Mitt Watch: What Is Romney's Position On The Immigration Order?

June 17th, 2012

It's anyone's guess.

Today, on CBS' "Face The Nation," Mitt Romney was asked a direct yes or no question about whether or not he would repeal the new Obama administration policy on immigration. He dodged. So, he was asked again. He squirmed. So, host Bob Schieffer asked him again. And again. And again. He was asked a full five times. Not once did he give a yes or no answer.



I am sure this provided great solace to those far-right pundits and activists, already wary of Romney's slippery history, who have all but declared the new policy of prosecutorial discretion to be an act of treason.

Sleep tight, far right. You helped paint him into this corner.

There's really no way of knowing what Romney believes. I increasingly suspect, as frightening as it is, that he believes in nothing at all.

Members of his team, on the other hand, have some absolutely firm views on the matter. They just don't remotely seem to agree with one other.

Judd Legum writes:

"In an interview on Friday, Kris Kobach, an immigration advisor to the Romney campaign, told ThinkProgress that the new Obama policy was "illegal." Another Romney advisor told CNN that Romney’s position was "the same" as President Obama."

This is what we call message-failure. It's been two full days since the announcement of a major new policy initiative from the incumbent and the challenger has no clear response to the most obvious question everyone knew he would be asked. Meanwhile, his immediate advisers have failed to coalesce around a single non-contradictory position.

The bottom line? Romney is going to have to actually commit. He has to tell us all what he will do if he's elected. Will he repeal the policy outright or will he leave it in place while he formulates his own approach?

Either way, he will have to displease someone. If he can't handle that, he shouldn't be running.

Mitt Watch - Shake, Shake, Shake - Why The Etch-A-Sketch Gaffe Should End Him

March 23rd, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

Image via

Up until a couple of days ago, it had become somewhat superfluous to discuss the fact that Mitt Romney has no real positions on any issues.

This is not to say he doesn't believe in certain things.

I will concede the possibility that he might.

All this said, it is now obvious that there is something in his programming which precludes the courage of whatever convictions he might actually hold.

So used to Romney's 180 degree shifts had we become that we were beginning to dismiss the deadly seriousness his lack of character presents.

Enter the Etch-A Sketch moment. In an interview with CNN, Romney's closest campaign adviser and confidante, Eric Fehrnstrom, had this exchange with John Fugelsang:

Fugelang: Is there a concern that the pressure from Santorum and Gingrich might force the Governer to tack so far to the rigft that it might hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?

Fehrnstrom: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch-a-Sketch – you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again. But I will say, if you look at the exit polling data in Illinois, you’ll see that Mitt Romney is broadly acceptable to most of the factions in the party. You have to do that to become the major party nominee. (EMPHASES OURS)

Yes. This is as bad as it seems.

Already, this inadvertent revelation of the truth is being compared to Dukakis in the tank in 1988, George H. W. Bush's apparent fascination and previous inexperience with product scanning technology in 1992, and John Kerry's notorious stunner regarding the Iraq war in 2004.

Worth A Thousand Words - Shake, Shake, Shake Edition

March 23rd, 2012