We are all complex individuals, so it may not be fair to distill someone’s character to five sentences spoken by them. But for someone aspiring to be President, this morning’s piece on NPR may just say it all.
For reasons that escape me, a rich right-winger wants to revive the story of the relationship Barack Obama had with a former pastor of his, Jeremiah Wright, with some Super-PAC ads. This had become controversial in 2008, and there are many who think that one of Obama’s finest moments as a candidate was when he distanced himself from the intolerance spewed by Wright.
On Thursday, Romney disapproved of the plan, saying:
I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for America.
Then, he was asked about a statement he made on Sean Hannity’s show in February. Here is his response, as reported by Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman on Politico.com:
I’m actually — I’m not familiar with precisely, exactly what I said. But I stand by what I said, whatever it was. And with regards to — I’ll go back and take a look at what was said there.
Here is the statement from Hannity’s show:
I’m not sure what is worse, him [Obama] listening to Reverend Wright or him saying we must be a less Christian nation.
So, over the course of a mere five sentences, we go from what, on its face, is a resonsible and reasonable sentiment to an absolute lie – Obama wants to make the United States a “less Christian nation?” In between, we have what could be Romney’s campaign slogan: “I stand by what I said, whatever it was.”
Tom Noonan 