Not too long ago, Mitt Romney and his speechwriters thought they'd come up with a clever new way to mock President Obama: they ridicule efforts to "slow the rise of the oceans."
Campaigning in Minnesota today, former President Bill Clinton suggested these jokes appear a lot less funny now.
For those who can't watch clips online, Clinton said:
"I was actually listening closely to what the candidates said in these debates. In the first debate, the triumph of the moderate Mitt Romney. You remember what he did? He ridiculed the President. Ridiculed the President for his efforts to fight global warming in economically beneficial ways. He said 'Oh, you're going to turn back the seas.' In my part of America, we would like it if someone could've done that yesterday."All up and down the East Coast, there are mayors, many of them Republicans, who are being told, 'You've got to move these houses back away from the ocean. You've got to lift them up. Climate change is going to raise the water levels on a permanent basis. If you want your town insured, you have to do this.' In the real world, Barack Obama's policies work better."
I have a hunch it'll be a while before this little GOP applause line returns to Romney's stump speech.