PRESIDENT OBAMA: And — and what’s at stake here is one of two things. Either, Candy, this blows up the deficit — because keep in mind, this is just to pay for the additional spending that he’s talking about, 7 (trillion dollars), $8 trillion. That’s before we even get to the deficit we already have. Or alternatively, it’s got to be paid for not only by closing deductions for wealthy individuals. That will pay for about 4 percent reduction in tax rates. You’re going to be paying for it. You’ll lose some deductions. And you can’t buy this sales pitch. Nobody who’s looked at it that’s serious actually believes it adds up.
MS. CROWLEY: Mr. President, let me get — let me get the governor in on this.
And Governor, let’s — before we get into a vast array of who said what — what study says what, if it shouldn’t add up, if somehow when you get in there, there isn’t enough tax revenue coming in, if somehow the numbers don’t add up, would you be willing to look again at a 20 percent —
MR. ROMNEY: Well, of course they add up. I was — I was someone who ran businesses for 25 years and balanced the budget. I ran the Olympics and balanced the budget. I ran the — the state of Massachusetts as a governor, to the extent any governor does, and balanced the budget all four years.
There are so many things to get on Romney about last night, but strangely this one angered me the most, because it is so filled with arrogance and superiority and disdain that it is kind of shocking.
It's not the fact that he didn't answer the question, that happens all the time in debates, misdirection, changing the subject, doublespeak, etc. It's that he in fact "answers the question" by telling us to fuck off, I know what I am doing, you guys haven't a clue.
It just drips of derision and arrogance. And it also plays to the lie that running a business successfully means you can master being President. It is the 47% in different words and in a different context, but its there. I know what's best, you don't need to know the details, now go to bed.
The real issue here of course is this, he can't answer the question in any detail what so ever because quite simply...
IT DOESN"T ADD UP
and there is no way around that.