Mitt Romney tells 'interrupters' at rally to 'take a hike'

By Maeve Reston

January 22, 2012, 4:25 p.m.
Reporting from Ormond Beach, Fla.—

Mitt Romney opened an aggressive new phase of the Republican presidential campaign as he cruised into Florida on Sunday night — casting Newt Gingrich as an unethical politician whose temperament and unreliability led to his ouster as speaker of the House in the 1990s.

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At one point during his outdoor rally at a building supply company in Ormond Beach, Romney was interrupted by protestors chanting “We are the people” – but he quickly dismissed them.

“No actually, these are the people,” Romney shouted back. “These are the people; You’re the interruptors. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the right to speech. And you believe in interrupting. Take a hike.”

Romney’s supporters drowned them out by chanting “U-S-A.”

Though it was unclear to most of the crowd who the protestors were representing, Romney suggested that they were attacking “free enterprise.”

“I love these guys by the way who don’t like America and our free enterprise system and they have something else in mind,” he said. “Take a look at Cuba; Take a look at North Korea; Take a look at the former Soviet Union. Our system works. What they’re fighting for does not work. I believe in America.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-mitt-romney-tells-interruptors-at-rally-to-take-a-hike-20120122,0,3694348.story