opponent in Iowa, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Romney has said several times that Americans should thank Bush for keeping the country safe. He has also criticized Huckabee’s assertion that the Bush administration engages in an “arrogant bunker mentality” in foreign relations. Huckabee delivered a harsh speech detracting from Bush’s foreign policy when he was still a long-shot candidate and recently wrote an op-ed which re-asserted that position. Bush’s approval in the state is similar to his national numbers -- generally in the low 30s. But most Republicans tend to remain loyal to the president. Romney appeared here with Sens. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Buck McKeon (R- Calif.). Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen also stumped for Romney, who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. |
