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Former Romney rivals backtrack in Sunday interviews

By Kim Geiger, LA Times
8:57 AM PDT, May 27, 2012

The awkwardness of presidential politics was on full display Sunday morning as three former rivals of Mitt Romney were grilled over their past criticisms of the now-presumed Republican presidential nominee.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich each took to the Sunday talk shows this week and backed away from past critiques of Romney’s background.

Giuliani dismissed his criticisms as having “a certain amount of personal ego,” McCain defended free enterprise, which “can be cruel,” and Gingrich said Romney had done what he needed to do to explain his business background to voters.

For Gingrich, who only recently conceded the race for the GOP nomination, it was a stark reversal.

Gingrich had led the attacks on Romney’s past, making his experience as chief executive of Bain Capital a key issue in the early GOP primary states.

(More here.)