Which is it?

Are his politics guided by body of ideas & beliefs, or are they dictated more by practical consequences? Not sure how it can be both.

One thing Mitt needs to have in his back pocket is an effective response to the first time Obama parries a question about his disastrous record by blaming Bush. Americans don’t like whiners, and Mitt needs some way to hammer Obama, but “nicely”, on this (some lame reference to “the buck stops here” won’t cut it).

Also, Mitt needs some way to answer the coming questions on Romneycare vs. Obamacare in ways that won’t alienate most of his base. I despair of his being able to handle that well.

Based on ads I’ve seen the Romney campaign running (online, not on TV), I don’t have much confidence he has folks who are up to the job.

Romney had the advantage of effectively being able to attack whomever was his rival that debate from either the left and right. When Perry tried to hit Romney on the vulture capitalist thing everyone cried foul. When Romney hit first Perry from the right on immigration, and then Santorum from the left on social issues everyone acted like that was just good preparation.

Regarding Gingrich, I used to joke that the worste case scenario for Republicans wasn’t if a candidate Gingrich lost against Obama, but if he won. His term as Speaker of the House did not leave many admirers even among Republicans for among other reasons suffering from a debilitating case of policy ADD. Apparently his lack of discipline was not just limited to his debating style.

Regarding Santorum, he’s fine, but all that needs to happen is some journalist to ask him about HSS and all of a sudden the Republican candidacy will go down the Roe vs Wade rabbit hole and we’ll find ourselves explaining to friends at the water cooler why Santorum doesn’t think women who are raped should have the right to an abortion.

No thank you! I get that Romney isn’t Reagan, but he actually has some executive experience, is disciplined, organized and, in my estimation, a quick study. And with Ryan on the ticket, I think we have good reason to expect that his policy will be guided by a conservative sensibility.

Pseudoplotinus, I agree that Obama is in a weaker debating position this year. His campaign is a lot more anti-Republican than it is pro-Obama and Obama himself comes off too hostile these days. He also has a record to defend. The problem is that Romney has shown no ability to hit back at Obama’s criticisms and the romney campaign has not laid the groundwork for refuting Obama’s attacks on taxes and Medicare (never mind make a positive case for Romney.) And a less likeable Obama is still probably more likeable than Romney on a good day.

All in all, Romney isn’t favored but he has a shot – which is more than McCain had after the financial crisis hit.

The comment above from djf is a perfect example of what results even with people of the same point of view. Two (small) cheers for Mitt just isn’t going to be enough.

In the debates this same thing will occur without need of mediation by the press: his primary audience will finally consist of people with every contradictory point of view, and even those with none of the above. Mitt will finally have to come clean, which is what he should have done in the first place, no matter to whom he was speaking, because he was always speaking for the cameras, too.

He’d also better start getting specific and realistic. Statements that he will create 20,000 jobs by X date, presumably by magic, just won’t cut it. Nor will the absurd grandstanding of “On my first day in office I will repeal Obamacare!”

I think djf is perfectly correct, the Republican technocrats, professionals, and office holders care little about anything other than cutting taxes and doing favors for K street. As soon as they have your vote, they have no interest at all in why you voted for them, because your vote is the only thing they expect from you.

And they have finally brought forth a candidate incapable of hiding this fact.

And let’s face it Romney with the whole rest of the field ganging up on him beat Santorum. This site has a real chip on its shoulder about Santorum. Just imagine the last two weeks with Santorum talking about his private sector union support and comparing it to Obama’s public sector union support. All this with the disgusting spectacle of a teacher’s strike looming as a spectre. Instead, we got Romney and the 47%.