Mitt Romney's McCain Moment

Mitt says the US economy is "getting better" under Obama. That's sort of like John McCain saying "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" as the financial crisis erupted in the fall of 2008. Both are really good news for the David Axelrod!

January 2012: Romney says the economy is getting better under Obama

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Via washingtonmonthly.com

INGRAHAM (starting at about 5:30 in the video): "You’ve also noted that there are signs of improvement on the horizon in the economy. How do you answer the president’s argument that the economy is getting better in a general election campaign if you yourself are saying it’s getting better?"

ROMNEY: "Well, of course it’s getting better. The economy always gets better after a recession, there is always a recovery. […]"

INGRAHAM: "Isn’t it a hard argument to make if you’re saying, like, OK, he inherited this recession, he took a bunch of steps to try to turn the economy around, and now, we’re seeing more jobs, but vote against him anyway? Isn’t that a hard argument to make? Is that a stark enough contrast?"

ROMNEY: "Have you got a better one, Laura? It just happens to be the truth."

Fall 2008: McCain says the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong.

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MCCAIN (0:15 in the video): "...the fundamentals of our economy our strong..."

Mitt's Qualification:There is a little more to what Romney said. While he concedes that there is a recovery underway, he adds the qualification that the recovery is going too slowly and he blames Obama for that. Something tells us this won't stop the celebrations in Chicago:

ROMNEY: "There's never been a time anywhere in the world where an economy has never recovered. The question is has it recovered by virtue of something the president has done or has he delayed the recovery and made it more painful? And the latter, of course, is the truth. The president's policies have made the recession deeper and have made the recovery more tepid and more difficult on the American people. This is the worst recovery that we have seen from a recession since Hoover. And President Obama wants to take credit for things getting better, he's in fact made things worse. He's made this recovery take much longer, but, will our economy get better someday? Of course it will."

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