What Romney Should Say at the Debate Tonight

You know, I have been thinking lately about some things Romney might want to say in response to Obama tonight at the debate. I mean, legitimate stuff here, not just "zingers". Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the zinger or one-shot, but a lot of times those aren't always based on deep truth...more like surface truth, or out-of-context truth.

An example of that kind of zinger would be if Romney said "I want to cut taxes", and Obama quipped quickly and somewhat quietly: "yeah, rich people's taxes". Sure it's true, but Romney of course wants to cut everyone's taxes, including the rich. That's just a "zinger" that is true on the surface, but doesn't really stand up to scrutiny and serves nothing more than to get a few points in the debate. I'd expect to hear a lot of those tonight from both sides, because politicians are pretty much spineless and unoriginal like that.

No, if Romney really wants to take some digs at the president, he needs to do so with something that has lasting power and is deeply truthful. Here are some ideas:


• When Obama starts talking about how he has plans to "create" more jobs and fix unemployment, Romney should respond with "Oh? You have a plan now? NOW? So what is it you have been doing the last four years then? Coming up with that plan you suddenly now have?"

  Or something similar.

• When Obama starts talking about "fixing" the economy, Romney should respond with "So let me get this straight Mr. President...your 'plan' to get the economy going again is to increase taxes on rich people, which includes a lot of small business owners, hit companies all over the country with a pick-your-poison tax or increased costs from Obamacare, and use the regulations hammer to make doing business even more expensive, basically taking money out of the economy and into government hands. Oh yeah, great plan. There's no way that couldn't work".

  Laced with a lot of sarcasm at the end there. Romney needs to hone his sarcasm skills.


• If Obama tries the old "Romney doesn't know anything about foreign policy or leadership in international affairs", Mitt should just fire back with "And I am sure, Mr. President, that after the election is over and we finally find out what exactly did happen in Libya and elsewhere, the American people will finally know for a fact that you didn't know anything about foreign policy or leadership either."

• And of course, when Obama says "let me be clear", Romney should just respond with "why start now?"


That would be a fun debate to watch. Unfortunately it will probably be pretty boring.