Romney adviser admitting Romney's going to change his positions after the primary

[zinfamous]

You seriously think he can't argue jobs and the economy? I disagree.

Romney certainly has a decent shot; right now polls I've seen put him ahead. I think though by November the economy will be noticeably better, making people less likely to want to switch horses. Add that to the media's pressure and the natural difficulty in unseating a sitting President and I'm still betting Obama wins it, although I'll be voting for Romney.

I seriously do think Romney has a legit shot, as things stand right now, his message will certainly be very different from what it currently is, simply trying to appeal to the troglodytes that make up the base of his chosen party. (I wouldn't begrudge him "flip-flopping" from now to then, as the necessity of the current message is laughably obvious).

But, I think Romney has serious appeal to independents, and he does have a solid economic strength.

But, absolutely, economic projections are clearly in favor of Obama right now. You can create arguments all you want for what he has done to destroy jobs and damage the economy, but no such argument would reflect reality, as we are seeing right now. That's all I'm saying.

That doesn't mean Romney can't win on arguing that he can do better (he can't--no one can), but Romney is very appealing with that kind of argument, and I think he can easily convince a significant amount of people that he can do better (despite the truth), but that is politics, of course. Neither Santurom nor Gingrich can do that successfully. So--YES, I think he can argue it, and it would be strong for him, but trying to argue that Obama is weak and has done great damage to the country is a losing proposition in light of what is actually happening.

It's funny, though, his trying to attack Obamacare. The philosophical foundation is what he put through MA--his team that drafted the legislation quite thoroughly consulted Obama's team, and Romney personally advised that without a mandate, Obama's legislation would be DOA.

He would be best served by not trying to make such distinctions. Of course--it doesn't matter, I suppose, because large swaths of the voting public do not listen to facts, but easily swallow up the shit that is fed them. :\

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

This is a priceless quote. Romney and his campaign just don't seem to be able to talk their way out of a paper bag.

 

[Icepick]

Of course he's going to flip flop on some issues. At this time he's battling opponents who are placing themselves on the very far right of the political spectrum and Romney's positions have to align closer to them to hang on to the Republican "base."

Once he wins the primary he'll have to woo independents and conservative Democrats away from Obama. He'll have to shift positions closer to the center to do this. It's inevitable that some if his positions will change between now and then. This is the rule of the game.

 

[tweaker2]

As an independent, IMO of all the Repubs now running to unseat Obama, Romney seems the most attractive to me in the sense that as a person who's also solidly middle class, I'd suffer the least from his policies.

The main reason that I'd pick Obama over Romney is that the Tea Party will keep Romney on a choke chain leash the same way they've got Boehner tied up and shackled and force the party to push hard right policies and tactics that the party wouldn't implement under "normal" circumstances. It's sickening how such a small hard core minority can bully the Repub Party around the way they do. Too much power in too few hands. But the Repubs welcomed them with open arms and took them in so......

As to Romney's changing positions, well, Obama did it. Maybe not for the same reasons Romney has/will, but I see it as inevitable. Getting a Primary win has different priorities and objectives than winning in the General. I suppose there's different levels of "etch-a-sketching" that goes on, but it seems Romney has been doing that moreso than others so he's stuck with it no matter how he tries to spin it after the primaries.

 

[Ninjahedge]

So Romney goes in and they flash his firmware.

Good news is that he is no longer dealing with floppies.

 

[Ninjahedge]

As an indy, he needs to convince people that he is their REPRESENTATIVE. That he has his own direction, but at the same time, he is willing to work WITH and FOR the people that elected him.

Moderates and undecideds might actually LIKE the fact that this Right Winger was actually elected by a "left wing" state (honestly, though. GO to Mass, it is not as "lefty" as you would think). That, just like Arnie in CA, he can get the job done for the people who "hired" him.

Any other argument would be difficult as things have really not gotten WORSE under Obama. Somehave flattened out and a few things have gotten better.

The ultimate irony being that Gas prices may be the only heel this Achilles has and that that heel may be the solution to our outsourcing issue.

You can ask for all you want, but you won't like it when you get all of it.

 

[werepossum]

I seriously do think Romney has a legit shot, as things stand right now, his message will certainly be very different from what it currently is, simply trying to appeal to the troglodytes that make up the base of his chosen party. (I wouldn't begrudge him "flip-flopping" from now to then, as the necessity of the current message is laughably obvious).

But, I think Romney has serious appeal to independents, and he does have a solid economic strength.

But, absolutely, economic projections are clearly in favor of Obama right now. You can create arguments all you want for what he has done to destroy jobs and damage the economy, but no such argument would reflect reality, as we are seeing right now. That's all I'm saying.

That doesn't mean Romney can't win on arguing that he can do better (he can't--no one can), but Romney is very appealing with that kind of argument, and I think he can easily convince a significant amount of people that he can do better (despite the truth), but that is politics, of course. Neither Santurom nor Gingrich can do that successfully. So--YES, I think he can argue it, and it would be strong for him, but trying to argue that Obama is weak and has done great damage to the country is a losing proposition in light of what is actually happening.

It's funny, though, his trying to attack Obamacare. The philosophical foundation is what he put through MA--his team that drafted the legislation quite thoroughly consulted Obama's team, and Romney personally advised that without a mandate, Obama's legislation would be DOA.

He would be best served by not trying to make such distinctions. Of course--it doesn't matter, I suppose, because large swaths of the voting public do not listen to facts, but easily swallow up the shit that is fed them. :\

I actually think Romney can do it better - he has an understanding of and appreciation for capitalism that Obama just does not have. I don't think there will be a huge amount of difference though. And I would not argue that Obama has done great damage to the country; I think he's done a decent job.

I do see a great difference between Obamacare and Romneycare though. Romneycare is at heart what I think every state should be doing, looking at their unique population and trying to achieve universal health insurance/health care coverage for their state. Obamacare despite the many similarities is a huge federal power grab. With Romneycare one can have fifty different systems, all competing in the arena of idea and adaptable to each state. With Obamacare it's one size fits all. Already we've seen a great deal of top-down direction, and from Obama's own words before the election we know he sees Obamacare as merely a step toward a single payer federal system.

Do you really want the whole nation's health care controlled by the people who honestly thought dumping half a billion into Solyndra was a good investment?

 

[Jhhnn]

Do you really want the whole nation's health care controlled by the people who honestly thought dumping half a billion into Solyndra was a good investment?

Do we want it controlled by people who thought that the Pwnership Society was the most wonderful money making scam ever? Do we want it to run on the divide & conquer principle of all of the scams of the Lootocracy? Are we one nation, one people, or are we just a collection of idiots fighting for the scraps of financialized international capitalism?

Romney? Romney's "positions"? He's always taken the same position- he'll say or do anything to win, whether that's business or politics... I love the hole bit about how he "understands" capitalism- he certainly does, in ways that only the Lootocracy can...

Anybody suppose he'll really change his pamper the Rich for trickledown economic goodness tax policy? That he'll rein in the abusive methods of hedge funds & private equity firms?

 

[SP33Demon]

Romney should just stop now and run for Obama as his VP.

 

[micrometers]

I'm going to argue that the etch-a-sketch "controversy" is utterly brilliant timing.

Basically, Romney has the nomination tied up at this point. If it had come out like 2 or 3 weeks ago, this might have actually caused problems for him in winning the nomination.

But by having this come out now, it's actually kind of amusing, and it distances him from the extreme shit he's had to say to win over the Republicans.

And the Republicans are batshit crazy this year. I can't believe how bad the Republican voting base is.

General consensus about Romney that I read was that being labeled a flip-flopper was preferable than being labeled a right wing extremist.

 

[Jhhnn]

I'm going to argue that the etch-a-sketch "controversy" is utterly brilliant timing.

Basically, Romney has the nomination tied up at this point. If it had come out like 2 or 3 weeks ago, this might have actually caused problems for him in winning the nomination.

But by having this come out now, it's actually kind of amusing, and it distances him from the extreme shit he's had to say to win over the Republicans.

And the Republicans are batshit crazy this year. I can't believe how bad the Republican voting base is.

General consensus about Romney that I read was that being labeled a flip-flopper was preferable than being labeled a right wing extremist.

Wingnut Repubs aren't any crazier than they ever were, except that they've driven more moderate voices out of the Party, taken over the podium. General consensus about Romney is that he's a weasel who'll say anything to win, depending on the electorate to have the memory span of fruitflies. The "real" Romney is a blueblood member of the Lootocracy, and acts accordingly.

 

[zinfamous]

You guys know that Romney managed Bain, but never a single account at Bain, right?

Now, I don't think that distinction speaks any more or less regarding his qualifications as a "manager," (Of course, I always think that treating a country like a financial investor would is preposterously misguided--this assumption that "those who lead business can never fail," and will always do it better than a politician, is ridiculous--especially when we see, countless times, right in our faces, how wrong that assumption is proven to be).

Anyway, all this talk of the success of Staples and what not--I don't get it. Romney's name never graced an account managed at Bain.

 

[Phokus]

Hahahaha, Romney again trying to distance himself from the GOP in 2002:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WsX2gXwlcfI

"The only connection i had was that i was a registered republican" LOLOL

 

[ky54]

Wow, after 4 pages people still can't grasp the idea that politicians don't live up to the campaign promises? LOL, you'd think the Pavlovian-like Obama supporters would know that better than anyone.

 

[Jhhnn]

Wow, after 4 pages people still can't grasp the idea that politicians don't live up to the campaign promises? LOL, you'd think the Pavlovian-like Obama supporters would know that better than anyone.

Nice apologism for a team member. Well, maybe he's a team member, kinda-sorta, but he says he is, honest, and I'm sure that "real conservatives" will feel better about it once Rush, Hannity & the rest swing into line behind Mitt, huh?

And they'll be able to overlook the fact that his promises have been all over the political landscape, that, uhh "consistency" isn't his forte, but he'll make a great Prez who'll stand for whatever he stands for at that moment, right?

 

[Craig234]

Wow, after 4 pages people still can't grasp the idea that politicians don't live up to the campaign promises? LOL, you'd think the Pavlovian-like Obama supporters would know that better than anyone.

Wow, after 4 pages ky54 doesn't get that Romney is far, far worse than others?

I've said he's the biggest 'flip flopper' of any national politician in the modern era.

 

[Phokus]

Wow, after 4 pages people still can't grasp the idea that politicians don't live up to the campaign promises? LOL, you'd think the Pavlovian-like Obama supporters would know that better than anyone.

Very few politicians go from one end of the political spectrum to the other.

 

[Zebo]

That's exactly how we feel, in the rest of the world, when we look at American politics.

You're naive then. They all only care about a few lobbies and they aint everyday people lobbies, is so far as they exist. What they say for public consumption is rarely what they do.