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No More Mister Nice Guy

With just five days to go until the election, Mitt Romney delivered a rabblerousing speech to a fired up base in Roanoke, Virginia today.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures as he speaks at a campaign event at Integrity Windows in Roanoke, Va., Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures as he speaks at a campaign event at Integrity Windows in Roanoke, Va.,...

With just five days to go until the election, Mitt Romney delivered a rabblerousing speech to a fired up base in Roanoke, Virginia today.

In stark contrast to Wednesday's remarks in Tampa, during which Mr. Romney avoided the tough talk that's usually directed at President Obama, today’s tone was harsh and critical of the current administration.

In recent days, Romney has exercised a bit of restraint when referencing the President—an obvious attempt to appear nonpartisan and empathetic in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

But post-Sandy chivalry is all but dead in the Romney campaign, as the former governor and his handlers have decided that it’s time to return to biting words, sarcastic remarks, and dire predictions of the country’s future if President Obama is re-elected.

“The President has a campaign slogan, 'Forward.' I saw the signs out front … I think forewarned is a better word,” Romney proclaimed to an enthusiastic crowd.

Interesting, considering just minutes later Romney criticized the President for “playing silly word games with my last name,” a reference to the President’s recent coinage of the term “Romnesia”.

Mr. Romney didn’t stop serving up the red meat as he rhetorically asked supporters if they want four more years of high unemployment, low earnings, trillion-dollar deficits and political gridlock.

And as the President joined New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on a tour of the hardest hit areas yesterday, Mitt Romney had trouble remembering exactly which state his campaign was sending relief aid to. “We’re gonna box these things up in just a minute, put them on some trucks and then we’re gonna send them to … uh … I think it’s New Jersey," he said.