Temperament

It says a lot about who and where you think you are...

In general:

Candidates who are behind go on the attack.  

Candidates who are ahead stay positive.

Mitt Romney took a surprisingly subdued tone during the final Presidential Debate that focused on foreign policy.  With discontent and criticism mounting on the Administration's actions and statements over the terrorist attack on September 11, 2012 in Libya, Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the Fast and Furious debacle in Mexico - there was plenty of ammunition for Romney.  Following acrimonious tenor and attacks of the previous debates after Denver's first debate - many were surprised when Romney declined to attack Obama as forcefully.  

The only Romney attack that resembled the previous debates came when the Governor explained his characterization of the Obama's trip overseas as an Apology Tour:

"Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to — to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to — to Turkey and Iraq. And — and by way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region, but you went to the other nations. And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations and on Arabic TV you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations. Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators."

The Battle for Middle Earth

Only True Partisans think the other side are Orcs

Lost in the critique of the purloined video recording of Mitt Romney's comments to wealthy donors released last week, was his explanation why the campaign did not more aggressively attack Obama as a corrupt failure.  Romney (correctly) explained that elections are won by attracting the five to seven percent of uncommitted voters that are open to changing their prior votes.

Romney then gave a fascinating insight into his campaign's thinking about which message best sells to this critical audience:

Gaffes III: Candidates should never openly Psychoanalyze Voters

And if they do...they should only do it in glowing terms.

Speaking to a select group of wealthy contributors, the Presidential Candidate was asked why he felt that his message found difficulty taking hold within certain portions of the American Public, the Candidate set off an unintentional firestorm by guessing.  This prompted the media to psychoanalyze the candidate's true motivation.

In 2012 that Candidate was Mitt Romney.

In 2008 that Candidate was Barack Obama.