I just watched, on CNN, the first tranche of Mitt Romney's evening news responses which he had earlier vowed to never deliver. And that, in itself, that perverse twist, pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
Has this man ever followed through in a consistent way? Has he ever lived up to his word? Is he ethically, intellectually, constitutionally capable of saying one thing and doing no other?
The interview was as distressing as the answers to those questions.
Bad Obama. Bad, bad Obama, a president who's letting us down because of his relentlessly negative campaigning. You read that correctly. That was Romney's "complaint."
Gone, forgotten, dismissed in their entirety, self-forgiven I guess, were Romney's months of shrill assaults on Obama: the president's a socialist, the president's an appeaser, the president's an enemy of the free market, the president labors to provide "free stuff" to the undeserving, the president is virtually evil incarnate etc. etc. etc. The list is well-known and almost endless.
However--say what?--that's not the sort of campaigning that Mitt Romney does. No, that's the sort of sad, underhanded trash that only President Obama dishes out. And Mitt just wanted us to know that.
This was some real Twilight Zone shit.
Appalling. I suppose if there's one singular, all-encompassing and yet targeted description of Mitt Romney the politician, of Mitt Romney the nominee, of Mitt Romney the man--indeed of everything that darkly radiates from Mitt's very personal "Romney-ness"--it would be that: appalling.
Simply appalling.
Well, fortunately, the Obama campaign has apparently decided to go all in. The President himself is in on things now, which is the heaviest artillery you can bring to bear in any political campaign.
Romney's response was weak, whiny and defensive. None of these things will endear him to independent voters, and all of them are traits that people intuitively pick up on, particularly if they're not already in favor of someone.
Posted by: Josh | July 13, 2012 at 06:09 PM
Good news for Obama though if all Romney has is "cruel Democrats drank my milkshake". That's so obviously a non-answer that it makes Palin look positively forthright and responsive. And, as Martin O'Malley pointed out today, McCain looked at Mittens' VP application and tax information - and chose, why yes, the Tundra Trollop!
Posted by: NickT | July 13, 2012 at 06:11 PM
Obama's statement was pretty good. Not inflammatory, a smart reference to Truman's "the buck stops here," -and just, "hey, this guy said he was CEO of Bain during this time. Doesn't that mean something?"
Now, he needs Axelrod or Cutter or one of his good bulldog surrogates to channel Truman again, paraphrasing: "We invite Mr. Romney to stop lying about the president. When he does, we might stop telling the truth about him. Balls in your court, Mitt."
Posted by: Turgidson | July 13, 2012 at 06:24 PM
I saw an interview on CBS with Mittens looking as plastic and phoney as ever making his denials. I am so sick of this "victim" thing the Republican do when caught lying.
Posted by: SueMe | July 13, 2012 at 06:38 PM
I expect anyday for him to pull a Bob Dole and say, "Stop lying about my record!"
Posted by: Chris Andersen | July 13, 2012 at 06:57 PM
I keep waiting for his Checkers speech.
Posted by: AnneJ | July 13, 2012 at 07:31 PM
I'm beginning to suspect Romney is simply physically incapable of telling the truth.
Posted by: mdblanche | July 13, 2012 at 10:15 PM
Yet his behavior is perfectly consistent with his campaign slogan: I know you are, but what am I?
Posted by: Peter G | July 14, 2012 at 07:21 AM