James Zogby: Romney’s Foreign Policy: About Face or Two-Faced?

I have followed Romney’s every word for almost two years now, and I simply don’t recognize the guy who spoke at Virginia Military Institute on October 8th or the one who showed up to debate President Obama last week. …

The Mitt Romney who showed up on debate night was a different person. The questions for voters will be: for which Mitt Romney are they being asked to vote? And should he win, which Mitt Romney would show up for work?

James Zogby: Romney’s Foreign Policy: About Face or Two-Faced?

The Heirs of Reagan’s Optimism « Fareed Zakaria

Role reversal: the Democrats are the ones celebrating America’s promise

By Fareed Zakaria

One perennial prediction about American elections remains likely to hold this November. The winning party will be the one that is more optimistic about ­America—even in the midst of a struggling economy. “American civilization, from its beginnings,” writes historian Daniel Boorstin, “had combined a dogmatic confidence in the future with a naive puzzlement over what the future might bring.”

This confidence has not been confined to one party. Both Republican Theodore Roosevelt and Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt had it, as did John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Optimism in this sense is not a philosophy but more of a temperament, a comfort with the country’s eternal potential and a faith in its virtues. …

Today it is the Republican Party that often seems angry with America. Read the best-selling books by conservatives these days, watch Fox News or attend a Tea Party rally. They are filled with rage, often combined with a powerful nostalgia for an America that has gone away. …

Anger and nostalgia are at the heart of the Tea Party. … The Tea Partyers love America, but it’s an America that is an abstraction or a memory. The nation of today—with its many immigrants, liberated women, increasingly liberated gays, myriad government programs, open trade and a Spanish-­language option on every phone menu—seems to scare them. …

At some point, the changes became part of the fabric of the country. Can you love America and hate so much about it?

The Republican Party has an important and powerful economic message for America today. But to sell it, it needs to convince voters that it understands and appreciates today’s America.

The Heirs of Reagan’s Optimism « Fareed Zakaria

When Romney said, “attacking me isn’t stating a plan,” I wanted Obama to say, “I’m not attacking you. I’m quoting your changing positions.” I also wanted Obama to say, “Attacking you? You don’t have the stones to be president.”

Eugene Robinson: Obama outpoints Romney in third debate – The Washington Post

On that issue, as on many others, Romney simply did not acknowledge his flip-flops. It was as if he were at a dinner party and someone brought up a topic too vulgar for polite company.

Eugene Robinson: Obama outpoints Romney in third debate – The Washington Post

After the second debate, it looked like both camps avoided each other completely. This time, it seemed the Obamas waded into a sea of Romneys. Maybe we don’t have to be blood-enemies.

I object to the use of the term “defectors.” mjh

McCain voters defecting to Obama are older white males – Yahoo! News By Gabriel Debenedetti | Reuters

Roughly 5 percent of respondents in Reuters/Ipsos polls said they chose the Republican contender in 2008 and will switch to Obama in 2012. This number peaked at around 9 percent two separate times over the summer, according to data collected since January. …

The McCain-to-Obama switchers are 55 percent male, and 34 percent of them are 55 or older. (Overall, Obama trails Romney 34 percent to 52 percent among white men over 50.) About 72 percent of them are white.

They are largely from the East Coast; nearly 4 in 10 live in the mid- or South Atlantic. Nearly 3 in 10 finished their education after high school, and nearly 2 in 10 have a bachelor’s degree.

Two-thirds say they are absolutely going to vote, choosing "10" on a 1-10 scale for likelihood of voting.

Even though 38 percent of all voters believe the economy is the election’s most prominent issue, just one-third of the McCain defectors agree. Character matters more. …

The defectors to Obama remain a smaller subset of respondents than those who voted for him in 2008 and now support Romney. The Reuters/Ipsos polling shows 10 percent of voters plan to cross the aisle in that direction.

(The Reuters/Ipsos database is now public and searchable here: tinyurl.com/reuterspoll)

(Editing by Prudence Crowther)

McCain voters defecting to Obama are older white males – Yahoo! News

Tribune Endorsement: Too Many Mitts | The Salt Lake Tribune

Obama has earned another term

First Published Oct 19 2012 12:13 pm • Updated 6 minutes ago

Nowhere has Mitt Romney’s pursuit of the presidency been more warmly welcomed or closely followed than here in Utah. …

From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?"

The evidence suggests no clear answer, or at least one that would survive Romney’s next speech or sound bite. Politicians routinely tailor their words to suit an audience. Romney, though, is shameless, lavishing vastly diverse audiences with words, any words, they would trade their votes to hear. …

In considering which candidate to endorse, The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board had hoped that Romney would exhibit the same talents for organization, pragmatic problem solving and inspired leadership that he displayed here more than a decade ago. Instead, we have watched him morph into a friend of the far right, then tack toward the center with breathtaking aplomb. Through a pair of presidential debates, Romney’s domestic agenda remains bereft of detail and worthy of mistrust.

Therefore, our endorsement must go to the incumbent, a competent leader who, against tough odds, has guided the country through catastrophe and set a course that, while rocky, is pointing toward a brighter day. The president has earned a second term. Romney, in whatever guise, does not deserve a first.

Tribune Endorsement: Too Many Mitts | The Salt Lake Tribune