Just some observations on the text:
Weird: "We go to different churches or maybe don't go to church so much."
But Romney doesn't go to Church. He goes to a Temple. [Correction: yes, temples are places Mormons attend, especially someone as prominent as Romney. But on a weekly basis, Mormons do go to church. Apologies.] And where are the synagogues and mosques?
Wrong: "As the Red Sox like to remind the New York Yankees, there are no dynasties in America."
Er: the Adamses, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, the Tafts, the Bushes, the Daleys, the Romneys, to name a few. America has the most dynastic democracy in the West.
Wrong: "When [Obama] took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse."
Worse? The recession formally ended in July 2009. Unemployment is higher now than when Obama was inaugurated. But we all know that unemployment is a lagging indicator. But how exactly did Obama make it worse? Does Romney believe there should have been no stimulus? Does he believe that rescuing GM made the recession worse?
Implausible: "I will cap federal spending at 20% or less of the GDP and finally, finally balance the budget."
I presume Romney intends a balanced budget within his maximum term of office. That is a staggering goal, give the structural forces propelling the debt. It's way more draconian than the Ryan plan, which won't deliver a balanced budget for more than a decade. So what would he cut? Given his pledge to abolish all the cost-controls in the ACA, how does he propose to reform Medicare? How much would he cut from defense? Which taxes would he raise? By not even suggesting a single specific to reach a truly radical goal, the pledge is basically meaningless. Or maybe he means this:
I will make business taxes competitive with other nations, modernize regulations and bureaucracy and finally promote America’s trade interests.
Really: that's it? That's the jobs program? Modernizing regulations and bureaucracy? Really?
I guess this was a broad anouncement and so its emptiness is not too damning. The out-takes I've featured are underwhelming. He says nothing about how he would have dealt with the Arab Spring and the excruciating choices in foreign policy it presents. He says nothing about how to tackle the debt, or to reduce healthcare costs. His proposal for unemployment is risibly thin.
But he is an American. That was heard loud and clear. As was his inference that the president isn't. That's the ugly part. But in a competition for ugly, he will always be bested by Palin.
(Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images.)
The Dish 