U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY.), son Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, slammed Republican presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in an opinion piece for The Des Moines Register on Thursday.
The Kentucky senator said Mr. Gingrich is a “Rockefeller Republican” and criticized the former House speaker and Mr. Romney for supporting President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul and Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). The opinion piece comes as Mr. Paul is campaigning for his father’s bid the White House in 2012.
Mr. Paul was not as harsh against Mr. Romney as he was on Mr. Gingrich, calling the former Massachusetts governor a ”moderate, northeastern, don’t-rock-the-boat Republican.”
He then went on to write a scathing assesment of Mr. Gingrich, saying the Georgia Republican’s connection to mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
“While one candidate in the race, my father, Rep. Ron Paul, was publicly warning about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the crisis they were helping to create, Gingrich was earning millions to not only endorse but also promote the status quo,” the Kentucky senator wrote.
“His record features “highlights” such as global warming commercials with Nancy Pelosi, support for cap-and-trade, funding Planned Parenthood, and, recently, announcing that life does not begin at conception,” Mr. Paul added.
Mr. Gingrich has come under similar attacks since surging to the front runner position in his bid for the Republican nomination in 2012.
Other presidential candidates including Mr. Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) have heavily criticized him for appearing in an ad for climate change with Ms. Pelosi, and for his three marriages.
Popular conservative political commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who question his record as a former House speaker and Georgia lawmaker.
The Kentucky senator’s father, Ron Paul, has also heightened his attacks on Mr. Gingrich in recent weeks, releasing an ad criticizing him for being a “flip flopper” on certain issues and his role as a consultant with mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
In a recent interview with CNN, Mr. Paul was dismissive of the former House speaker’s surge in the polls, calling him “the flavor of the week.”
With less than three weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses, the Texas congressman has stepped up his campaigning efforts in Iowa.
