Back in November, there was a fascinating exchange between Romney campaign spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom and Washington Examiner reporter Philip Klein about immigration. Asked what the candidate would do with the millions of undocumented immigrants who are already here, Fehrnstrom said, "He doesn't believe in granting them amnesty."
When Klein pressed further -- acknowledging what Romney doesn't believe in, but then asking what he does believe in -- Fehrnstrom practically lost the ability to communicate in English.
Today, it happened all over again.
Mitt Romney released a statement earlier today emphasizing the right of states to enact immigration policies, but not actually commenting directly on the substance of today's Supreme Court decision on the Arizona immigration law. Reporters sought to get more clarity from the campaign in a Q&A with traveling spokesman Rick Gorka, but to little avail.
The transcript is too long to republish here, but it's a rather extraordinary read. Gorka, speaking on Romney's behalf, heard reporters ask whether the candidate agrees or disagrees with the Supreme Court's ruling, but went to extraordinary lengths to repeat superficial talking points, avoiding every question.
By one count, Romney's overwhelmed spokesperson was asked literally 20 times what the candidate thought about today's ruling, and literally 20 times, the spokesperson refused to say. Even Byron York called the evasion "excruciating," which is as good an adjective as any.
Remember, all of this follows a press release this afternoon, in which Romney spent 104 words talking about the Supreme Court ruling without taking a position on it.
Cowardice is an unappealing character trait in a presidential campaign, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that Romney, to borrow George Will's line, "lacks the courage of his absence of convictions."
Leave a Comment:
Like shooter....he speaks in an endless platitude but never says anything meaninful
I WANT THE A LINK TO THE ENTIRE VIDEO.
Does someone have that link? This is an instant classic.
Somebody once said that a politician is a person who can talk for hours and never actually say anything. Nobody embodies this concept more than Mitt Romney.
Ruling? What ruling? I'm here to get government and Planned Parenthood off of the job creators' backs, or a stronger military with tax cuts, or something like that!!
22 times by my count...
Romney and his campaign staff are emblematic of the entire Republican party. They can sure tell you what they're against, but they can never say what they would do differently. I suspect this is because they'so busy talking about what they're against, they haven't any time to think about what they're for and how they would bring it about (other than getting rid of what they're against).
Republicans trying to entice people into voting for them are like misogynists trying to get a date: they don't dare say what they're really thinking or the object of their desires will make a mad dash for the nearest meat cleaver.
etch a sketch to no-sketch.
The sad part is the MSM will let him get away with it.
Could you imagine in your wildest dreams what they would do to Obama if he pulled that Shmitt
Seriously . Between Scotus the Superpacs and the Lamestream (when I say Lamestream you know I mean the stenographer core) things are looking pretty grim.
A Romney "clarification" of his position is sure to come:
Actually the "papers please" part of the Arizona law, whether it stands the test of constitutionality or more precisely withstand the test of what 5 of 9 judges think, it DOES NOT stand the test of reality.
If policemen or women were to detain all of the foreign looking or sounding people that they come in contact with who could not produce documentation the jails would absolutely fill beyond capacity. Not to mention the monumental expense of holding them all while looking into their immigration status.
My guess is the police would not do it, and even if they did they would quickly be instructed to stop it by the head police-person in charge of jail capacity and budgets.
This is the main problem I've found with it, logistically. Really, who carries around documents proving their citizenship all the time? I'm a legal citizen of my country but if I was asked to prove it or be put in prison I'd be @!$%#ed.
It's make you wonder, the 45% of the people supporting Myth.... Exactly what policies they agreed with Myth on?
Is it the primary Myth ? If that the case, then the msm should be holding accountable for his stance... Not making excuses, benefit of the doubt, or playing the guessing game on these important issues....
Of course it could be done if we raise the taxes to pay for such a large endeavor, but I don't see the GOP going for that. They want all this bullcrap and lower taxes.
When Romney debates Obama it will be painfully clear that Romney has only talking points with nothing of substance. These debates are not going to go well because Obama will come across as decisive and presidential while Romney cannot give direct answers to any question. If Romney goes off script, then he will get into trouble and that is likely to happen when he loses the first debate. Even Fox cannot save Romney from his poor performance.
I believe that Fox will try to save Romney, talking points and all. It will be up to the MSM to fairly evaluate the debates. Too many people will wait to be told what to believe. I also believe that far too many do not know enough facts to understand what is being debated.
They're only fulfilling their original strategy: Block every good thing Obama wanted to do, then blame him for doing nothing.
Is that so hard to recognize?
Fox News and the Romney campaign continue to claim that President Obama sat on his hands the whole time and did nothing about immigration reform.
That's a lie, of course - but until the Obama campaign gets in gear, they're not doing a good job of exposing the lies.
The email bots asking me for contributions are working. I suppose that's something.
They're only fulfilling their original strategy: Block every good thing Obama wanted to do, then blame him for doing nothing.
Is that so hard to recognize?
[I mis-posted this comment in reply to Tom51. I couldn't find how to delete it.]
Physical, moral and political cowardice are the hallmarks of Republican candidates, Romney has merely made it an art form.
I'm so glad that Spanish language media won't be covering for Willard...they're telling it like it is.
Several weeks ago Time ran an article about Mitt Romney's parents' tries for public office. The thing I learned from this is that Romney learned more from his mother's campaign than from his father's campaigns. His mother was defeated and felt that she had been too open in her campaign. I think that is where his decision to say nothing and everything has its roots. He has also said that he learned in his senatorial campaign that he learned from that defeat that if he said something people didn't like, they didn't vote for him. Romney is playing things excruciatingly safe. I predict he will as little as possible and the MSM will not call him on it.
Ya gotta feel sorry for his staff. It's hard to convey convictions of an empty suit . . . and tie, shirt, tidy whities, socks and shoes. So totally, excruciatingly void of convictions.