Romney occasionally forgets what side he's on
[ Interesting to see Maddow saying Romney is really one of us. ]
By Steve Benen
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Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:55 AM EST
Mitt Romney accidentally told the truth again yesterday. At a campaign event in Michigan, the former governor rejected the principal economic message espoused by congressional Republicans the last several years.
Mitt Romney said Tuesday that cutting spending slows growth in the economy -- a rhetorical slip more akin to an argument a Democrat might make than a Republican.
Speaking in Shelby Township, MI, the former Massachusetts governor took a question about the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission empanelled by President Obama to address the nation's deficit and debt issues. In his response, he said that addressing taxes and spending issues are essential.
"If you just cut, if all you're thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you'll slow down the economy," he said in part of his response. "So you have to, at the same time, create pro-growth tax policies."
......
It's exactly why the right-wing Club for Growth blasted Romney's comments as "hogwash."
What I find just as interesting, though, is that this isn't the first time Romney accidentally forgot what he and his party believe about the economy.
In January, for example, Romney stepped all over the Republican message by arguing, more than once, that the U.S. economy has improved during the Obama era. To be sure, Romney doesn't believe the president deserves credit for these developments, but the GOP presidential candidate has nevertheless said, over and over again, that the economy is "getting better" on Obama's watch.
That's not exactly helpful to the Republican Party's election-year message.
What's more, in September, Romney temporarily switched sides on economic orthodoxy.
Asked to explain his critique of President Obama's economic views on MSNBC ... Mitt Romney alleged that "he doesn't understand how the private sector works." What in particular does the president not understand? Demand!
"The president thinks that if you have cash on your balance sheet that means you're gonna go hire people. No, you hire people if you have customers. The president doesn't understand what makes the American economy go. I do."
In the immortal words of Josh Lyman, " That's the other guys."
In the larger economic debate, Democrats and the left in general are largely focused on one goal: demand. Policymakers should, the progressive argument goes, do everything possible to boost demand, since this rests at the heart of the larger problems -- more demand would mean more jobs, more growth, more production, more trade, etc.
The right disagrees. In fact, Republicans tend to believe the exact opposite -- we don't need to boost demand; we need to deal with the real problems like regulations, taxes, and some amorphous sense of uncertainty.
Demand, in the conservative model, is largely irrelevant. It's why Republicans consider the very idea of generating economic activity through unemployment benefits and food stamps to be completely ridiculous.
And yet, Romney accidentally endorsed the Democratic argument on national television.
Taken together, Romney, the likely GOP presidential candidate, believes the economy is getting better under Obama, spending cuts will hurt the economy, and the economy is being held back by a lack of demand, just as liberals have been arguing.
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