Reckless Hope

On Friday Mitt Romney gave his big economic speech to a big group of supporters−1, 200 supporters to be precise.

So why is this relevant?

For better or worse in the world of politics where your every move is subject to mass scrutiny, the Romney campaign made a rather significant blunder in choosing Ford Field’s 65,000-seat stadium as the backdrop for Friday’s announcement. In a speech that was designed to portray Mr. Romney as the more experienced candidate among his GOP rivals, while attempting to simultaneously please the far right, the venue was quite characteristic of Romney’s inability to stake out a decisive position on anything.

Ford Field’s 65,000 seat stadium is not only home to the Detroit Lions, but it has also hosted events ranging from full stadium concerts, WrestleMania, and Super Bowl XL in 2006. Remember the field day the Republicans had in 2008 when Barack Obama chose to give his acceptance speech at Denver’s Mile High Stadium, despite the fact that he filled the stadium to capacity?

Getting beyond the somewhat deceptive maneuver of trying to make 1,200 supporters seem like 80,000, Romney’s proposal is just about as radical as those put out by his GOP rivals. Romney’s plan would lower all six current tax brackets by 20 percent, which is a bit more conservative than plans proposed by his rivals.

The fact is that every single Republican tax plan would only increase the current ten trillion dollar deficit. Every single plan offers steep tax cuts for the wealthiest ten percent of Americans. Yet, not a single plan calls for further cuts to defense spending, Medicare, or social security reform.

Romney’s plan goes a step further by failing to make any mention of where he intends to cut the budget to pay for his proposal. This is likely because deductions would negatively impact conservative ideologues and the elderly; two key Republican voting blocks.

Despite his failure to elaborate on deductions, he did acknowledge that his plan would result in lost revenue, which is a grave error from the right’s point of view. The fact that Romney realizes that his plan will result in lost revenue because it further reduces taxes for the wealthiest ten percent of Americans shows that some small part of the former governor retains a grasp on fiscal reality. So rather than tell a red-meat lie that reduced rates will increase revenue, Romney attempts to finesse the issue by telling the little lie that he will “take care” of the imbalance at an unspecified date in an unspecified way.

The whole thing reminds me of when John McCain couldn’t remember how many houses he owned, but the difference is that Romney remembers. He just thinks he can bluff it.

Its kind of like what George Costanza once said, “its not a lie if you believe it”. Sorry Mr. Romney, when you don’t even believe it, how can you expect anyone else to?

Tags: Conservatives, Election, Evangelicals, flip-flop, General Election, Governor Romney, massachusetts gov, Mitt Romney, Republican Tax Plan, Rick Santorum, Super Tuesday