What They're Saying: Smooth Talking Mitt Romney's Credibility Gap
Surely, this isn't how smooth talking Mitt Romney envisioned spending his New Years Eve. In February 2007, a leaked 77-page strategy document outlined the Romney campaign's plan to avoid spending 2007 "facing skepticism about his conservative message." [Boston Globe, 2/27/07] Now, just days before the Iowa caucus, the reviews are in. Despite running "the least honorable campaign of any major candidate," Romney is still being "dogged" by questions about his flip-flops and a lingering "candor gap" that have left voters wondering "if there's anything at all at his core" and convinced that he'll say whatever he thinks voters want to hear instead of what he believes.
"After flip-flopping on just about every issue in this race and playing fast and loose with the facts, smooth talking Mitt Romney has failed to close the deal on even his own credibility," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "The voters may have no idea where he really stands on any of the challenges confronting our nation, but they understand that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for a third Bush term not only on the issues, but when it comes to honesty and integrity as well."
"Mitt Romney" is to "Credibility"
What "Day" is to "Night"
Union Leader: "The More Romney Speaks, the Less Believable He Becomes." "Like a lot of people in New Hampshire, we wanted to believe Romney. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. We listened very carefully to his expertly rehearsed sales pitch. But in the end he didn't close the deal for us. Now, two weeks before the primary, the same is happening with voters… Granite Staters want a candidate who will look them in the eye and tell them the truth…Mitt Romney has not. He has spoken his lines well, but the people can sense that the words are memorized, not heartfelt. Last week Romney was reduced to debating what the meaning of "saw" is. It was only the latest in a string of demonstrably false claims -- he'd been a hunter "pretty much" all his life, he'd had the NRA's endorsement, he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. -- that call into question the veracity of his justifications for switching sides on immigration, abortion, taxes and his affection for Ronald Reagan. In this primary, the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable he becomes." [New Hampshire Union Leader, 12/26/07]
Boston Herald: Romney Trying to Get "Elected By Any Means Necessary." "Mitt Romney has a dream that he will be judged not by promises he made a few years ago about abortion and gay rights, but by what political ambition causes him to claim he believes today. He dreams that Americans will find him so dreamy they won't even notice that he'll say virtually anything - anything at all - to realize his dream of becoming president… Yes, Mitt Romney has a dream. The ultimate politician's dream - of saying all the right things to all the right voters, of getting elected by any means necessary. [Boston Herald, 12/30/07]
Concord Monitor: New Hampshire Prides Itself on Weeding out "Phony" Candidates Like Romney. "If you followed only his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, you might imagine Romney as a pragmatic moderate with liberal positions on numerous social issues and an ability to work well with Democrats. If you followed only his campaign for president, you'd swear he was a red-meat conservative, pandering to the religious right, whatever the cost. Pay attention to both, and you're left to wonder if there's anything at all at his core… When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state's first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we'll know it. Mitt Romney is such a candidate." [Concord Monitor, 12/20/07]
LA Times/Bloomberg Poll: Romney the Least Honest Candidate. The Los Angeles Times asked Republican voters, "Regardless of your choice for president, who do you think has been best at saying what they believe, rather than saying what they think the voters want to hear: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson?" Romney, at 8 percent, trailed the field, with Huckabee leading at 20 percent, Giuliani at 18, Thompson at 15 and McCain at 13. [Los Angeles Times, 12/5/07]
Joe Klein: Romney Running "The Least Honorable Campaign of Any Major Candidate." "Tom Edsall at Huffington Post has the latest on what has been the least honorable campaign of any major candidate… I've never seen a candidate who showed such arrant disrespect for the public--and for himself. Indeed, Romney has performed a political self-lobotomy. Not just on his brain, which seemed an impressive instrument a year ago, but also on whatever nagging moral sense he might have had. He did this in order to conform--in the primaries, at least--to every last polling preference, no matter how skeevy, of his party's base. Worse, he has chosen to demagogue on issues--like illegal immigration--where his own record shows a history of moderation...and an embarrassing tendency toward private hypocrisy (Those gardeners!) I've also never seen a candidate so loathed, privately, by his competitors. [Time Magazine's Swampland Blog, 12/28/07]
AP: Mitt Romney Has a "Candor Gap." "As a presidential contender, Mitt Romney has the looks, the money and the campaign machine.He also has something of a candor gap. When confronted with questions that might conflict with his message of the day or political record, the Republican candidate has shown a tendency to bob and weave or simply dismiss history. He has done so all year, providing an easy target for his opponents." [AP, 12/30/07]
New York Times: Romney "Prone to Exaggeration." "Mr. Romney once said about misstatements by his Republican rival, Rudolph W. Giuliani, 'facts are stubborn things.' But does he have his own problem with blurring the truth? Some of the instances when Mr. Romney has tripped up on his facts show that he is prone to exaggeration, taking what is essentially a kernel of truth and stretching it to bolster his case…. For a candidate who has featured his business background and made much of his propensity for careful analysis of data, he is not always precise." [New York Times, 12/22/07]
