Mitt versus Mitt: One Man, Many (MANY) Different Positions
Trying to figure out where Mitt Romney is on a given issue can be exhausting. It must be just as tiring for him: when you take every position under the sun, it can't be easy to remember what you're supposed to believe today.
The American people are paying attention, and they're not buying what he's selling. They know when someone isn't shooting them straight.
The American people are asking themselves "who is this guy?" not because Romney has flip-flopped on one or two or three positions - he's held every opinion on just about every important issue.
Let's start with the most important: the economy.
* Romney used to support cutting the payroll tax, which would let a typical working family keep $1,500 more of what it earns each year. Now he doesn't - and he even ridiculed the President's plan to avoid a middle-class tax hike as nothing more than a "little Band-Aid." Last week he admitted he's not at all interested in helping middle-class families keep more of their paychecks.
* It's not the first time he's flipped on taxes. He refused to sign Grover Norquist's pledge never to raise taxes a single penny, under any circumstances. Then he signed it.
* Romney said we should stand back and "let Detroit go bankrupt." Then, after President Obama led a successful loan that saved more than 1.4 million jobs in the auto industry, Romney tried to take credit for the rescue.
* After first supporting the Republican Governor of Ohio's union-busting law - which severely limited workers' rights - Romney then went to Ohio and publicly refused to take a position on it. Then he decided to once again support the losing side of the issue.
* Romney has tried to run way from the health care reform plan he crafted in Massachusetts - and from his once-held hope that it would be a "model for the nation" to copy. Now he says he wants to repeal historic protections that shield patients from insurance company discrimination and let young Americans stay on their parents' plans as they enter the workforce.
* And it didn't take Romney long after he said he wanted to privatize the VA - which would make it harder for veterans to get their health care - before he denied ever saying it.
* He's even flip-flopped on whether climate change exists and whether it's manmade. He once felt so strongly about it that he designed a regional plan to reduce carbon emissions. Now he says the jury is still out. Not even scientific evidence can keep Mitt Romney on the straight and narrow.
What about national security and foreign affairs? A commander-in-chief gets only one chance to get it right. But once again, Mitt Romney has given himself no shortage of mulligans.
* Romney attacked President Obama for promising to responsibly end the war in Iraq - a promise he's kept. But Romney's own foreign-policy agenda doesn't even bother to include a mission for our troops in Iraq. He wants to keep us there indefinitely. Neither the American people nor the Iraq people think that's the answer.
* Romney has also been all over the map on Afghanistan. After first refusing to take a position, he said leaving Afghanistan is both a bad idea and a good idea.
* Romney opposed ending Qaddafi's reign of terror in Libya - until it happened, at which point Romney supported it. Being on the right side of history doesn't mean switching sides after the history is already written.
* And after criticizing the President for standing up for American workers by enforcing trade laws against China, Romney said he would enforce those very same rules.
Finally, what about the values that make America an open, welcoming society that promotes diversity, practices tolerance and protects freedom?
* Romney once supported Ted Kennedy and John McCain's immigration reform bill. But last week he said he's willing to kick out of America families who've lived in the United States for a generation - people who've raised children and grandchildren here, pay their taxes, obey the law, are members of their churches and communities, and even volunteer to serve in the military and in harm's way.
o And let's not forget that he didn't object to having undocumented workers working for him because it's illegal or immoral - he objected because, as he said in a recent debate, "I'm running for office for Pete's sake!"
* Mitt Romney used to support gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. But now that President Obama has repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, Romney has flipped, taking the side of discrimination.
* When he was running for Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney promised pro-choice groups that he would remake the Republican party into one that could embrace choice. But now he supports a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion - even when the health of the mother is at risk - and would outlaw several forms of birth control.
The bottom line here is that character and values matter. When he ran for President last time, Mitt Romney admitted he'd changed his position on a lot of issues. This time, he claims he's Mr. Consistency. Mitt Romney can't even take a position on taking a position.
Republicans' favorite straw man is to talk about "uncertainty" as a threat to growth. If people are scared of uncertainty, they should be terrified of Mitt Romney.
The only thing he's consistent about is protecting those at the top - in other words, people like Mitt Romney - while telling middle-class families they're on their own.
And as if you needed any more evidence that Mitt Romney would rather deceive the American people than give them something to believe in, just look at what happened last week.
Mitt Romney aired an ad that was universally panned for being intentionally misleading. But it backfired on him.
So why did Mitt Romney feel he had to stoop so low? Because he's running against a President who knows what he believes, has been consistent and has kept his promises. Mitt Romney has decided that the only way to use the President's words against him is to willfully take those words out of context.
We don't need any dirty tricks to prove Mitt Romney has no core convictions and no new ideas for creating jobs. We need only to let him speak for himself.
(roll video)
Trying to figure out where Mitt Romney is on a given issue can be exhausting. It must be just as tiring for him: when you take every position under the sun, it can't be easy to remember what you're supposed to believe today.
The American people are paying attention, and they're not buying what he's selling. They know when someone isn't shooting them straight.
The American people are asking themselves "who is this guy?" not because Romney has flip-flopped on one or two or three positions - he's held every opinion on just about every important issue.
We don't need any dirty tricks to prove Mitt Romney has no core convictions and no new ideas for creating jobs. We need only to let him speak for himself. Watch this video and see what we mean:
