Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also a candidate for president, is wrong when she says "it takes a village" to raise a child.

"I think it's time for us to recognize every child deserves a mother and a father," Romney said during a speech to New Hampshire Republicans this weekend in Newbury.

The statement, however, runs counter to what The Boston Globe quoted him as saying in 1998:

"Hillary Clinton is very much right, it does take a village, and we are a village and we need to work together in a non-skeptical, no-finger-pointing way. . . ."

The comments came during a forum about Boston's economic future. Right before praising Clinton, Romney talked about the challenges facing urban redevelopment and the potential for cities to step in and help. At the time, Romney was in private business.

When asked about the comment after his speech Sunday, Romney said he didn't agree with Clinton's view that children need a community-wide effort. She wrote a book in 1996 titled It Takes a Village.

Romney countered on Sunday, "It takes a family."

His campaign said the former Massachusetts governor's Globe comments were about public-private partnerships, not families. Romney was referencing corporations, not parents.

Romney also had decried the village concept during 2004 testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

"What should be the ideal for raising a child? Not a village, not Parent A and Parent B, but a mother and a father," Romney said. "Marriage is about even more than children and adults. The family unit is the structural underpinning of all successful societies, and it's the single most powerful force that preserves society across generations, through centuries."

Critics said the speech was just the latest change of heart from Romney.

His campaign was embarrassed earlier this month when he remarked at a campaign stop that he has been a hunter nearly all his life. His campaign later acknowledged that Romney had gone hunting just twice. Romney explained later that his staff was wrong and that he had hunted rabbits and other small animals for many years.

"Those small animals can be ferocious," Romney joked in Dallas after clarifying his remarks.

"There were some pretty sad faces around the Romney household on Easter. We had our grandkids there, and they were disappointed the Easter bunny didn't come. He heard I was packing heat," he said.

A Clinton spokeswoman was not surprised at what some say is the latest flip-flop.

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