John and Jennifer, this debate about what exactly Mitt Romney said about the surge and when he said it is obscuring the larger and obvious point: Romney has never been — and never claimed to be — an outspoken leader on national security issues. Everyone knows that on this issue, McCain has him, and everyone else, beat. And at the same time, no one really thinks that Romney is an unreliable squish when it comes to Iraq. He has stated his current position, which is pretty much indistinguishable from McCain’s.

Instead of taking McCain’s bait and playing on his turf, Romney should be arguing that the real test for the 2008 election is both judgment on foreign policy and deep experience in real economic decision making. If he would reframe the debate in that way, Romney might be winning the applause instead of Ron Paul and his isolationist rants.