HARSH WORDS

Battle of the Books: Perry and Romney

Both claim the other has strayed from the arguments.

They might not be so wild about the current Department of Education, but Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have certainly done their own homework before Thursday night’s Fox News/Google Republican debate. Similar to a college debate, Perry and Romney repeatedly attacked the other’s books, and both claimed that their opponents have strayed from their book’s arguments. Romney kicked off the book-bashing by trying to get Perry to explain his argument in his book that Social Security is unconstitutional. “It’s fine for you to retreat from your own words in your own book, but you can’t make me retreat from my own words in my own book,” Romney said. But Perry was prepared, accusing Romney of removing a passage from the hard copy edition of his book that said the Massachusetts health-care program was what Americans needed. “So speaking of not getting it straight in your book, sir,” Perry said to cheers.