"A Contempt for the Electorate"

"Mr. Romney, by contrast, seems to be betting that voters have no memories, poor arithmetic skills and a general inability to look behind the curtain. We hope the results Tuesday prove him wrong."

The Washington Post's Editorial Board denounces Mitt Romney's campaign.


"In his closing argument today, Mitt Romney unveiled the passive voice to argue why President Obama’s reelection would portend terrible things. Pay close attention, English teachers: 'The debt ceiling will come up again, and shutdown and default will be threatened, chilling the economy.'

"Shutdown and default will be threatened, you say? By who, exactly? Well, by the Republicans in Congress, of course.

"You can see why Romney would omit this detail from his closing pitch. Since taking control of the House of representatives in 2011, Republicans have engaged in a de facto campaign of economic sabotage. They abandoned their previous belief, shared with the entire macroeconomic forecasting field, that short-term deficit reduction harms a depressed economy. They turned the debt ceiling vote, once an opportunity for mere posturing, into a hostage crisis threatening dire economic consequences worldwide.

"David Frum joked last spring that their argument was 'Vote Republican. It's too dangerous to leave us in opposition.' And now this is the Republican candidate’s actual argument! Except he omits the 'us' via the passive voice."

Jonathan Chait at New York concurs.


"The voters, of course, may well recoil against these cynical manipulations at the polls. But win or lose, the Romney campaign has placed a big and historic bet on the proposition that facts can be ignored, more or less, with impunity."

And Kevin M. Kruse in The New York Times excoriates Romney's post-truth campaign.