To Romney: You had an entire week off to listen to the Democrats' arguments against you, to think about how you're going to sell yourself to the public for this homestretch of the campaign. You had a whole week. And what you came up with is "I kinda like Obamacare" and "Paul Ryan has a horrible voting record"? But when you're pressed on those about-faces you're going to deny . . .
. . . Either this is such high-level campaign genius that we just don't understand the complexity of what they are doing here, or they don't have any idea of what they are doing here.
~ Rachel Maddow on MSNBC
Dan Rather on Rachel Maddow:
I think the Romney campaign is in a bad stretch. It may or may not last. It may or may not be decisive in the campaign. But they are having a terrible week post the Democratic Convention. . . . Here's the basic problem. Does this man know what it is he believes? Is he willing to stick to it and is he willing to fight for it? Whatever the truth of it is, the perception has been there from the beginning - 'this guy may not know what he wants to do when he gets into the presidency - where he stands.'
These last few days have fueled that anew. If he wins, he wins on jobs and the economy. He can't seem to keep the focus there. And you know you can't win a campaign with more twists than a pretzel factory and expect people not to catch up, not in the present day.
And Rachel I think future historians and politicians and people who cover politics will be looking at this campaign and studying it for a long time to come because the center of gravity has changed with Facebook, Twitter, and the immense amount of coverage through the campaign. There was a time not long ago when you could say one thing to one group of people and another to another group of people and it wouldn't really catch up with you. Those days are gone. Now either the Romney camp doesn't understand that, which could be serious if the campaign goes along, or they're just having a bad few days and they'll refocus....
Romney Surrogate Tara Wall on MSNBC:
JANSING: What are the (tax) loopholes you would close? Will you tell the American people how you’re going to to this better place that you say they have?
WALL: Well, again, the campaign has laid out a number of specifics relative to the principles that will guide the policies of a Romney-Ryan ticket. [...] Again, the specification include policies that are pro-growth in nature, that reduce the deficit, that reduce the burden on taxpayers and small businesses, small businesses number one have been hit hard by a number of regulations that have stifled growth and job creation. And so number one, those are some of the things you have to start with.
JANSING: Well, with all due respect, a pro-growth policy is not specific.
WALL: The other part of that is energy independence. That’s an approach to energy independence that will create millions of jobs. There is a target of 12 million jobs by the Romney-Ryan target. Relative to those loopholes that you mention, I agree that Congressman Ryan pointed out (that) have to be put out in a public debate. But I think, again, we have to look at the overall principles that are going to drive the policies and not ram through policy as we saw with Obamacare.
This is embarrassing.
Holy word salad, Batman! If this is an example of the people who are advising Mitt Romney in his upcoming debates with President Obama than Mitt Romney is walking into a fistfight like Popeye armed with a can of spinach.
~ Ministry of Truth on Daily Kos
The reason they don't answer the question is because they don't HAVE an answer. This is beyond putting lipstick on a pig, there is no PIG there to put lipstick on. Mitt just wants to be president, that's all.
~ comment by citisven on Daily Kos
Can you debate Jello? Romney has so many different positions, which one do you respond to?
~ comment by tln41 on Daily Kos
Maybe the Romney camp doesn't understand what the word "specific" means.
~ comment by Dennis G. on Think Progress
the guy's got to be a god-d*mned wind sock in a whirlwind.
~ comment by unrepentant_expat on Americablog
The moral from the Aesop fable about the man and the satyr seems remarkably apropos here:
"I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath."
~ comment by bluestocking on Americablog
If the first weekend of Mitt Romney’s general election campaign is any indication, the country is in for eight weeks of wild, often random answers to some of the most important policy questions.
. . . Aware that President Obama’s policies in these areas are quite popular once people learn about them, the Republicans are simply sowing confusion.
~ The New York Times
Perhaps Romney and Ryan are evasive because they don't actually know what they are talking about. Maybe we'll be governed by a flip of the coin or by one of those magic 8-balls.
~ comment by Linda on The New York Times
The devil is in the details. Without details, we will not vote for you. Another euphemism is also appropriate for the political silly season. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with B*S^
~ comment by Tom on The New York Times
He seems to be intentionally feeding misinformation to an under-informed population. And it scares the crap out of me. These aren't little quibbles over minutiae that he flubs; these appear to be intentional misstatements of the fundamental beliefs of his campaign.
~ comment by sun_isnt_yellow on Mother Jones
Romney is seems to be unraveling at this point. He is being forced to stuff every position into the no tax, small government pigeon hole. It doesn't fit. The contortions are painful and illogical. The Republican arguments are starting to resemble a Swiss cheese. I don't know why he wanted to have everybody concentrate on the "issues". He looks like a fool trying to sell these fallacious plans.
~ comment by eannie on Mother Jones
I think this is what they call flip-flop sweat.
~ comment by jheartney on Mother Jones
Is there something burning? It smells like toast in here.
~ comment by Evil_Twin on Mother Jones
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