[goodwithagun]

He schooled her? In what way did he educate her? He never corrected her at all, he simply told her to go vote for somebody who believes a she does. Mittens had the perfect opportunity to educate this fluke about how nothing is free, but he failed miserably.

[MrB]

That shows that Mitt doesn’t really understand conservatism.

Conservatism is hard, it has to be taught.
Liberalism is easy, it’s simply felt.

[B Knotts]

Agree. What he said was a good start, but he needed to clearly explain the fallacy of the “free lunch” mentality.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Romney's answer wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. He went on to talk about trillion dollar deficits and no longer being able to give free stuff. And the "if you want free stuff, vote for the other guy" line was very good.

This reminds me a bit of the town hall debate between Bush and Clinton where some pony-tailed dude stood up and asked them a question about how people looked to the government as sort of a father, and how each of them would fill that role. Clinton, of course, lapped that up. And Bush completely missed his opportunity to draw a distinction by saying that the government is not your father, etc., and just kind of pandered, though less well than Clinton.

I'll take Romney's answer, and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.