Mr. Etch-a-Sketch rides again
by David Atkins
Having finally discovered that attempting to play entirely to the conservative base was going to get him crushed, Mitt Romney has clearly decided to pretend that the last year never happened and that voters were born yesterday. That was the debate strategy that left the President flummoxed at how to respond to a man who shamelessly lied about his positions of just a week ago. With "Severe conservative Mitt" a sure loser, "Bill Clinton Mitt" has suddenly emerged from his chrysalis. And guess what? "Bill Clinton Mitt" just now realized that his statements about 47% of Americans being worthless loafers was completely wrong:
Mitt Romney may be the most dishonest politician I've ever had the misfortune of watching. This is a man who seems to literally believe that there is no consequence at all for shamelessly contradicting himself from one week to the next.
Those who believe that Mitt "won" the first debate hands down seem to believe that Romney is justified in his complete cynicism about the process and the electorate. Those who believe, as David Axelrod and I do, that Romney mortgaged long-term political pain for a 24-hour news cycle win, have just a little more faith in this creaky old electoral system.
American democracy is broken. But it's not that broken.
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