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Voters and reporters looking to Mitt Romney for new jobs proposals or additional details about his existing plans shouldn't expect many, the presumptive Republican nominee's aides said Thursday.
Most of Romney's fall campaign will involve "re-introducing a lot of the policy that came out a year ago," Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said on a conference call with reporters. The reason for that, he explained, was to remind them "of the governor's very detailed policy" now that voters are playing closer attention to the campaign.
The conference call was organized to outline the jobs policies about which Romney will speak today in Colorado. But the five priorities mentioned on the conference call -- energy, trade, education, cutting the deficit, and freeing up businesses from regulation -- have generally been staples of the former Massachusetts governor's campaign for much of the past year.
Kacper Pempel / REUTERS
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at the University of Warsaw Library in Warsaw July 31, 2012.
The question of specifics, though, has been one that has plagued the Romney campaign -- and it's not only Democrats who have voiced this criticism.
"The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault," the Wall Street Journal's right-leaning editorial board wrote in early July. "Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better."
But the Romney campaign has generally brushed off these complaints as imprudent politics. Boston has clearly broadcast that they are satisfied with the plans they have offered. ("He doesn’t need to lay out new policies," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a surrogate of Romney's and potential running mate, told National Review Online earlier this week.)
The Romney campaign has been generally opaque in its approach to several issues that could conceivably expose their candidate to scrutiny, which could distract from their central narrative about Obama and the economy. For instance, the campaign's refusal to detail which tax deductions Romney would favor eliminating – to show how he’d prefer to balance the budget – mirrors his refusal to release more than two years of tax returns, to detail his exit from Bain Capital, or to lay out how his administration would be more transparent than Obama’s.
On each question, though, the Romney campaign has left open a void of detail, and the Obama campaign and Democrats have gladly stepped in to fill it.
The president himself trumpeted a report from the nonpartisan, independent Tax Policy Center about Romney's tax plan.
The study concluded that, based on the available details about Romney's plan, that it would threaten a higher tax burden on the middle class, because it disproportionately takes advantage of exemptions that would be eliminated to finance tax reform.
But the enduring story of the Romney campaign is its conclusion early in the campaign that little else will matter on election day aside from voters' conclusion about Obama's handling of the economy. They've bet that the broad contours of Romney's policy contours will be enough to sway voters, and that they can weather criticism about the specifics without any of that becoming fatal.
"That report you referenced is a joke," Fehrnstrom said of the center’s report on the call. "There are serious problems with the authorship of that study, and the methodology."
One of the authors was an economic adviser member of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. But the other was the senior staff economist on President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
"The governor's plan essentially lays out the parameters that he wants to achieve," Jonathan Burks, the Romney campaign's deputy policy director, said on the call. "And within that, he would write a tax bill that achieves those goals. And so it's not a question of today, you know, we've got a 2,000-page tax plan that could be scored and demonstrated ... The details of how that would be accomplished would have to be worked out with Congress."
Republicans are quick to note that President Obama has offered few detailed proposals for his second term, and argue that the "American Jobs Act" first introduced by the White House last fall is only a re-hash of old policies.
But the Romney campaign's bet that it doesn't need to offer more detail opens the door to the Obama campaign and Democrats' efforts to turn the election into a choice between the president and Romney, even if it involves mischaracterizing elements of Romney's background – or inserting policy details that don’t exist -- that the GOP candidate won't define for himself.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made an especially specious claim in that vein when he told the Huffington Post this week that a Bain investor -- who he did not name -- told him that Romney had paid no effective tax rate for a decade.
Fehrnstrom angrily condemned that suggestion during an appearance Thursday on Fox News, but there are no indications that the evidence Romney could offer to rebuff those charges will be publicly available anytime soon.
NBC's Jay Rankin and Garrett Haake contributed.
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Huh?? Re-introduce?? Re-introduce what??
Isn't there only some less then 100days till the election. This clown is like the tepub congresses, and state legislators, on 'jobs', in the bush years, running on for the past midterms, running on again and doing nothing as to policy for but obstruct anyone else who is, i.e. take the transportation bill holding that hostage till the last minute and cutting from the already meager sum within!
He seems to love that 'Re', like the rovian speak re-visiting his past to re-visionist the history of, package and re-sell!!
What a repugnant candidate Mitt is, with the audacity to leave us in the dark on his specifics and expect us to presume that he is honest because he is a good Mormon. Has anyone read the despicable history of the Mormon religion? They slaughtered hundreds on their way to Utah and took their women as their own. And BTW, Mormonism is NOT a Christian religion as they do not believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior. The definition of Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ as the savior. Duh! Republicans will vote for any animal that crawls out from under a rock, regardless to oppose Obama, as long as they will be the TEAvangelist's puppet. In this case he is only their puppet on the campaign trail, no one knows what he will do once he takes office.
Romney is no a repugnant Senator because he is Mormon. He is repugnant because he is a liar and tax dodger. I was merely pointing out the fact that Mormonism is not Christianity as Mitt wants his voters to believe, and their church has a despicable history. I don't dislike Romney because he belongs to a cult and that believes that they came from outer space, or that they didn't allow blacks into their religion until 1978 and still do not believe that they have the ability to attain status in heaven. I dislike Romney because he is a liar and tax dodger that wants to balance our economy off the backs of the poor people while giving, yet more tax breaks to his rich cohorts and and corporations--which are people my friend, at least according ot Romney.
BTW, for the record I believe that ALL organized religion is hideous and has a despicable history, as did Jesus. IMHO
Break out the Etch-a-Sketch....
how to pay more and more unemployed will be more realistic
Why should Mitt tell us today when he is only going to change his position tomorrow, and then again the day after that, and the day after that. Just tell us when he doesn't have time to change his mind.
If you vote for Romney you will get a warmed over Bush administration, minus Bush's occasional charm. Some bad actors, same tired script. He talks about transparency but he is the typical secretive republican, cut from the same cloth as Dick Cheney. Sorry, this dog don't hunt.
I say keep up the rumors of Romney not paying ANY taxes for certain years. Its a win-win for the American voter. If he didn't, then the charade is up for him. If proven false, it would probably help Romney's credibility. But I can sense which way the facts are going to go.....And so does Romney.
By your logic, if he doesn't show the records, he didn't payfor some year(s).
He's not showing, so case closed.
ROMNEY'S TAKE
Energy - Drill holes in everything, let somebody else clean up the mess.
Trade - Jobs, schmobs, as long as the rich get richer.
Education - The middle class pays for it with their taxes, and the rich can afford to send their kids there. as it should be.
Deficit - We create it with unfunded tax breaks for the rich, and unfunded war after war. The middle class pays for it by getting rid of social security, medicare, education funding, mortgage interest deductions, etc.
Business regulations - So what if we have almost daily multi-billion dollar fines levied against banks and the criminal thugs that run them. They need to be free to do as they please. Who needs regulations, we're all honest, right? The middle class doesn't mind bailing out these Wall Street crooks.
Dan, thanks for the abridged version.
Mitt "I have no plan" Romney is at it again. I suppose that every one of those re-released "policies" (which were all shy on the details to begin with) will exhibit at least one flip flop.
The only plan I want from Mitt Romney are his plans to release at least five years of his tax returns. Along with , his plan to disclose information about his overseas accounts.....his plan to admit he was the CEO at Bain Capital when they started outsourcing American jobs to China and India. His plans to tell Americans that mormons are not Christians. His plans to not put a tax reduction plan into effect for the rich and raise taxes on the poor and middle class....his plan to stop his chronic lying.....those are plans I want...how about You?
Wouldnt be surprised if he didnt pay any significant taxes. In the last 30 years the rich have gotten so much richer because the politicians they own have created more and more and more loopholes for them. He is real scared of something in his tax returns. The speculation may be worse than his actual returns but if they were he would release them. There is probably a lot of middle class taxpayers that pay a much higher percentage than Mitt does. Who knows, maybe is is one of the 47 percent that pay no taxes.
Policy? Policy?? Your "policy" is to do exactly what corporate pitbull Grover Norquist tells you to do. We all know your "policy" repukes.
The one policy that he thinks will win him the white house is: I'm not the black guy.
What a way for a multi-millionaire run for President. No regulation on the Koch Brothers and our banks. No tax increase on the rich. Offshore banking is good. It only cost the U.S. government $100 billion from taking taxes owed by the rich yearly. We, the elite rich, have mastered avoiding taxes by offshore banking. We play a different ballgame than the middle-class. Keep the money flowing in my Elite Multi-millionaires. I"m running for you and myself. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait for the presidential debates, where we will be able, in real time, to see and hear Romney try to evade the many questions and issues that, if the truth becomes known, will spell the end of his candidacy.
It should be ended now, though, since his complete lack of qualifications, experience, and skills is already so evident.
I'm not so sure. Romney has been getting a lot of practice evading questions. I think the moderators should have those hand-held air horns and every time a candidate begins dodging a question they should be able to just blow it in his face and drown them out. It would be just a whole lot of noise. Oh wait, that's what the debates usually are anyway....
His campaign has been "opaque"? OPAQUE?????
If depleted unranium's density is classified as opaque, then I'd agree...
FrankChance? I know, right?... And as soon as Harry runs for President, we'll ask..
Mitt was caught lying about his taxes when he ran for Gov. He says we will will Have to trust him on his taxes...Well as a swing voter i can say I dont HAVE to vote for him. There was a time when i couldve voted for Mitt...But that time has long passed. The rich dont fight wars anymore they should at least pay taxes. If they dont pay taxes and only create jobs overseas wtf are the rich good for besides making everything more expensive. I was scammed into voting for "W" the first time. Thinking he was going to rule from the middle...WRONG. I wasnt stupid enough to vote for him the second time. Anybody who voted for Bush in 04 is a Republican 1st and an American somewhere further down the line. Mitt Is going to have 75% of the Bush administration in his cabinet. Remember John Bolton at the UN. No Way.
Romney paid no taxes for 10 years on earnings of hundreds of millions of dollars. He is unfit to be president.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7416956n
Until the source at Bain comes out into the open on this it just remains a rumor.
Really? This advice from a birther.
I avoid paying every cent of taxes. It is the tax law that needs changing. I really do not want to subsidize any more GSA conferences.
How about our forces fighting in Afghanistan?
Put McCain under oath. He saw 23 yrs of Romney's returns, then picked Palin. What does that tell you?
Harry Reid is controlled by the "mob" Someone in Las Vegas told me! They also said he was stealing from Nancy Pelosi, and had an illicit affair with Wayne newton
You sound desperate. Keep it up, I like it.
The republican party simply does not represent the citizens of the USA...at all. They represent huge worldwide corporations, period.
Youraloser serms to be gullible enough to believe the "give the rich breaks and it will trickle down to you" BS. Let me know if you are looking for a good used car Your.
In order for Romney to re-introduce anything he would first have to give us details of his original plan.
He's just blowing smoke as usual. Playing it safe and doing a lot of talking without actually saying anything. The sad thing is that this actually seems to be working for him.
I guess this means that he intends to ignore the Brookings Institute analysis of his tax plan, which concludes it provides cuts for those with $1.0 million in income and up and raises taxes on those who have less than $200K in annual income.
Fits the same pattern as sending his wife out regarding the call for additional back tax returns and telling us: "We think we've given enough to you people."
This is what comes up when you google the Brookings Institute
Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu/
An independent research and policy institute with a left-liberal inclination, which seeks to improve the performance of American institutions, the effectiveness of ...
Ah...well, then. Should be easy for him to refute, no?
Mitts policy plan is pretty simple. Let the rich get richer, let the poor fend for themselves, and give business every possibility of getting richer and more powerful even if it means the federal government goes broke. End all regulations of all business. Screw the environment. Screw the consumer. Screw anyone who is not in their 1% circle of wealth.
What a dumb article. Candidates don't give all their details until the convention. Most people don't pay attention till the end of the summer.
Why would Romney give away his game plan to the Obama parasites? They would just twist it into something it is not or use it themselves since they have not had one single creative idea of their own.
cogito:Romney's "plan" as you call it is W. Bush's plan They have the same failed policy advisers. They have the same failed policies of lower taxes on the rich and less regulation and oversight of corporations. That's it. They are the same. Romney is Bush. same blue blood pedigree. Same all boys private school education. Same ultra-pampered up bringing. Same governor/ business background. Same failed policy advisers whispering the very same lies in his ear that drove the nation to the verge of disaster under Bush. If you liked Bush's policies then you will love Romney he is more of the same. Plus with Romney he is a crook too who cheats the American tax payers out of money while gutting the manufacturing sector by outsourcing good paying American jobs overseas and then hiding the money he looted from the pensions of the US workers he "liked firing" in off-shore accounts that are in countries that are notorious and infamous as tax havens used by unscrupulous people like Romney to hide money from legitimate taxation. I didn't like Bush's policies but at least everybody knew he and his daddy were not crooks. On the other side of the coin, everybody, and I do mean everybody knows Romney is a habitual liar who has no spine when it comes to any core convictions or philosophy and who changes his tune depending on his audience and now we all know ROMNEY IS A CROOK..
How in God's green Earth does one "re-introduce" that which is yet to be seen?
And if this wondrous "governor's very detailed policy" has been sitting on a shelf for a year, why not dust it off and trot it out for the electorate to look at and discuss it with them, hmm?
It's a good thing nothing has changed in the world for the last year (snicker!).