New Perry Ad Drills Romney As A Liar; Is That A Smart Idea?

This is a lot more effective attack than throwing bombs at a debate.

Perry scores with this, and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll get some media buzz out of it.

That said, most people who aren’t supporting Romney already know that he’s full of crap on Romneycare, and they also already know that Mitt will say anything to get elected. That dumb quote about how he can’t have illegals cutting his grass because he’s running for office, while not totally unreasonable, pretty much sums up Romney perfectly – and anybody running against Romney should use it gratuitously. Here’s a guy who cares about getting elected and not much else.

Incidentally, if you’re going to hack Romney about illegals, why not hack him over the fact that it’s Boston where Obama’s illegal alien aunt lives on welfare in public housing, and it’s Boston where his drunken-driving illegal alien uncle lives. They were there when Romney was governor, and the fact that they’re in the country infuriates lots of Republicans who fit a profile friendly to Perry. Why not ask Romney how it is that Obama’s aunt managed to pick up a welfare check from Massachusetts when Mitt was governor? That at least talks about governance. Romney’s yard man isn’t particularly relevant.

But this stuff is a large part of why 75 percent of the GOP electorate doesn’t want Romney to be the nominee. Does beating up on Romney capture that 75 percent? It wouldn’t appear so.

To regain a majority of the anti-Romney vote, which Perry was close to at one point and lost over the in-state tuition for illegals thing and the Gardasil thing – neither of which are fatal – and some goofy debate performances, Perry needs to do things other than attacking Romney. Go get the vote currently undecided between Perry, Cain, Gingrich, Bachmann and Paul and you’re going to be ahead of Romney – and he’ll likely be attacking you in an attempt to pick off your support.

It’s good that somebody is laying haymakers on the RINO in the race. Romney, while infinitely better than Obama as a potential president for the next four years, is as contrived and plastic a candidate as the Republican Party has put forth since…well, since he ran in 2008. We need a better candidate if winning the 2012 election is going to actually have meaning.

Rather than another attack on Romney, Perry’s camp needs to start putting out some educational videos and web ads showing why a flat tax like the one he’s going to propose in the next few days will be a superior policy to Cain’s 9-9-9 plan. There are lots of reasons why a flat tax works better – more realistic, lends certainty to the market, low compliance costs, a proven track record of success in other countries where it’s been tried, and so on. Put those out there so folks can get excited about a presidential candidate who will bring a slate of winning policies for a change, and you’ll find you get rewarded by the electorate for discussing things that matter.

The Mexicans in Romney’s yard make for a fun political attack, sure. But they don’t matter. Perry needs to show that he’s good enough to president, not that Romney isn’t. Most of the Republican voters out there already know the latter.

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