Mitt Romney GORE'd By Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney must remember this '08 Trade Secret if he wants to be President - Win your home state.

The advice is even more pertinent now that Willard's latest poll numbers show Newt, a guy who isn't even running for President, charging up Big Love's backside faster than one can say "Great Salt Lake".

So what to do?

We don't think it's any secret that Willard has a reputation for flip-flopping on abortion and gay rights.

In fact, New Hampshire activists have coined a phrase for Love's constantly evolving social positions - the "Mitt-Flop".

That's a serious problem for Love. Funny. But a serious problem.

Which is why we appreciate Big Love attempting to shift the conversation away from social issues and towards economic issues. As Heidi Przybyla writes for Bloomberg:

Romney, who plans to formally announce his candidacy on Feb. 13, initially cast himself as a traditional-values Republican. Now he's styling himself as the heir to President Ronald Reagan's legacy of tax cuts.

"It makes far more strategic sense for him to focus on economic issues now than to try to continually explain his shifts on social issues," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican consultant. "You play to your candidate's strengths, not try to create a strength that turns into a vulnerability."

We get it - Social issues bad. Economic issues good.

But then Romney's campaign team forgot to mind the store in Massachusetts. Again.

And now Romney is being accused of Mitt-Flopping. Again.

We can't believe it either.

About 35 seconds after Big Love told the world, "I'm the rightful heir to Ronald Reagan's tax cutting legacy!" officials from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said, "That's sure as hell news to us!"

From Ross and Wedge's Boston Herald article:

But officials from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation say Romney has yet to come clean with national conservatives. Foundation President Michael Widmer said several of Romney's policies while governor resulted in higher taxes, including local aid cuts, fee hikes and changes to corporate tax codes.

"I think it's a mixed record," Widmer said. "he faced a large shortfall in the budget when he came into office and I think one has to be realistic about the problem he faced, but at the same time saying that he didn't raise taxes is an incomplete picture."

That's getting GORE'd alright.

Which leads us to ask what is Love paying Ron Kaufman all that money for?