Your inability to understand that Mitt did claim to have the endorsement of the NRA, and that that was a lie, makes me think you are brainwashed.
There can be no other logical explanation.
After that terrible performance yesterday, it appears the Mittster is finished.
Reasons:
Lies
Obfuscation
Still pandering
He missed his greatest opportunity yesterday to stand up for something. He pandered instead and allowed Mr. potato head to keep him totally on the defensive.
He claimed their endorsement for his ACTIONS AS GOVERNOR, not for his candidacy FOR governor.
He said they “supported” him in his run for governor, which his campaign clarified because of the Washington Post blog which took his quote about “endorsement” of the gun bill and pretended it went with the “supported” claim.
The “supported” claim was at worst a slip of the tongue, something Russert didn’t interpret as a claim of endorsement.
IT’s only your hatred of Mitt that could make you believe that Mitt Romney was trying to claim an endorsement that he would know could be refuted with a 5-second web search.
Even if you claimed Mitt was stupid, which he obviously is not, he wouldn’t be that stupid.
He understood the word “endorsement”. He even USED the word when talking about his gun bill. So if he wanted to falsely claim the NRA endorsed him in 2002, he would have said so. He didn’t.
It’s clear from the context that he was discussing the question about his position on guns, with respect to the AWB and his statements in the 2002 election that he supported restrictions on guns, and supported enforcement of existing gun laws.
Candidates make mistakes. Some are trivial, like this one, some are more substantial. The opposition will always spin this as some deliberate attempt, even when that explanation defies logic and reason.
Romney’s position on guns in 2002, 2005, and in 2007 is perfectly clear, he’s not been trying to hide his past, and it’s absurd to believe that in this instance he was actually claiming an endorsement he didn’t receive, and doing so deliberately.
I guess the rule here now, at least regarding candidates whose initials are not FT, is “never attribute to simple error what you can blow up into a fatal character flaw”.