I don't know any other reasonable way to interpret this.
The correct way to interpret it, of course: That if Romney was president, he would not accept this deal. You are creating a false choice -- that rejecting A is an endorsement of B, when there are options C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and so on to consider.
He instead says he "supports the [unattainable] Tea Party debt plan in the hopes they will forget about Romneycare". That's a paraphrase.
If it's a paraphrase, you do not put it in direct quotes.
Which is tantamount to advocating instead- well, not default exactly, but a massive economy-sinking, interest rate-hiking collision with the debt ceiling.
Romney can only speak to what he would do as president -- everything else is meaningless. As president, he would not support this deal, because as president, this is not the deal he would have negotiated. It requires Obama to be president, something that would not be the case if Romney was president instead.
That article specifically says that Romney's spokesman did not address whether or not Romney would have vetoed this deal, thus risking default. In other words, it says that Romney's spokesman refused to indulge the same false choice that you seem to be pushing.
