begins with Romney on 60 Minutes saying his campaign does not need a turnaround and that he just has to keep doing what he has been doing in the campaign, and then notes
That’s an outright denial of political reality, but Mr. Romney’s willingness to stray from the truth is at the root of what’s really going on.
The entire editorial is, IMHO, a devastating takedown of Romney on a number of levels. It recounts the status of the polls, notes both the mishandling of Libya and the contents of the video tape that has now had such an impact, and then opines:
These moments, though, were not fumbles or gaffes. They were entirely consistent with the dismissive attitude Mr. Romney has routinely shown toward non-Americans or the nonrich. Now even long-undecided voters are starting to catch on and dismiss him.
Let me offer a few additional selected statements below the fold.
Voters don’t react positively when a candidate speaks incomprehensibly about taxes, as Mr. Romney did on “60 Minutes.”
The editorial points out the problems with Romney's approach, and then offers
But listeners don’t have to do the math to calculate how fundamentally hollow the proposal is.
speaks incomprehensibly
fundamentally hollow
willingness to stray from the truth
Pretty harsh statement to make about a major party Presidential nominee.
But there is more. The penultimate paragraph is about Romney's statement on Americans having access to health care, because they can go to the emergency room. The editorial rightly points out that resorting to the emergency room is
the most expensive and least effective
way of addressing health care needs. The point out that Romney, having put Romneycare through Massachusetts, surely knows that, which would make him a hypocrite (a word they do not use). They they put it bluntly:
But it also reeks of contempt for those left behind by the current insurance system, suggesting that they must suffer with illness until the point where they need an ambulance.
Sounds like they have really taken him apart, right? Except they are not done. Let me preface the final paragraph of the piece by noting that the editorial writers are telegraphing their belief that Romney has probably lost the ability to change the outcome of the election:
Mr. Romney is free to pursue this shallow, cavalier campaign for six more weeks, but he shouldn’t be surprised if voters increasingly choose not to pay attention.
It could be worse. They could be paying attention, and getting even more turned off, not only to Romney, but to the Republican party.
What do you think?