Mitt Romney came out in favor of an extension of the payroll tax holiday today on the Michael Medved radio show. That represents a bit of a flip-flop from what Romney was saying in October. And it injects his opinion into the debate roiling the Republican caucuses on Capitol Hill. I don’t care what the polls say, on Capitol Hill, Mitt Romney is the clear frontrunner. In fact, no other candidate is even thinkable. So, when he takes one side of a contentious issue, most lawmakers should be lining up to support his position. Before long, he is supposed to be the Republican standard bearer, and he doesn’t need a bunch of knee biters doubting his leadership and taking contrary positions on the issues.
In truth. Romney is siding with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who both want to extend the payroll tax holiday and to extend unemployment insurance. The problem is that most of the Republican congresspeople they lead completely disagree. You might be inclined to give Romney credit for taking a reasonable position, but don’t forget that he is likely to take the opposite position tomorrow when it becomes clear, once again, that being reasonable is political poison in the GOP primaries.
