Romney slams radical jihadists
CHEROKEE, Iowa - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney hammered yesterday on radical jihadists and Iran's nuclear potential while campaigning in the Little Sioux River Valley, where residents enjoy rodeos, symphonies, and county fairs.
Romney said while visiting the campus of a northwest Iowa community college that the new videotaped message from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is nearly impossible for Americans to understand.
"Who can be so deluded as he is?" Romney said.
Romney told reporters afterward that bin Laden's ideas on Americans being coerced into converting to Islam "are not in line with rational thought."
In the 26-minute video, bin Laden compares the Iraq war to Vietnam, criticizes the Democratic Party for failing to prompt a US pullout from Iraq, and encourages Americans to welcome Islam. He does not make any direct warning of an imminent attack.
"The whole radical jihadist movement is extraordinarily misguided and evil and is a form of delusion," Romney said. "I was, in some respects, thankful that he reminded the people of the world what the face of evil looks like."
At the community college, Romney was asked how he would respond to Iran. He said the United States must "tighten the sanctions hard so that the people of Iran understand just what renegades their leaders seem like on the world stage."
Romney also said the recent ruling in Polk County, Iowa, which found the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, was "an attack on the family and on the marriage structure" that points out the need for a federal amendment to the Constitution that defines marriage.
"Civilizations have recognized since the beginning of time . . . that the ideal setting for raising a child is where there is a mom and a dad," he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Edwards attacks Clinton
NASHUA, N.H. - In a raw populist appeal, Democrat John Edwards yesterday accused presidential rival Senator Hillary Clinton of defending a lobbyist-driven political system that is "rigged against regular Americans" and which killed her plan for universal healthcare.
The former North Carolina senator accepted a major union endorsement while insisting no Democratic candidate can legitimately promise to change America without swearing off special interest money from federal lobbyists. Clinton has refused to do so.
"When it comes to the existing lobbyist game, we've got to end it and not defend it," Edwards told more than 700 members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.
The antilobbyist challenge is not new for Edwards. But he stepped up his attacks against Clinton by focusing on her most notable leadership role in 30 years of public life - the failed healthcare plan that, as first lady, she drew up in 1993 for her husband, then-President Clinton.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dodd discusses Cuba
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Democrat Chris Dodd pledged yesterday that as president he would end a decades-old trade embargo with Cuba and lift travel restrictions to the communist island.
The Connecticut senator also said he would open an embassy in Havana and shut down the 17-year-old TV Marti, a US government-run television station that broadcasts to Cuba.
"Other than the war in Iraq, no other American policy is more broadly unpopular internationally," Dodd said of US policy toward Cuba.
Dodd said as president he would seek a repeal of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened the US embargo against Cuba. He also said taxpayers should not spend money on Radio Marti, a companion to the television station, that virtually no one in Cuba sees.
The senator, who badly trails better-known rivals in the presidential race, said he would work to establish US mail service to Cuba. He added he would make staying in touch with family on the island easier for Cuban Americans by allowing US companies to lower prices for phone calls there.
ASSOCIATED PRESS 