I posted earlier about Newt Gingrich’s emotional discussion of his mother, in which he shed tears while discussing his memories.
What kind of person would make fun of this, and what type of supporters laugh in response?
Mitt tweaks Newt: ‘I won’t cry’:
POLITICO’s Emily Schultheis, on the trail with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, reports that the frontrunner took a not-so-veiled shot at Newt Gingrich’s teary performance earlier in the day in Iowa:Here in Merrimack, Romney started talking about his parents and what they meant to him, and how they taught him to love America — and said, “No, no, I won’t cry.”The crowd, Emily says, met the remark with laughter.
I can’t say its surprising. Romney’s campaign the past several weeks has been to dehumanize Gingrich, portraying him as crazy and unstable. Whether Romney planned it or it came spontaneously, it’s troubling.
Update: Here’s the video per commenter MarySue, who feels Romney isn’t mocking Newt:
And, Romney campaign is denying it was a shot at Newt, as indicated in this update to the Politico story (which also changes the headline):
UPDATE: Here is the full transcript of what happened. Romney followed up that he cries himself, and that there is no harm in it.Mitt Romney: “My mom and dad were extraordinary people. They left both left this life and moved on.”Audience Member: “Don’t cry.”Mitt Romney: “I won’t cry. No, No, I won’t. But I do. I do. Nothing to be ashamed of in that regard.”Romney’s camp is arguing, strenuously, that Romney was not taking a shot at Gingrich and made that clear with his second comment. At the same time, reasonable observers could make the point that he didn’t need to repeat the audience member’s “don’t cry” line, either.
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