Joan Walsh nails Mitt Romney for being The man without a soul because in the final debate, "Romney disavows almost everything he's ever said on foreign policy while the media just shrugs." Joan Walsh's gets right to the heart of an enormous problem many of us have been having with this election - the media's acceptance of an unprecedented amount of flip-flopping, mendacity, and distortion from both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, as if these craven behaviors were normal and acceptable in a presidential election. I agree with Walsh, it should not be.
Is it not astonishing that after previous debates where Gerald Ford was mocked for making one error about Poland not being suppressed by the Soviet Union, Mitt Romney lies, reverses positions, and errs in all three debates with little media reaction?
Mitt Romney should be doing a walk of shame today, after reversing most of his irresponsible, hawkish foreign policy statements from the last year just to have a hot night with undecided female voters in the final debate. How does he live with himself?
Joan notes that when President Obama used the prevent defense in the first debate it was described as a catastrophe, but when Mitt Romney does the same in the third debate, this same approach is described as "politicaly wise."
Beyond scoring the debate on style points, though, why aren’t more people horrified by Romney’s capacity to disavow virtually everything he’s said on foreign policy and cuddle up with Obama, in order to seem less frightening to voters? On Afghanistan, on Iran, on abandoning Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, on killing Osama bin Laden, on Syria, on drones, Romney mostly said “me too” to Obama’s policies. .... But in what new realm of cynicism is it the right thing to hide your real policies in order to become president? ... The fact is, we don’t know which Mitt Romney would take the oath of office, and that alone should consign him to an ugly defeat in two weeks.
Yes! Where's the shock and indignation of Mitt Romney's self-destructive "terminal errors?"
Why do we not hear Wolf Blitzer asking if Mitt Romney has not just "disqualified" himself on issues of lack of presidential character?
Is some minimal level of integrity no longer considered to be a job prerequisite for the highest office in the land? We've heard stories of middle managers of retail outlets being fired for even one lie on their resume! Mitt Romney has been averaging more than a dozen per debate and rally!
Obama’s best line came when he told Romney, “You seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.” That wasn’t just a good zinger, it’s a great summary of what’s at stake in this election. I hope voters ignore the supposedly savvy horse race coverage of this crucial debate, and pay attention to Romney’s lack of core convictions on foreign policy or anything else.
The media has two weeks in which to redeem itself, or history may record them as enablers of one of the most cynical and deceptive campaigns I've ever witnessed. I ask you to read this entire article and help Joan Walsh get this idea out for discussion with all who aspire to, or purport to be, journalists.