OFF MESSAGE
The Romney campaign is quietly trying to figure out what to do with
its biggest conservative endorser to date, Paul
Weyrich, after the surrogate publicly accused the board of
the National Right to Life Committee of accepting money for its
endorsement of former Sen. Fred Thompson, and
embarrassed Romney in doing so.
A few weeks ago, Weyrich, a lion of the conservative movement in
Washington, whose profile has been limited in the past several
years due to a series of injuries and poor health, was again on
center stage, endorsing Romney. Now the Romney campaign is trying
to use Weyrich’s name, but not the man himself.
“There’s no message discipline there,” says a Romney
adviser. “But every political reporter in town knows how to get a
hold of him. We don’t want him talking to the press if this is what
we’re going to get every time.”
Weyrich, who helped found the Heritage Foundation, and launched
the Free Congress Foundation, as well as the first serious attempt
at conservative television, National Empowerment Television, among
other well-known conservative organizations, is probably more
responsible for creation of the conservative network as it exists
today than just about any other activist in Washington or elsewhere
in the country. He’s been known to speak his mind.
But the Romney campaign now is questioning just how effective
Weyrich can be after the NRLC dust up. “Having to answer questions
about a surrogate, who really isn’t supposed to be a public
surrogate, isn’t what we bargained for,” says the Romney adviser.
“We have to tread carefully, but we have to do something.”
AT YOUR COMMAND
Much has been made of the fact that Rudy
Giuliani’s campaign was telling reporters over the weekend
that its candidate had been boning up on NASCAR lore and culture
before spending time down south with the salt of the earth voters
who feel the need for speed, despite the fact that he’d already
attended two other races earlier this year.
Some attendees at last week’s Federalist Society conference were
wondering if Giuliani shouldn’t be studying up on his Constitution
or maybe was being overly Freudian in his slips, given the beating
he’s been taking from social conservatives.
On a few occasions during his speech last Friday, Giuliani made
reference to the “Ten Amendments” when referencing the “Ten
Commandments.”
“And I can’t figure out where in the Constitution, in the First
Amendment or anywhere else in the Constitution, either the clause
against establishment of religion or protecting the free exercise
of religion, I cannot figure out where some imperative exists to
take the words ‘under God’ out of the Pledge of Allegiance or to
ban the mention of the Ten Amendments in a public square.” He later
corrected himself.
Then later: “That’s what liberty is all about. Our liberty is
secured even before it was secured by the Ten Amendments to the
Constitution, it was secured by the structure of our government.
It’s probably our most reliable assurance.” No word yet from the
ACLU.
