If the Senate campaign of Republican Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock has been trying to shed his declarations against bipartisanship and compromise lately, perhaps it's because even the GOP's fiery vice presidential nominee doesn't agree with him.
Over the past week, Mourdock has been trying to cast himself as more of a team player who can work with anyone. His latest ad features Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman saying exactly that.
But Mourdock said often in his primary campaign to oust incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar that the elder statesman's style of working across the aisle was part of the problem, and that "We need less bipartisanship in Congress."
He also argued that if there's compromise, it should be entirely on the part of Democrats. Such a notion was recently summarily dismissed by none other than Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Mitt Romney's running mate, in an interview he did before being named to the ticket.
"I obviously don't agree with that," Ryan said at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit early in the summer when asked about Mourdock's comments.
Indiana Democrats, who are backing Rep. Joe Donnelly in the Senate race, think voters won't buy a bipartisan makeover after Mourdock was so vehement in opposing such tendencies in Lugar.
"Richard Mourdock's 'my way or the highway' politics are so extreme and out of his party's mainstream that even Paul Ryan, author of the plan to end the Medicare guarantee, refused to stand by them," said Ben Ray, a spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. "Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are all rejecting Mourdock's stand against compromise, and it's too late for him to get away with changing his tune."
Mourdock's ad and Ryan's comments are below:
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