Romney has many plans; you get to hear none of them
A tight-lipped Mitt Romney won't tell America his intentions as president. You see, it's on a need-to-know basis ... and you don't need to know
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Mitt Romney’s inability to close the gap with Barack Obama can be explained in many ways, from his stiff persona to his general disdain for working Americans to doubts about the Republican Party’s mad dash to the right. But at root, I think, it comes down to a lack of trust. Voters have no sense of who this guy is and how he intends to govern, and his continued flip flops and refusal to provide details only feeds those suspicions.
Of course, every politician tries to avoid getting nailed down on the campaign trail. But even with that as a given, Romney’s aversion to specifics has gained legendary status. For example, just yesterday Romney finally announced that if elected, he would not attempt to revoke special two-year visas granted to young immigrants brought here illegally as children.
“The people who have received the special visa that the president has put in place, which is a two-year visa, should expect that the visa would continue to be valid. I’m not going to take something that they’ve purchased,” Romney told the Denver Post. “Before those visas have expired we will have the full immigration reform plan that I’ve proposed.”
The problem, of course, is that Romney hasn’t proposed a “full immigration reform plan.” He hasn’t even proposed small pieces of such a plan. He has merely promised to produce such a plan at some later date after the election, as if “that’s all you people need to know.”
Even conservatives find his refusal to engage frustrating. As the Wall Street Journal editorial board put it, “Mr. Romney’s pre-existing political calculation seems to be that he can win the election without having to explain the economic moment or even his own policies.” It drily notes that “such vagueness carries its own political risks.”
And as conservative writer Matt Lewis notes at The Daily Caller:
“Romney is keeping his tax plan a secret for many of the same calculating reasons he is keeping his personal taxes a secret. The problem is that his tax reform plan is of much greater interest to the public than his personal taxes. What is more, it’s not just the dreaded media he should be afraid of. It feels like Romney is hiding his real plans from even his base.”
The problem is epitomized by an op-ed published under Romney’s byline in the Wall Street Journal Monday. The Romney campaign has decided to make foreign policy a major focus, and this 760-word critique of the Obama record is intended to launch that effort.
I urge you to go read it. Like the rest of the Romney campaign, it is all noise and absolutely no content. It does not criticize a single Obama decision on foreign policy, other than his decision not to meet personally with Bibi Netanyahu. It also does not suggest a single new policy that a President Romney would undertake. When you have finished reading the piece, you will have learned absolutely nothing about how Romney would handle foreign policy.
And again, that’s by design, not by accident.
Romney’s problem is obvious. Policy specifics that would pass muster with his party’s right-wing base would alarm the general-election voter, while policies that would please the general electorate would outrage his base. So Romney and his staff have decided to sidestep the problem by avoiding any discussion of specifics whatsoever.
However, it will be interesting to see how Romney handles that problem in the debate tomorrow night in Denver (we’ll be live-blogging it here, by the way.) Obama has a four-year record as president to be analyzed and attacked, and Romney will no doubt attempt to make the most of that opportunity. But in a debate format, his refusal to deal in any way with specifics or details can’t be brushed aside easily, and it’s not a problem that extensive debate preparations is likely to fix.
– Jay Bookman
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434 comments Add your comment
JamVet
October 2nd, 2012
12:17 pm
Me English not so goodly in that last post.
JamVet
October 2nd, 2012
12:19 pm
Mitt is the biggest fraud to run for prez…………… ever.
And that says something!
The “real” (rabid) Republicans cannot get nominated, so they keep trotting out these pretend ones.
Dysfunctional with a capital D…
Fred ™
October 2nd, 2012
12:20 pm
Professionals more qualified than you have tried and failed to play travel agent to get me to board the shame train for a guilt trip.
I am SO stealing that line lol. Thanks Kam.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 2nd, 2012
12:21 pm
Anytime, Fred.
getalife
October 2nd, 2012
12:21 pm
Adding regulations to vote is not con ideology.
Adding a tax to vote is not con ideology.
cons are not too consistent in their ideology these days.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:22 pm
Fred…I hate to break this to you but Hitler was a Fascist. Funny how people that keep throwing the S word around the most are actually the ones that don’t know what a Socialist is.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 2nd, 2012
12:25 pm
Fred…I hate to break this to you but Hitler was a Fascist.
But…but…but…right there in the name, it says National Socialist.
It’s RIGHT THERE! SEE!
Fred ™
October 2nd, 2012
12:25 pm
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:22 pm
Fred…I hate to break this to you but Hitler was a Fascist. Funny how people that keep throwing the S word around the most are actually the ones that don’t know what a Socialist is.
+++++++++++++++++++
Why the hell are you addressing this to me dummy?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 2nd, 2012
12:25 pm
Headline (AJC): “Seat licenses for new stadium?”
“Personal seat licenses that could cost fans thousands of dollars would help pay for proposed stadium.”
Hey ! Maybe Obama could tax stadium seats ! Those “eeeeevilllll rich” attending those games you know !
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:25 pm
You got that right JamVet. Rick Santorum and Todd Akin will never be acceptable to anybody to the left of Adolph Hitler. Brilliant assessment JamVet. You’re on the money with that assessment. LMAO!
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 2nd, 2012
12:26 pm
Now “this” is “El Jeffe” at his finest ………… to heck with the law !
“Republicans cry foul as Obama administration offers to pay — at taxpayer expense — legal costs for defense contractors as incentive for them delaying layoff notices in advance of looming Pentagon cuts.”
Jay
October 2nd, 2012
12:27 pm
sheets
Jose
October 2nd, 2012
12:28 pm
MARISOL
obama is an anti-colonialist…………… not a socialist
getalife
October 2nd, 2012
12:29 pm
Scout,
It is socialism.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:30 pm
Sorry Fred. Got you confused with someone else. My apologies.
Hoover is my hero
October 2nd, 2012
12:30 pm
311 – so, Republicans cry foul at people keeping their jobs. Sounds about right. And, as far as the proposed (although, probably written in stone by now) new stadium goes, there’s a great example of taxing everyone to make the rich richer. Why, that’s how GWB made his money with his baseball team.
Fred ™
October 2nd, 2012
12:32 pm
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:30 pm
Sorry Fred. Got you confused with someone else. My apologies.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No problems
Rightwing Troll
October 2nd, 2012
12:34 pm
“Man, is this what Kyle’s blog is like all day long? People dropping firecrackers and running away, with no discussion attempted (except for “inside-the- bubble” memes)? Folks repeating a Rushism, and congratulating themselves for being clever?”
No, in case you haven’t noticed Kyle has to turn on the moderator each night before he leaves the office because the resident wingnuts there are so nasty and unpleasant, even when they’re just talking amongst themselves…
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:35 pm
Whatever he is Jose, he’s better than a rightwinger. I’m voting against the right wing of the republican party not for Obama. Santorum and his “make birth control illegal” and Todd “legitimate rape” Akin was the last straw with me. I’m from Texas and I voted for GW every time he ran there. I voted for him in 2000 and for McCain (not Palin) in 08 but the rightwing of the party gets more disgusting every day. And with the Tea Party fruits and nuts with them now enough is enough.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 2nd, 2012
12:38 pm
“10 quotes that haunt Obama”
• “Washington is broken. My whole campaign has been premised from the start on the idea that we have to fundamentally change how Washington works.”
• “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”
• “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”
• “Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not, and a way that Bill Clinton did not.”
• “Guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now.”
• “I think that health care, over time, is going to become more popular.”
• “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”
• “It’s here that companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future.”
• “I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as President.”
• “What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further. We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else’s.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/81895_Page4.html#ixzz28A0opA00
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
October 2nd, 2012
12:40 pm
Welcome to the club Marisol. You could also add to that list Mitch McConnell stating that the #1 and only priority for the GOP for the next 4 years is to make sure Obama is a 1 term president. I have found setting reasonable obtainable goals better for the self-esteem. Maybe Mitch should revise that goal to be make sure Obama is only a 2 term president.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 2nd, 2012
12:40 pm
(CNSNews.com) – “From fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2011, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal government increased spending on foreign aid by 80 percent and, in fiscal 2011, spent 76 percent more on foreign aid than it did securing the borders of the United States.”
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:45 pm
Rightwing Troll that’s exactly what I’m talking about. That’s what that party is right now. A bunch of angry, bitter, terrified whiners that just can’t understand why everybody else doesn’t want to be just like them.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
October 2nd, 2012
12:48 pm
“From fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2011, according to the U.S. Treasury, the federal government increased spending on foreign aid by 80 percent and, in fiscal 2011, spent 76 percent more on foreign aid than it did securing the borders of the United States.”
**************************************
Still a drop in the ocean compared to what 2 Bush tax cuts and 2 unfinanced wars did to the debt.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
12:51 pm
East Cobb if they continue to let the rightwingwacks control that party they’ll get President Clinton in 16. They’re too dumb to know they’re actually shoveling the dirt into their own graves by not telling the wingnuts to just go away.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
October 2nd, 2012
12:52 pm
This is funny, considering…
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/sports-nfl/20121001/20121001160647128684108/
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
October 2nd, 2012
12:57 pm
Hillary vs Sarah in 2016. That will be fun.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
1:05 pm
I know who my money’s on in that one East Cobb. If this election doesn’t do in the republican party that one is a lock to get er done.
Reality
October 2nd, 2012
1:08 pm
SALMA! SALMA! O’BAMA< BALONEY!!!!!!!! I got a feeling the silent majority will speak LOUD on election day.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
1:08 pm
Maybe I’ll run in 16. Sarah Pain thinks being “able to see Russia” from Alaska makes her a foreign policy wonk then why not? I can see Mexico from my Ranch in Eagle Pass Texas so there you have it. I’m qualified. LMAO!
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
1:10 pm
Reality is the electoral tally Reality. Mitt can’t make it.
Marisol
October 2nd, 2012
1:16 pm
But you may be right Reality. According to FOX news 25% more Latinos will vote in 12 than did in 08. According to Karl Rove Mitt can’t win without 40% of that vote. According to FOX news 75% percent of Latinos will not vote for Romney. So yes….maybe but the majority but the silent sure are going to roar on Nov. 6 and that’s bad news for you cons. And when it happens the cons will have earned every bit of the payback.
Jm
October 2nd, 2012
1:16 pm
Romney yard sign spotted
Dave Francis
October 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Is it even worth voting any more, when the proof is in on Voter Fraud across the country? Of course it’s the Democrats assisted by the Communists, Liberals and extreme Socialists as our President who wants to redistribute the wealth of people who have taken the risk and built businesses and hired people. It’s certainly not the parasites that live of the taxpayers, leeching out the monetary blood that the majority has slaved for all of our lives. I’m not referring to real handicapped people or those who are seriously inflicted with sickness. What I am talking about is the “Freeloaders”, the people that are some of the 47 percent of those that are cheating the welfare system. These are the ones who will definitely vote for this president that I have become suspicious of, as much of his background remains a mystery. When his university education, his military service papers are sealed to the public? I’m not what they call a “Birther” but something is very strange, with an individual who is accepted into an Indonesian school, when only citizens of that country are allowed too???
AFTER WHOEVER WINS THE PRESIDENCY—THE TEA PARTY WILL BE CHECKING THE VOTER ROLLS TO INVESTIGATE FOR VOTER FRAUD, SO THOSE WHO ILLEGALLY VOTE WILL BE REVEALED AND PROSECUTED—WHICH IS A FELONY.
Everything says something is wrong with this situation that has been wiped clean, by a national press purchased by such degenerate Socialists as George Soros. But I have joined the TEA PARTY because I have realized, only a third party or the growing ranks of millions of hard working citizens and legal residents can save America now from an Ultra Socialist takeover. The investigation is not over in his place of birth is still suspicious according to TEA PARTY.ORG. This once long term Democrat has seen the light and has no intentions of voting for this human enigma, who has issued orders that there should be no check on people applying for food stamps. My personal opinion that both political parties are corrupt, with a very few that try to hold true to their oath of allegiance. I know one thing for sure, if he happens to win this general elections, the really affluent of this country will head for pastures new, where taxes are low and where the government leaves them alone. This exodus is already happening when the new president of France was inauguration, when he stipulated a 76 percent rise in taxes.
Same with illegal immigration, because government policies going way back has never written laws to make entry into the U.S a felony? So to the prudent mind–it is obvious that no lawmaker has deliberately ignored any law to halt the illegal invasion. Even our next door Southern neighbor has stringent laws that if you enter illegally, you are in deep (What hits the fan) as it is a felony once you cross into their country. It’s a fair assumption in the states that have lax voting laws, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens will be voting for the “Give everything away” president. Tax everybody and then spend their ill-gotten gains on the 20 million plus illegal aliens already here. You wouldn’t believe it, unless you read the facts that the county of Los Angeles is spending $1.6 billion annually on these invaders, that’s to a majority Dem Liberal state capital is a good thing? Other overall blue states keep these types of records to themselves, and only by investigation of pro-sovereignty websites will you find the actual costs. Currently the unbiased organization “Free to Vote” have been researching Voter Fraud and unlike what the national media states, it really does exist. HOUSTON, TX.—True The Vote (TTV), the nonpartisan election integrity organization, today announces new research findings of voter fraud in Ohio, Florida, New York and Rhode Island. The Offices of Florida, Ohio and Rhode Island Secretaries of State, the New York State Board of Elections and the U.S. Department of Justice were formally notified of ballots cast simultaneously in both states for federal elections.
If you want sky high taxes; higher gas prices at the pump; an antiquated tax system that benefits the privileged in both parties; a ever growing federal government with rules and regulations that inhibit new business creation; and a president that is giving even more to the “freeloader” parasites that cohabit with the illegal alien invaders who are draining the state reservoirs of money. Obama’s “Political Correctness” is causing major problems and effecting foreign policy. He has alienated Israel to some extent with his Social ideology, he refuses to us the term “Terrorist” and he still wants to keep transmitting taxpayers money in huge amounts money to Egypt and many countries and not exclusively in the middle east that hate American guts. . IT ALSO SEEMS THAT OBAMA IS IN ACCORD WITH THE CORRUPT UNITED NATIONS. WHO NOT ONLY ALLOW TERRORIST AS THE ARCH ENEMY TO AMERICA AND ISRAEL, THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN TO SPEW OUT HIS VITRIOL GARBAGE, BUT ALSO WANT TO GLOBALLY TAX US ALL. What our Congress should demand by American voters is get the UN out of our face, and cut off the 10 billion dollars we send to them.
I am sure about is the plan of the CONSTITUTION TEA PARTY if they can eject many Democrats and Republican incumbents and substitute them? It’s already happening and by replacing incumbents in the Republican Party can politically persist that the “LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT (E-VERIFY) and the BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP LAW” finds passage and enacted to control more illegal alien invaders. They bring their unborn babies here, to live as parasites of the U.S. taxpayer. The children of illegal aliens had no say in coming to America, but by the enactment of the BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL, this incredulous expensive issue for taxpayers is resolved. It’s wrong in the majority of Americans minds that people who wait for years with honest attentions to come to his sovereign country, while others violate our nations laws and not only walk scott free, and are able to use fraudulent Social Security numbers to be hired for jobs. This is especially significant when millions of citizens-residents live in poverty, because there is no work available.