Video of the Day: Mitt Romney's Poetry of Contradictions

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Or, the all-American verse of Walt Mitt-man.

Back in March, we pointed out Hugh Atkin's hilarious video "Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up," in which he painstakingly spliced together clips of Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, and others to create a "cover" version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." Now Atkin is back with another version, in which he channels another great American poet, although one with far less homophobic views than Eminem: Walt Whitman.

Well, sort of -- the title, at least, is a nod to Whitman. In any case, Atkin has spliced together more of Romney's statements to make the argument that Romney is a flip-flopper. The content is a mix: There are fair critiques ("In the case of Obamacare, I disagree with myself. I supported the idea of an individual mandate, but I oppose what the president did"); some are cheap shots ("And then I decided to run for national office and don't have an idea why. Everybody I talked to said it's a bad idea" -- the latter sentence coming from an interview about the genesis of Staples) and some are just slapstick ("I served as governor for four years. Like a mini-skirt, it was short and revealing."). Here's Atkin's breakdown of the lines.

As for the real Walt Whitman, you can read the poems he published in The Atlantic here.

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David A. Graham

David Graham is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees the Politics Channel. He previously reported for Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The National.

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