IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Romney invents new rhetorical device

<p>Mitt Romney went to Fairfax, Virginia, today, where he assured them, repeatedly, that he loves America and he loves the people of America.</p>
Romney invents new rhetorical device
Romney invents new rhetorical device

Mitt Romney went to Fairfax, Virginia, today, where he assured them, repeatedly, that he loves America and he loves the people of America. Also, he loves Ohio's unpopular union-stripping bill, the one he said he didn't know much about yesterday..

Questioner: What do you say to Governor Perry and others who criticized you yesterday for not taking a position on the collective bargaining rights bill in Ohio?Romney: Oh, I'm sorry if I created any confusion in that regard. I fully support Governor Kasich's – I think it’s called Question 2, in Ohio – fully support that.

It's hard to know exactly what this says about Mr. Romney or his campaign, since he said he wouldn't endorse the union-stripping bill while at a phone bank for the union-stripping bill, and since, as he acknowledged today, endorsed the union-stripping bill months before. But Mr. Romney didn't stop there:

"But what I was referring to is, I know there are other ballot questions there in Ohio, and I wasn't taking a position on those. One of them, for instance, relates to health care and mandates. I've said that should be up to individual states. I, of course, took my state in one direction. They may want to go in a different direction. I don't want to tell them what I think they ought to do in that regard – that's up to them. So it was with regards to that issue, that I didn't want to make a commitment."

So on Wednesday, it's one ballot issue that he won't take a stand on, the very tricky (for him) question of health reform. Tuesday:

Great to be here in Ohio today. I'm not speaking about the particular ballot issues. Those are up to the people of Ohio. . . . I'm not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives.

So when Mr. Romney said "issues" and "those" and "are" and "two," that was the rhetorical plural.