The Mad Hatter For President! (Pleeease, Obama campaign, do a Halloween Fun-House ad. Pleeeease.)
Have you heard the news? Mitt Romney met with editors of the Des Moines Register yesterday and dropped a bombshell. “Romney promises no abortion legislation,” says the Associated Press. “Romney: No abortion legislation,” says Politico. “Romney says no plans to restrict abortion,” says Agence France-Presse.
Nope. That isn’t what Romney said. This is a man with a long history of using technicalities to disguise his abortion views. You have to read his exact words, with attention to the loopholes. So let’s back up and listen to the full audio of Romney’s remarks.
— Romney’s Abortion “Agenda”: Don’t fall for his insinuation that he won’t restrict abortion. It’s full of weasel words, William Saletan, Slate, today
Saletan goes on to summarize what he brilliantly calls Romney’s Massachusetts-pol-days use of escape-clause language on the abortion issue—how he would calculatingly appear to state a position and then, for the sake of political expedience, renege and point to some hedge he’d included in the contract—er, the campaign promise.
Saletan concludes his article by warning, “That’s why you need to spot the weasel words up front. In the end, with Romney, they’re all that matters.”
Well, yes. That’s true on every issue, not just on that one. We’re dealing here with the Mad Hatter.
One of Romney’s sons, Josh, said yesterday in an interview that Obama had lied about Romney’s positions. The son was restating, but even more clearly, the father’s debate claim that Obama keeps stubbornly claiming that Romney has proposed things that Romney hasn’t proposed. Except that Romney in fact has, repeatedly, proposed those things—like cutting taxes (not just tax rate, replaced with the closing of loopholes, but tax payments) for the wealthy by 20%.
This Orwellian strategy of saying that the person who says you said something you said is an “obstinate child” (Josh’s phrase) who is “lying” (Josh’s word) is downright scary. It’s a direct attempt to pervert democracy.
The news media really, really, really should point that out. Cleary. But the Obama campaign needs to, too. More effectively than it has in the last week.
And what better than a Halloween fun house—ghosts suddenly jumping out of nowhere; the floor suddenly dropping out from under you; fake smoke and real mirrors that distort your body shape (or his)—to illustrate the point?
Oh, and Romney’s Halloween costume? The Mad Hatter, of course. Romney wearing it to go trick-or-treating while spouting lines written by Lewis Carroll. And by Josh Romney. Who’s now made himself fair game.
Yup, I’m looking forward to the end ofmUS election season. Because Lordy, but this shrillness is getting boring on one of my favoutire blogs.
Because what a candidate for a Federal position’s stance is on abortion means nothing. It is a Federal issue if the courts are dealing with it. If the politicians are, it ain’t. It’s a State issue if the pols are.
Hell, I’m a foreigner who doesn’t even live in the US, and I know that.
Yeah, yeah, I know, some of you think which idiot is going to spend your money for the next four years is the over riding interest. But this particualr complaint is pathetic.
The President of the United States has no influence on what the abortion laws are in the United States.
Shorter TW: “Silly vagina person… Issues are for penis people!” lol
Keep it classy Tim!
What matters on abortion or other issues like corporate identity: who is president to appoint the justices!
Worstall
one thing i find boring is you missing the point all the time.
Beverly was talking about weasel words, not the nature of American federalism.
Now if you wanted to talk about O’s pledge not to “slash” a program he plans to cut…
“I’m looking forward to the end ofmUS election season.”
The next season starts in January or February of next year. Merry Christmas!
Someone named Judy Lin posted a comment to Saletan’s article on Slate that says: “I find it telling that the only position Romney hasn’t flip-flopped on is not revealing his tax returns.”
That falls into the wish-I’d-thought-of-that category.
Can you imagine how effective that would be as a tag line in an Obama commercial?
I wish your mother had aborted you!
Turns out that there are several bills pending in the House concerning abortion rights, which Paul Ryan has co-sponsored or supports. I confess that I wasn’t aware of them until now. Not that I recall, anyway.
But there’s nothing that requires that all aspects of the issue be left to the states, Tim.
Mr. Worstall –
Not only did you miss the point, you have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about.
You see, we have a thing here in the U.S. called the Supreme Court, and another thing called judge made law. Not everybody likes it – at least not when it’s their ox that’s getting gored.
And the President appoints Supreme court justices. There could be two such opportunities in the next administration.
You might not know this but the 9-member court already has 4 extremely regressive members.
I’ll leave piecing the rest of it up to you.
Cheers!
JzB
Jazz: not only that, but even though the President of the United States doesn’t make federal laws, somehow something like the Affordable Care Act is “Obamacare”. And yet the President of the United States will have no influence on what the abortion laws are!