Desperate Romney flip-flops and goes negative in NH

UPDATE: NYT fact-checks the ad. Some misleadin’ and some makin’ up.

This is pretty funny. Mitt Romney told Jill Zuckerman of the Chicago Tribune reporters should stop looking at his "old quotes":

"I know that there are some—particularly in opposing campaigns—who will try to look at old quotes, and perhaps take them out of context and perhaps not, and go back 14 years or 15 years, and say, ‘You said this here, you said that there,’ " said Romney. "But… if you want to know what I’d do as president, you can see what I did as governor."

14 or 15 years? How about 24 hours? The closing graf was:

Romney’s campaign produced two television ads Wednesday in New Hampshire. He said both were positive, containing his closing argument to voters, and that he has not yet decided whether to air any "contrast" or negative ads.

Let’s be clear. Wednesday (afternoon?) Romney told the Trib reporter that they are going positive. By Friday morning, they were going negative, according to the AP:

Mitt Romney takes GOP presidential rival John McCain to task on taxes and immigration in a new advertising push in New Hampshire as he seeks to fend off the Arizona senator’s challenge.

Of course, Romney’s problem is that he is out of credibility. As the Union-Leader pointed out, "the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable he becomes."

You know though. Maybe he was right. He did flip-flop in under 48 hours as governor in some cases. Or maybe the Wednesday night tracking polls were that bad. Or maybe (probably?) he just lied to a reporter. Again.