So... is Romney a Moderate again?

[retromike22]

Before the debates, (and mainly around the selection of Ryan as vp) many in the media and bloggers were anticipating the debates to be a great debate between liberalism and conservatism. Reading about the Romney campaign's positions, their goals, the 47%, and Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, the touting of Obamacare at the DNC, I really expected the debate to play out that way.

When I was watching the debate, it really felt as though Romney was decisively winning against Obama. Romney would criticize Obama's decision or plan on an issue, and then explain how he could do it better. Obama, in contrast, would explain his decisions and plans, but fail to explain why his decisions and plans were better.

But... re-watching several clips of the debate, it is clear that Romney won the debate by positioning himself as a moderate and not a conservative. On several occasions, he even made arguments against conservative positions. (regulations, Obama/Romney care) In addition, his main argument appeared to be, "I can do a better job at being a left of center President than Obama can."

It reminded me of the Clinton-Obama debates, where they agreed so much on policy, but their main differences were on who was best able to carry out those agreed policies.

I've always felt that the nomination of Romney as the Republican nominee for 2012 was.. bizarre. Formerly pro-choice, once to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay issues, etc. The Tea Party, which helped the Republicans capture the House in 2010, was formed mainly to protest the creation of Obamacare, which was based on Mitt Romney's plan. This is probably the equivalent of the Democrats nominating Joe Lieberman for President in 2008, when in 2006 the Democrats captured the House to due to disappointment with the Iraq War.

I think... Romney never was a conservative to begin with and always was a moderate, simply because of his business background and his experience in Massachusetts. He adopted conservative ideas to gain the nomination and picked Paul Ryan to get them fully on board. But I think those bad weeks after the DNC and up to the 47%, when he was almost ready to be written off, he reverted to his only option left: To return to being a moderate Republican.

Okay, never mind the double (triple?) flip flop of positions. He has four problems now.

1. How far can Romney go to the middle before the conservatives stay home? Or worse, go to Gary Johnson (who in my mind now is closer to a "conservative" than Romney is now.
2. If he's a moderate Republican, running against a left-of-center Democrat, the election choice is no longer "Choose conservatism or liberalism," it's "Choose which of us can be a better moderate President."
3. If Romney's argument is I can do a better job on Obama's positions than Obama can, then he is conceding that Obama's positions are right, but that Obama himself is not effective in carrying them out.
4. Since, things are getting better (good jobs figures) Romney's main reason for his election slowly becomes weaker. Basically, why settle for a imitator when you can have the real thing?

[Biden 2024]

Meh.

[Politico]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

[RI]

It sure felt like he was trying to out-moderate Obama at the debate. It would probably be a good strategy except that his flip-flops can easily be used against him by any competent politician.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again."

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

Do you have a forum stump speech or something? He campaigned as a "severe conservative". Nobody was duped by an ad campaign. Romney ran as a right-winger, saw he was losing, and tacked hard left.

[Politico]

It sure felt like he was trying to out-moderate Obama at the debate. It would probably be a good strategy except that his flip-flops can easily be used against him by any competent politician.

When Obama is running around throwing out lame, worn-out John Kerry lines from 2004 about "tax breaks for China outsourcing" and "oil credits" (as if Obama has not been president for four years), while Romney is defending the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence with passion, of course it feels like Romney is kicking Obama's [Inks] and looks like a moderate in comparison.

America is a center-right country, so of course Obama's Chicago liberalism appears more out-of-touch than Romney's common sense conservatism.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWgYEkArxos

[TomC]

duped into believing the Romney

Well, that part is true. It's Romney himself that changed his caricature. For big tax cuts, then maybe not. Against Obama Care, then not if it hurts anyone to repeal it. Obama's mistake is that he thought he showed up to debate the Romney who has been running as a conservative for 5 years. Romney's own folks let us know of this etch a sketch moment coming. Obama should have known.

[Politico]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWgYEkArxos

With these type of out-of-context shenanigans and so forth, Democrats have lost all credibility with everybody other than the choir after the first debate. Romney crushed the caricature you built up, and you can no longer fool people with that stuff over the next four weeks. It's over if you're just clinging to these tactics and have nothing more. It won't even be close. LGBT activists and pseudo-socialists can continue pushing their rubbish, or the Democratic Party can revert back to Al Gore 2000 mode (i.e., scramble like consummate professionals, and maybe pull off a close victory)

Sorry, but you guys are finished unless you have something to offer that actually looks reasonable next to what Romney produced on Wednesday night. "uh, uh, I'm a likeable guy who is, uh, uh, working hard and, uh, uh, my predecessor left me a mess" just isn't going to cut it. Distorting Romney is not going to work moving forward either because you created a situation where people expected Romney to be Donald Trump, and now they no longer trust you when you talk about Romney because they know what they saw on Wednesday night and they liked it. He was not Donald Trump like you said he would be, so why should they believe ANYTHING you have to say to them moving forward?

In conclusion, you folks need to talk about Obama's record, and somehow convince people they should want four more years of it.

Good luck.

[Likely Voter]

What's interesting is that up until this week the conservative media would attack Romney for any deviation from conservative purity. Remember when one of his spokespeople defended Romneycare in August? Anne Coulter demanded people stop making donations until she was fired (she was actually never fired). But after the DNC and 47% it appears that he now has a be a moderate for free card from the conservatives. Tout covering pre-existing conditions, say you arent lowering taxes on the rich, praise wall st. regulations, etc. Romney is in full EtchASketch but as he was being declared DOA a week ago they are giving him a pass.

Of course Team Obama should have been expecting it. Romney won the primaries by outflanking his opponents, running to the right of them on one issue or two. He will likely do it again in the town hall meeting. And I wouldnt be surprised if he called for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan in the FP debate.

Its smart politics. It's Obama's fault if he isn't ready for it.

[Politico]

What's interesting is that up until this week the conservative media would attack Romney for any deviation from conservative purity. Remember when one of his spokespeople defended Romneycare in August? Anne Coulter demanded people stop making donations until she was fired (she was actually never fired). But after the DNC and 47% it appears that he now has a be a moderate for free card from the conservatives. Tout covering pre-existing conditions, say you arent lowering taxes on the rich, praise wall st. regulations, etc. Romney is in full EtchASketch but as he was being declared DOA a week ago they are giving him a pass.

Of course Team Obama should have been expecting it. Romney won the primaries by outflanking his opponents, running to the right of them on one issue or two. He will likely do it again in the town hall meeting. And I wouldnt be surprised if he called for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan in the FP debate.

Romney's response to Obama's only positive talking point ("I got Bin Laden!"):

"Yes, David Petreaus' and Robert Gates' strategy, the strategy of our Secretary of State and top military brass, led to the death of Osama Bin Laden. Nobody is denying that. Obviously I agree with the president that it is good that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Good riddance! If I had been president, not only would I have approved that same plan, a plan crafted and executed by our brave, couragous men and women in the CIA and Navy SEALs, I would have declared victory in Afghanistan the day afterward and began withdrawing. It was a mistake to not declare victory in Afghanistan. We won, they lost, and, if you'll excuse me, Mr. President, we should have been more loud and proud about it. We should have declared victory in Afghanistan. If I am elected president, we will have the strongest military in the history of the world, and nobody will dare challenge us. We will have--we must have--peace through strength."

Obama: I, uh, [insert a wore out talking point with a lot of uh's since there is no teleprompter in sight; from a stylistic standpoint, the president fails to project a stronger "alpha male" stature than Governor Romney]

*The myth that Democrats have an advantage on foreign policy is thereby crushed once and for all with less than three weeks to go; some LGBT activists amp up the fiery rhetoric while most Democrats become very "meh" about the whole election*

[Ichabod]

It sure felt like he was trying to out-moderate Obama at the debate. It would probably be a good strategy except that his flip-flops can easily be used against him by any competent politician.

When Obama is running around throwing out lame, worn-out John Kerry lines from 2004 about "tax breaks for China outsourcing" and "oil credits" (as if Obama has not been president for four years), while Romney is defending the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence with passion, of course it feels like Romney is kicking Obama's [Inks] and looks like a moderate in comparison.

America is a center-right country, so of course Obama's Chicago liberalism appears more out-of-touch than Romney's common sense conservatism.

Believe me, Conservatism in the U.S. is anything but "common-sense".

[RogueBeaver]

No, he's Etching for tactical reasons.

[Biden 2024]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

[Politico]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

Just a few days ago you and every other Democrat in the country were telling everybody that Mitt Romney was Donald Trump, a man without any heart or passion, and now you guys are saying that Mitt is a bleeding heart liberal? LOL And you think Independents and conservatives are going to listen to Democrats like you after all of the BS that was thrown at Romney in September, BS that he simply crushed with absolute precision last Wednesday?

Good luck trying to get the president four more years. I strongly recommend getting used to saying, "President Romney."

[Torie]

He's born again.  And he is a much happier man now. He was unhappy much of the time during the primaries. Who wouldn't be?  I mean what you really want to say so much of the time, is hey dude, you are just a freaking totally unelectable nut ball. I would have asked Michelle why she looked stoned all the time. I would have asked Cain just why he thought God was so interested in the Tax Code. I might have brain lock with Ron Paul however. He is just a space alien to me. And then there was Newt. I would demand that he release his psychiatric medical records and ask him what was the book he read that led him to believe that are Founders were a pack of God fearing religious zealots, and just why he hates Chief Justice John Marshall so much. Enough said.

[Politico]

He's born again.  And he is a much happier man now. He was unhappy much of the time during the primaries. Who wouldn't be?  I mean what you really want to say so much of the time, is hey dude, you are just a freaking totally unelectable nut ball. I would have asked Michelle why she looked stoned all the time. I would have asked Cain just why he thought God was so interested in the Tax Code. I might have brain lock with Ron Paul however. He is just a space alien to me. And then there was Newt. I would demand that he release his psychiatric medical records and ask him what was the book he read that led him to believe that are Founders were a pack of God fearing religious zealots, and just why he hates Chief Justice John Marshall so much. Enough said.

This. And a hearty LOL to go with it.

The best part: Republicans finally realize that Romney's Way is essentially Reagan's Way. And there's no way to stop it moving forward, not with just four weeks to go...

[TomC]

Romney would have started pulling troops out? LOL! How long has he had to take this position? He "would have been" loud and proud" except in his most important speech Romney FAILED to mention Afghanistan or the troops there. He has said troop withdrawal in 2014. Now, a year later he says he would have started taking them out last year?

Mitt Romney would be a DISASTER in foreign policy because to make deals or treaties with foreign countries you have to be able to actually KEEP YOUR WORD. And Mitt Romney is utterly incapable of holding on to a steadfast position on anything. Once he receives the slightest criticism, he completely changes his tune.

[Biden 2024]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

Just a few days ago you were telling everybody that Mitt Romney was Donald Trump, a man without any heart or passion, and now he's a bleeding heart liberal? LOL And you think Independents and conservatives are going to listen to Democrats like you after all of the BS that was thrown at Romney in September, BS that he simply crushed with absolute precision last Wednesday?

Good luck trying to get the president four more years. I strongly recommend getting used to saying, "President Romney."

No, I never said that. Politico, there are MANY Red Californians out there. I promise you I never said that. Maybe your confusing me with Tony?

Also, to be fair, I believe Mitt has no Social position on anything. I'm saying his RECORD is very liberal. I don't know, maybe he is against desegregation, I don't know. I do know that his Social Issues, from what he had while governing, were liberal. You can't say "Oh, well it's a blue state". So? That's like me saying "Obama is against NDAA, but this a Conservative Country so he has to appeal to them". Do you understand how ignorant you sound?

[Beet]

In good times, you get median voter elections; both candidates run to a center that us deemed respectable by enough voters. In bad times, you get a change election. Both candidates run away from the status quo, or the incumbent tries to make the challenger seem worse than even whatever the current situation is in highly charged terms. Up until last week, this was a change election. Romney was relying in telling everyone how bad things were and presenting an ideological alternative; Obama was focused on arguing that things were getting better and presenting Romney as an unacceptable alternative. Wednesday night, Romney switched it back to a median voter election. There are still some change elements here, but what was special about the debate was the median voter pivot. It suddenly became the 2000 election all over again.

In other words, Obama promised to fix the country, and Romneys pivot ironically shows that Obama succeeded. The shift of the GOP candidate to behaving as if this is a median voter election is an implicit admission that things have improved under Obama, because a shift to the 'center' is always to some extent an endorsement of the status quo. Fridays jobs report and other reports throughout last week simply underscored that.

[Politico]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

Just a few days ago you were telling everybody that Mitt Romney was Donald Trump, a man without any heart or passion, and now he's a bleeding heart liberal? LOL And you think Independents and conservatives are going to listen to Democrats like you after all of the BS that was thrown at Romney in September, BS that he simply crushed with absolute precision last Wednesday?

Good luck trying to get the president four more years. I strongly recommend getting used to saying, "President Romney."

No, I never said that. Politico, there are MANY Red Californians out there. I promise you I never said that. Maybe your confusing me with Tony?

Also, to be fair, I believe Mitt has no Social position on anything. I'm saying his RECORD is very liberal. I don't know, maybe he is against desegregation, I don't know. I do know that his Social Issues, from what he had while governing, were liberal. You can't say "Oh, well it's a blue state". So? That's like me saying "Obama is against NDAA, but this a Conservative Country so he has to appeal to them". Do you understand how ignorant you sound?

Do you understand how ineffective your current tactic is?

The Obama camp has ZERO credibility with Independents now, so the "Romney is a Monster" meme has been slayed, and cannot be resurrected with four weeks to go. Reverting to "Romney is a flip-flopper" will not work because, again, you have ZERO credibility with anybody other than the Democratic faithful. You shot yourselves in the foot by going too far with the "Romney is a Monster" BS. I even warned you guys on here.

The president's team has one viable option left: Somehow convince people they want four more years.

Good luck.

[Politico]

In good times, you get median voter elections; both candidates run to a center that us deemed respectable by enough voters. In bad times, you get a change election. Both candidates run away from the status quo, or the incumbent tries to make the challenger seem worse than even whatever the current situation is in highly charged terms. Up until last week, this was a change election. Romney was relying in telling everyone how bad things were and presenting an ideological alternative; Obama was focused on arguing that things were getting better and presenting Romney as an unacceptable alternative. Wednesday night, Romney switched it back to a median voter election. There are still some change elements here, but what was special about the debate was the median voter pivot. It suddenly became the 2000 election all over again.

In other words, Obama promised to fix the country, and Romneys pivot ironically shows that Obama succeeded. The shift of the GOP candidate to behaving as if this is a median voter election is an implicit admission that things have improved under Obama, because a shift to the 'center' is always to some extent an endorsement of the status quo. Fridays jobs report and other reports throughout last week simply underscored that.

Who is going through the five stages of grief now?

It would take 17 years of 114,000 jobs per month to create 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, the unemployment rate would be 11% today (and this excludes people with part-time work who want full-time work). Furthermore, 50% of college graduates this year have been unable to find work. Once Romney mentions this stuff in the next uncensored debate, liberals are going to lose the last modicum of credibility that they had left among Independents. They are going to be very, very angry with liberals.

Most of the American public is not stupid nor are they duped by your liberal ideology.

[Beet]

Yeah wolfentoad, I'm going to have to side with politicO here. Arguing Romneys a liberal only helps him. Arguing he's a flip flopper only has limited upside because most people are already convinced of that. Of course, you could say "how can you believe anything he says?" but that only gets you part way there.

[Ichabod]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

Just a few days ago you were telling everybody that Mitt Romney was Donald Trump, a man without any heart or passion, and now he's a bleeding heart liberal? LOL And you think Independents and conservatives are going to listen to Democrats like you after all of the BS that was thrown at Romney in September, BS that he simply crushed with absolute precision last Wednesday?

Good luck trying to get the president four more years. I strongly recommend getting used to saying, "President Romney."

No, I never said that. Politico, there are MANY Red Californians out there. I promise you I never said that. Maybe your confusing me with Tony?

Also, to be fair, I believe Mitt has no Social position on anything. I'm saying his RECORD is very liberal. I don't know, maybe he is against desegregation, I don't know. I do know that his Social Issues, from what he had while governing, were liberal. You can't say "Oh, well it's a blue state". So? That's like me saying "Obama is against NDAA, but this a Conservative Country so he has to appeal to them". Do you understand how ignorant you sound?

Do you understand how ineffective your current tactic is?

The Obama camp has ZERO credibility with Independents now, so the "Romney is a Monster" meme has been slayed, and cannot be resurrected with four weeks to go. Reverting to "Romney is a flip-flopper" will not work because, again, you have ZERO credibility with anybody other than the Democratic faithful. You shot yourselves in the foot by going too far with the "Romney is a Monster" BS. I even warned you guys on here.

The president's team has one viable option left: Somehow convince people they want four more years.

Good luck.

So, repeat us "nobody wants four more years of the last four years" one thousand times is going to be very effective, right?

[Politico]

Romney is the greatest champion of free market economics since Reagan. All of his positions on social issues are conservative, but he is tolerant of others and moderate in his temperament.

There is a reason why Republicans are fired up like never before, and it is not because "Romney is a moderate again." They are fired up because Romney has done something nobody has done since Reagan: He has convincingly shown a strong majority of the country that common-sense conservative principles are the path to prosperity.

Bottomline: You were simply duped into believing the Romney caricature that Obama has spent months building up. It was merely a figment of Democrats' wild imaginations.

BTW, it would take 17 years for 114,000 jobs per month to produce 23 million jobs. If millions had not given up hope over the last four years, unemployment would be 11% today. But, by all means, please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled programming of 21st Century Nero fiddling with a teleprompter while America burns...

• Unilaterally, illegally & unconstitutionally instituted same-sex “marriage” falsely claiming the “court ordered him to.”
• Signed the forerunner to Obamacare (Romneycare) into law which includes $50 tax-subsidized elective surgical abortions including late-term abortions into law (3 years AFTER his fake “pro-life conversion.”)
• Boosted funding for homosexual “education” starting in kindergarten.
• Opposes a ban on homosexual scoutmasters.
• Promised the homosexual Republican “Log Cabin Republicans” he wouldn’t oppose “gay marriage” in return for their endorsement. Proof here
• Instituted a quasi-socialist healthcare plan endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy and Planned Parenthood that destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy.
• Forced Catholic Charities, the nation’s #1 adoption and foster care service to place children with same sex couples even though he was under no legal obligation to do so as even former Governor Michael Dukakis has acknowledged.
• Increased taxes and fees by close to a billion dollars which destroyed the Massachusetts’ economy and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.
• Voted # 8 RINO by Human Events.
• Passed over Republican lawyers for three quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he faced and nominated 2 open homosexuals.
• Criticized Joint Chief’s of Staff, Peter Pace for saying that homosexual acts were “immoral.”
• Supports passage at the state level of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would force churches and other religious organizations to hire homosexuals and transvestites or face criminal fines and prosecution.
• Romney supported McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform”, McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive immigration reform” (i.e. amnesty), and parts of the McCain-Lieberman “carbon cap and trade” bill and opposed the Bush Tax Cuts.

He's not a moderate Massachusetts Republican. He is a liberal.

Just a few days ago you were telling everybody that Mitt Romney was Donald Trump, a man without any heart or passion, and now he's a bleeding heart liberal? LOL And you think Independents and conservatives are going to listen to Democrats like you after all of the BS that was thrown at Romney in September, BS that he simply crushed with absolute precision last Wednesday?

Good luck trying to get the president four more years. I strongly recommend getting used to saying, "President Romney."

No, I never said that. Politico, there are MANY Red Californians out there. I promise you I never said that. Maybe your confusing me with Tony?

Also, to be fair, I believe Mitt has no Social position on anything. I'm saying his RECORD is very liberal. I don't know, maybe he is against desegregation, I don't know. I do know that his Social Issues, from what he had while governing, were liberal. You can't say "Oh, well it's a blue state". So? That's like me saying "Obama is against NDAA, but this a Conservative Country so he has to appeal to them". Do you understand how ignorant you sound?

Do you understand how ineffective your current tactic is?

The Obama camp has ZERO credibility with Independents now, so the "Romney is a Monster" meme has been slayed, and cannot be resurrected with four weeks to go. Reverting to "Romney is a flip-flopper" will not work because, again, you have ZERO credibility with anybody other than the Democratic faithful. You shot yourselves in the foot by going too far with the "Romney is a Monster" BS. I even warned you guys on here.

The president's team has one viable option left: Somehow convince people they want four more years.

Good luck.

So, repeat us "nobody wants four more years of the last four years" one thousand times is going to be very effective, right?

In case you have not noticed, it's working. The president cannot beat back that line because of the constraints he is subjected to (i.e., it is true that very few people want the next four years looking like the last four years).

As long we get to 270, no matter how we do it, we've achieved our objective subject to our constraints.