Remember that story the other day about Romney and the “zingers” for the debate? It struck me as more the Obama campaign pushing a story than anything real from the Romney camp.

Below are the talking points the Obama camp is circulating this morning to get their surrogates ready for the media discussion. Note their use of the “zingers” bit among other things. Also, let’s laugh at the Obama camp saying they have a specific plan and Romney is “hiding.”

Relatedly, here is Stephanie Cutter’s spin memo.

Today’s Talking Points

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

TONIGHT’S DEBATE: The President Will Keep Sharing His Specific Vision for Moving Forward; Romney Hides the Details of His Plans Since He Knows They’re Bad for the Middle Class

Key Point: At tonight’s debate, President Obama will continue his conversation with the American people about his specific, concrete plans to restore middle-class security and move our country forward. Romney will keep hiding his specific details behind lies, distortions and “zingers” because he knows what voters do – that his policies are bad for the middle class.

President Obama and Mitt Romney have two very different approaches coming into tonight’s debate.

• President Obama will continue his conversation with voters about restoring middle-class security, creating jobs and growing our economy for everyone.
• Romney can finally reveal the specifics behind his plans, but he doesn’t have any, so he’ll probably just try to land some of the “zingers” he’s been memorizing.
• Just this morning one of Romney’s top advisors said it’s hard to get into specifics in a debate. Last time we checked, that’s what debates are supposed to be about.

Must See: This new OFA memo and this new OFA web video outlining and debunking the many promises and contradictions we’ll hear from Romney tonight.

Romney doesn’t have a single idea to create new jobs and the math of his plans just doesn’t add up, so he’ll do what he does best: lie about the President’s record, distort his own and try to peddle his five-point plan – but as usual, it’s all a sham.

• Energy: He claims he’ll make us energy independent by 2020, but even using his own math, Romney’s drilling-only plan leaves us dependent on foreign oil. Under President Obama, our dependence on foreign oil has reached a 20-year low.
• Small Businesses: He says he’ll champion them, but he’d risk raising taxes on 30 million small business owners to pay for his $5 trillion tax plan skewed to the wealthiest. President Obama has cut taxes for small businesses 18 times.
• Education: He says he’ll improve schools but won’t detail how. His budget cuts would slash Pell Grants and lead to teacher layoffs, but he’d cut taxes for the wealthy. The President doubled Pell Grant funding and prevented teacher layoffs.
• Trade: He says he’ll sign trade agreements and stand up to China, but he sent our jobs there, attacked the President for enforcing trade laws against Chinese tires, and one economist said his plans could create 800,00 jobs overseas. The President signed three new trade agreements and is standing up for American workers.
• Deficit: He says he’ll balance the budget, but his math doesn’t add up. He’d give the Pentagon $2 trillion it hasn’t asked for and cut taxes by $5 trillion, but he won’t say how he’ll pay for any of it. The President’s balanced plan reduces the deficit by more than $4 trillion, cuts spending and asks the wealthy to pay more.
• He says he’ll create 12 million jobs in the next four years, but independent economists say we’re already on track to do that, and outside analysis says his plans would cost nearly 2 million jobs by 2014. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month when the President took office, and businesses have since created nearly 5.1 million new jobs over the past 30 straight months of private-sector growth.
• Taxes: He’ll say tax cuts for the wealthy will fix everything, even though they got us into this mess. Independent economists say he’d have to raise middle-class taxes to pay for his tax cuts for the wealthiest. President Obama has cut taxes by $3,600 for the typical middle-class family since taking office.
• Obamacare: He says he’ll repeal it, raising costs for seniors and letting insurance companies drop coverage for preexisting conditions. One of the architects of both Romneycare and Obamacare says that would nearly double premiums and out-of-pocket costs in the individual market compared to the President’s plan while leaving 51 million more Americans uninsured.

President Obama will discuss his specific, concrete plans to move us forward – like creating a million new manufacturing jobs, doubling our exports, cutting our oil imports in half and reducing the deficit in a balanced way that protects the middle class.

The President has been open about his specific vision for our country, but Romney keeps hiding the details of his plans because he knows what voters do, and what independent experts have said for months – that his policies are bad for the middle class.

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