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I talked to Mitt Romney on Friday. He called in from the campaign trail, out in Iowa. I asked him, among other things, about his thoughts on NBC's airing of the Cho video and his past support of an assault weapons ban in Massachusetts, and what his response will be if, as it looks like will happen, the Left starts using the Va. Tech tragedy to bring the Assault Weapons Ban back up:
MKH: Now,
you supported an assault weapons ban in Massachusetts. This tragedy is
being used to push the renewal of the federal assault weapons ban. What
would your stance be if that comes up again?
MR: Well, you know, the weapon used here was
not an assault weapon, so I’m not sure what the relevance is. And,
that’s what we have to recognize. The people who want to remove Second
Amendment rights will look for everything they can. You know, if
there’s a weapon that puts our police at risk, like machine guns, of
course, then that’s something I would, of course, consider. But, look,
we’ve gotta fundamentally recognize the need to protect the right to
bear arms and the fact that there are people who are trying to remove
that right inch by inch, and we’re gonna have to defend against that.
He also talks about Harry Reid's "war is lost" comments and the merits of his hair vs. Sanjaya's and John Edwards'.
Good times. Also, a good sign for both the blogosphere and Romney's campaign that the candidate took 15 minutes on a Friday to talk to a blogger. Imagine the probability of that circa 2003. Romney showed online prowess early on when he took on the 1994 pro-choice video in both a podcast with Instapundit and a YouTube video.Romney was also the first candidate up to bat in YouTube's You Choose '08, which features YouTube videos from each of the presidential candidates and YouTubers' responses. He asked what folks think is the biggest challenge we face as a nation, and he's actively responding to the video responses posted. David All compares Mitt's You Choose video to John Edwards', here.
I think it's a good sign for Romney's campaign that he seems pretty savvy in this area, and he's gonna need some savvy to close the gap in polling and name recognition when he's up against Rudy and McCain (which, by the way, he also addresses in the interview).
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