Quotes of the day

‘

I don’t want America to be a nation that’s primarily known for financial speculation,’ the president said during the event in the East Room. ‘I want us to be known for making and selling products all over the world stamped with three proud words: ‘Made in America.’

“To be sure, the president made no mention of Romney directly, but he has been critical of Wall Street before and the tenor of his remarks neatly complimented Vice President Biden’s assail on the former Massachusetts governor Tuesday, when he told New Hampshire Democrats via teleconference that Romney cares more about stockholders than employees.”

***

“Rick Santorum took a nameless swipe at Republicans who have been criticizing Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital.

“‘It’s this hostile rhetoric, which unfortunately – I don’t want to stand here and be a defender of Mitt Romney,’ Santorum said to a friendly crowd here tonight, ‘but unfortunately some in our party now, even some running for president will engage in with respect to capitalism. It is bad enough for Barack Obama to blame folks in business for causing problems in this country. Its one other thing for Republicans to join him.’”

***

“Jon Huntsman on Wednesday joined the chorus of Republicans urging Mitt Romney’s opponents to tone down their attacks on the former Massachusetts governor over his time at the investment firm Bain Capital.

“‘If you have creative destruction in capitalism, which has always been a part of capitalism, it becomes a little disingenuous to take on Bain Capital,’ Huntsman told reporters Wednesday after a campaign appearance at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. ‘I think it’s more instructive to look at governor Romney’s record as governor.’”

***

“We have heard a lot over the last couple months about the anti-Romney sentiment in the Republican party. However, this statistic suggests that, in New Hampshire at any rate, Romney is the only candidate with whom a majority of the party is satisfied. The rest of the candidates seem to have alienated more than half of the GOP.

“That is Romney’s biggest advantage, far and away.”

***

“‘He’s going to have to defend this,’ Perry said in an interview on ‘Fox and Friends’ on Wednesday morning. ‘And better in January than September if he’s going to be our nominee and have to explain.’”

“‘I think their argument fell flat here in New Hampshire. They tried it very hard, ran ads here, were up and down the state campaigning, and people in the state here said, ‘look, we want a guy who spent some time in the private sector, not someone who spent their entire life in Washington.’ So I think it’s working for my benefit,’ the former Massachusetts governor said.”