"The Moderate Mitt Myth"

Editorial in today's New York Times:

"From the beginning of his run for the Republican nomination, Mr. Romney has offered to transfigure himself into any shape desired by an audience in order to achieve power. In front of massed crowds or on television, he can sound sunny and inclusive, radiating a feel-good centrism. His 'severely conservative' policies and disdain for much of the country are reserved for partisans, donors and the harsh ideologues who clutter his party’s base. This polarity is often described as 'flip-flopping,' but the word is too mild to describe opposing positions that are simultaneously held.

"The best way to judge candidates is not by the popular way they describe their plans near the end of a campaign; it is by the most divisive presentations of themselves earlier on. A candidate’s political calculations when fewer people are watching is likely to say far more about character than poll-tested pleasantries in the spotlight."

The editorial is worth reading in full. (We just got back from a drive in the country, where the lawns were littered with Romney signs. The dissonance is hard to take.)