You can't debate an Etch-a-Sketch. Who am I supposed to respond to? The Mitt Romney of tonight? Or the Mitt Romney of yesterday, or the day before, or last week?
Debates should be about core substance, and Mitt Romney has no core, no substance. He doesn't really believe anything. He will take a position at one moment, to suit his audience. Then when it suits him, he will simply shake the etch-a-sketch and try all over again to find some way to fool you. His campaign not only acknowledges that, they brag about it! They brag about Mitt Romney's ability to fool you.
What does Mitt Romney believe about health care? About women's rights to health care? About voting rights for all US citizens? About economics and budget policy? About social security, medicare? About foreign policy? About anything?
Mitt Romney ran for the Senate, a campaign he lost badly, and he claimed to believe certain things. After getting badly beaten, he reset the etch-a-sketch and, surprise, managed to win the governorship of Massachusetts, where he again reset and was an unviable candidate for re-election. But he did have one admirable accomplishment as governor of Massachusetts: Romneycare.
Romneycare was based on healthcare principles that had long been established as Republican ideals. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, the Republican house and senate during the 1990s, Bob Dole, Maybe not the best solution, but a reasonable approach to a problem we as a nation have been trying to address for 100 years, with increasing urgency.
We know where that went. Mitt Romney was for it before he was agiants it.
No, you can't debate an Etch-a-Sketch. It's a moving target. Who is Mitt Romney? Where is Mitt Romney?Who can we believe? The Mitt Romney of tonight? Or the Mitt Romney of yesterday, or the day before, or last week? Or tomorrow, or last year? There is, when you really look for it, no Mitt Romney at all. Just a blank screen ready to reset to .. whatever he thinks you want to hear.