The president's debate performance was awful in terms of not hitting back at numerous over-the-plate softballs. I get that. Those of us who watched and liked or knew most of his answers thought initially that the debate was at least a draw if not a few points to Romney. But we also thought that by changing all his stripes in front of tens of millions of people that Romney at best would be considered a fraud, at worse a no-good lying politician.
That said, the media and conservative pundits are trying to make this a horse race. Yet there is one category of voters that is completely left out. That category of Republicans who believed Romney when he spoke about the 20% cut
in taxes across the board during the campaign, when he completely ditched that idea
"if it would contribute to the deficit".
Sure conservatives like Morning Joe, and pundits like Chuck Todd are guffawing in the aftermath of a Skewed Pew polls, but what about the conservative lot. Are they asking themselves 'who is this Swiss Mitt'? They must be asking themselves 'its okay to swing to the left of Obama as long as he is out to win, but what if he actually means what he says? We are screwed!'
A diary by JMcDonald "RAND poll shows Republicans dispirited, Democrats energized by debate ?!" is more informative than the Skewed Pew in that its taken by the same 3500 voters each time and may illustrate the true aftermath of the debate. Were these Republicans turned off by Willard Mitt Romney, chameleon extraordinaire?
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Just as many Democrats were left scratching their heads about their candidate, it's a good bet that many Republican voters were left even more perplexed, perhaps even speechless about what was actually said in the debate.
Whereas conservative pundits and their media minions are fist-pumping today about Skewed Pew, they are not however rerunning the full-on policy shift by their man.
Indeed, their underlying question in days to come is WHO IN THE HELL IS THIS MITT ROMNEY?
Democrats know who their man Barack Obama is because he has an economic, foreign policy, healthcare, and women's rights record. He's been front and center for four years and is transparent to the world. Although he can be a little too self-assured when he thought he could forego an intense debate prep for the first debate.
The Republicans, on the other hand, have no clue as to when the real Mitt Romney will show up. His effortless flip-flops would be a thing of wonder if not for the fact that he just flip-flopped on the very reason they opted to vote for him. While Romney may have won this first debate there is no doubt that President Obama will be up to the task on the second and third one. What Republicans must be thinking from is can they trust their man on anything?
Romney just showed the nation that he will do anything to win. Republicans must ask themselves is that the best thing for the nation but, more importantly, (in their minds) is that the best thing for the Republican party.
The answer is simple. Mitt Romney is all about Mitt Romney.
