Y'know, in many ways, Mitt Romney appears to be the perfect Republican candidate. He's a handsome white guy, fairly knowledgeable, a pretty good debater, gobs of money, all the right connections, and comes from a GOP political dynasty (his father was the Governor of Michigan, his sister used to head up the Michigan GOP, and other family members have held various political positions; plus he was, you know, Governor of Massachusetts and all).
On the other hand, you have moments like the following:
For those who can't view the video: A frail-looking guy in a wheelchair suffering from muscular dystrophy* is a medical marijuana user. He explains this to Romney, who asks him if he's tried the synthetic stuff; the guy says yes, but it makes him even sicker--only the real stuff helps.
Then he asks a simple question of Romney: Would Romney arrest him and his doctor for using medical marijuana if he could do so?
Romney's response is to just say he "doesn't approve of medical marijuana" and blows the guy off, even when both the guy and the cameraman both repeatedly ask him to answer the question.
So, acting like a dick to a guy in a wheelchair when he knows he's on camera? Yup, that looks good on YouTube, Mitt.
Of course, this is the same asshole who strapped his terrified dog to the top of his car for a 12 hour drive on the freeway, so I shouldn't be surprised.
Smooth move, Mr. Awkward, Outdated, Inappropriate Attempt at "Relating" Culturally To Non-White People.
*(thanks to several commenters who heard what he said better than I can).
Mitt Romney: As shallow as his shoulders are wide!!®
Update: A Classic: David Letterman explains Mitt Romney's appeal:
Update x2: Several commenters have, interestingly, sided with Romney on this incident (or at least defended his response as acceptable), usually stating that they "don't like gotcha questions".
My response to that is that yes, his non-answer answer was pretty typical political gibberish (ie, not worse than the B.S. answers given by many other politicians), but the question was perfectly reasonable.
A "gotcha" question, to me, is a question that oversimplifies a complex issue into a simple black & white soundbite.
In this case, while the response expected is a simple "yes or no", the question itself is not that complex: IF you believe using marijuana, even for medical use, should be a CRIME, then what should the penalty for that crime be? Send the patient to jail? Community service? A stiff fine? Points on their driver's license? What? There's not a lot of grey areas here. Either using marijuana is a crime no matter what, or exceptions should be made for medical reasons. If exceptions should be made, no problem. If they shouldn't be made, then what penalty should there be for committing the crime?
How does that make it a "gotcha" question?