When you get past the specifics
This is embarrassing.
Holy word salad, Batman! If this is an example of the people who are advising Mitt Romney in his upcoming debates with President Obama than Mitt Romney is walking into a fistfight with Popeye armed with a can of spinach.
Watch Mitt Romney's Senior Adviser Tara Wall do her best Sarah Palin impersonation for three full minutes, as a simple question from MSNBC host Chris Jansing asking for just one specific example of which tax loopholes Romney would close reduces Tara Wall into a babbling, incoherent mess of platitudes and memorized talking points.
Now remember, this is one of the people who will be advising Mitt Romney on his upcoming debate with President Barack Obama, and she can't even handle a simple policy question. Tara Wall could hardly manage three minutes of debate on MSNBC over a simple policy question and we are supposed to believe that Tara Wall and her friends are going to help Romney hold his own against President Obama for a full hour?
Here's the video tape. But remember, what has been watched can not be unwatched.
Here's a short transcript, courtesy of ThinkProgress.org
JANSING: What are the loopholes you would close? Will you tell the American people how you’re going to to this better place that you say they have?
WALL: Well, again, the campaign has laid out a number of specifics relative to the principles that will guide the policies of a Romney-Ryan ticket. [...] Again, the specification include policies that are pro-growth in nature, that reduce the deficit, that reduce the burden on taxpayers and small businesses, small businesses number one have been hit hard by a number of regulations that have stifled growth and job creation. And so number one, those are some of the things you have to start with.
JANSING: Well, with all due respect, a pro-growth policy is not specific.
WALL: The other part of that is energy independence. That’s an approach to energy independence that will create millions of jobs. There is a target of 12 million jobs by the Romney-Ryan target. Relative to those loopholes that you mention, I agree that Congressman Ryan pointed out (that) have to be put out in a public debate. But I think, again, we have to look at the overall principles that are going to drive the policies and not ram through policy as we saw with Obamacare.
Blathering about "energy independence" isn't an answer, not even close. Tara Wall manages to sputter and say nothing until pressed for an answer, and even then she fails miserably. And these are the people advising Mitt Romney on how to handle President Obama in the upcoming, nationally televised Presidential debates. At least in 2012 when the blind lead the blind they both have access to the
"good parts" of Obama's health care reform law.
More below the fold . . .
Imagine you are going to a restaurant, and when you go to read the menu there are items like "Meat Burger" on it. So you ask the waiter what kind of meat is the burger made of, and the waiter begins to tell you that it is 100% meat. Would you eat the Meat Burger without finding out what is in it? It is Mystery Meat. Mystery Mitt works the same way, the GOP thinks that if they avoid all policy specifics they can win with Mystery Mitt solely on the basis of negativity against Brand Obama. That might work with the people who are already hell bent on voting against Brand Obama, but it makes it impossible to explain specifically why anyone should vote for Mitt Romney's Generic Brand X Mystery Meat Conservativism. If Romney thinks he is going to enter a battle of words with Obama with nothing better than platitudes, vague generic positions and "I won't take 'In God We Trust' off the dollar bill" he is in for a serious world of hurt, and with bungling advisers who make Sarah Palin sound coherent that seems all the more certain.
So imagine Obama debating Mitt Romney a few weeks from now. Paul Ryan won't be there to explain what Mitt really means in real time. It will be Mitt, all alone against Obama, with only Mitt's advisers to help him prepare. Advisers like Tara Wall who can't answer even a simple specific policy question, advisers like Eric Fehrnstrom and the Genius Squad who let an unscripted Clint Eastwood on the stage during the RNC. These will be the experts who will help Romney debate Obama. Really. I guess as long as no one asks any questions about Mitt Romney's tax returns or his positions on gay marriage, abortion, foreign policy, wall street reform, health care reform, Afghanistan, the auto bailout, Romney's plan to cut taxes on the rich and raise taxes on everyone else, Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare and Social Security, the state of the economy President George W. Bush left this country in, which specific tax loopholes Mitt Romney would close, Osama Bin Laden, Bain Capital or how Mitt's dog Seamus ended up tied to the roof of his car, as long as no one asks Mitt Romney any questions about any of that stuff during his Presidential debates against Barack Obama I think Mitt could totally still have a good shot at losing this thing by 3-5 points . . .
But if any of those subjects above are mentioned during the Obama/Romney debates I think Obama will demolish Mittens and this election could turn into a demoralizing blowout for Republicans, and if Tara Wall is any example of the kind of people who are helping prep Mitt for the debates I think the Republicans are totally screwed. Mitt Romney is walking into a fistfight with Popeye armed with a can of spinach. Put the kids to bed early on this one, it could get ugly.