It's been such a long year, for both Mitt Romney and us, that it's tough to remember all his gaffes, blunders, walkbacks and lies. Apparently he's having trouble remembering himself. Apparently so have many voters, those glorious undecideds, who gave him a 6-point boost after the first debate, where he repudiated much of what he'd said during the GOP primaries. He shook the Etch a Sketch and it worked. In 2004, John Kerry changed his position on one matter, the Iraq War, and was condemned for an entire election season, and beyond, for it. Mitt Romney flip-flops on everything and he's awarded the governorship of Massachusetts, the Republican nomination for president, and... ?

So I used Google's “custom range” tool to search, week by week, for the various top stories on Mitt Romney, and came up with the compendium below. Caveat: “Dog on roof,” and “Corporations are people, my friend,” two favorites, are from 2011.

Enjoy. Or grimace.

• January 1-8: “Gingrich: Mitt Romney is a Liar” on CBS News.
• January 8-14: “Where's Romney's tax return?” on FOX Business.
• January 15-21: “Romney's Taxes: the offshore controversy” on CNN Money.
• January 22-28: “Mitt Romney Made Nearly $22 Million in 2010, Paid Less Than 14% in Taxes” on ABC News.
• January 29-February 4: “Mitt Romney: 'I'm Not Concerned with the Very Poor'” on Huffington Post
• February 5-11: “Mitt Romney tells CPAC he was 'severely conservative governor'” in The Washington Post
• February 12-18: “Romney: 'Michigan trees are the right height'” on YouTube:
• February 19-25: “Another Romney Clunker? 'Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs actually'” on the Christian Science Monitor site.
• February 26-March 3: “Romney: Limbaugh's 'Slut' line is 'not the language I'd use'” on The Hill.
• March 4-10: “Romney in the South: 'I like grits, y'all'” on YouTube.

• March 11-17: “Mitt Romney on Planned Parenthood: 'We're going to get rid of that'” on KSDK.com.
• March 18-24: “Mitt Romney Platform 'Like an Etch a Sketch,' Top Spokesman Says” on Huffington Post.
• March 25-31: “Can Romney Recover from Etch-a-Sketch Moment?” by National Journal Staff.
• April 1-7: “The Facts vs. Mitt Romney” on the Washington Post site.
• April 8-14: “Mitt Romney at NRA: Beware of Obama 'Unrestrained by the Demands of Re-Election'” on Huffington Post.
• April 15-21: “Mitt Romney's years at Bain represent everything you hate about capitalism,” in the Village Voice.
• April 22-28: “Mitt Romney Tells Otterbein University Students to Borrow Money from Their Parents to Start Business” on Huffington Post.
• April 29-May5: “FOX News' Shep Smith reacts to Mitt Romney reacting to Newt Gingrich quitting” on YouTube.
• May 6-12: “How Mitt Romney Bullied a Gay Student at Cranbook” on The New Yorker site.
• May 13-19: “Mitt Romney: 'I stand by what I said, whatever it was” on YouTube highlight reel.

• May 20-26: “Right-Wing Billionaires Behind Mitt Romney” in Rolling Stone.
• May 27-June 2: “Romney to officially clinch Republican nomination Tuesday” in The Washington Post.
• June 3-June 9: “Romney Mocks Obama for Wanting More Firemen, Policemen, Teachers” on Huffington Post.
• June 10-16: “The Root of Mitt Romney's Comfort with Lying” in Time magazine.
• June 17-23: “A Case of Romnesia: Mitt Romney's long history of misremembering his past” in Mother Jones.
• June 24-30: “I Will Repeal Obamacare” on MittRomney.com.
• July 1-7: “The Mystery of Romney's Exit from Bain” in Mother Jones.
• July 8-14: “Romney stayed at Bain three years longer than he stated” in the Boston Globe.
• July 15-21: “What Might Be Hiding in Romney's Tax Returns?” in US News and World Report.
• July 22-28: “Mitt Romney Makes 'Disconcerting' Olympic Gaffe in London” in International Business Times
• July 29-August 4: “Mitt Romney Palestinian comments 'racist and out of touch'” in the Daily Telegraph.
• August 5-11: “Mitt Romney Would Pay 0.82 Percent in Taxes Under Paul Ryan's Plan” on The Atlantic site.
• August 12-18: “Mitt Romney says he pays 13 percent in taxes. How low is that?” on the Christian Science Monitor site.
• August 19-25: “Romney birth certificate joke sets off firestorm” on CBS News.
• August 26-September 1: “Romney: 'Now is the Time to Restore the Promise of America'” on C-Span.
• September 2-8: “Clint Eastwood bests Mitt Romney as RNC highlight: Poll” by Reuters.
• September 9-15: “Mitt Romney's Response to Libya Murders was Un-American” on US News.com.
• September 16-22: “Deciphering Mitt Romney's '47 Percent' Blunder” on Politico.
• September 23-29: “Mitt Romney Lowers Debate Expectations” on ABC News.
• September 30-October 6: “Mitt Romney is the Smartest Guy in the Room” on FOX News.
• October 7-13: “Mitt Romney still mum on specifics of tax plan” in the LA Times.
• October 14-20: “'Binders Full of Women': Mitt Romney's claim not even accurate” in the Boston Globe.

You could almost sing a version of Billy Joel's “We Didn't Start the Fire” to Mitt's year:

NASCAR owners, Cadillacs,
He pays what in income tax
Kid Rock, Y'all and grits, Michigan trees.
Severely conservative governor
Not concerned with the poor
Bain exit, Paul Ryan, Benghazi.

Etch a sketch, Eastwood's chair,
You can't take him anywhere
Brit Olympics disconcerting
Homosexual student hurting

Mitt keeps starting fires
And he keeps them burning
Instead of learning...

Feel free to add your own stanza. I didn't even touch “47 percent” or “binders full of women.”

“I stand by what I said, whatever it was.”

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