Mittagedon (Thank you Mr. Romney Redux)

(I am posting a bit on dailykos.com)

A while ago I posted a thank you for Mitt in picking Paul Ryan for the VP candidate.  At that time I was hoping that the Ryan's pick would lead Romney to lay out some of the actual policies that had been stewing in the Tea Party, the public would vote them down, and the GOP might starting turning back towards the center as a result.  At least start putting Grover Norquist at a bit greater distant . . .

Things seemed to be going exactly as I had planned, but now that Mitt is proving to be the ultimate clusterf--- of a candidate things are going awry.  I now fear that when the GOP gets smoked in the election, they are just going to blame it all on Romney being a genuinely crappy candidate, drawing exactly the wrong conclusion again.  This may only lead them to spend four more years screwing the country over by obstructing anything the Obama advocates.

At least Mitt being Mitt is rallying the Democratic base. 

Romney is so generally unlikeable and Obama so vilified by the right-wing media it feels like 50+% of Romney supporters are probably just voting against Obama.   It isn't a very compelling campaign if you have to get voters to vote against the other guy rather than you.  This was why the GOP convention was just a bitch fest without real life.

Perhaps Obama has peaked too early and the eventual pendulum swing will head back to Romney.

The real downside is that I do not believe either candidate has a real plan to address the deficit and the entitlement programs.  Cutting taxes by 20% across the board is purely lunacy, but so is saying the status quo can go on forever.  A trillion dollars in deficit spending a year is an inefficient and untargetted stimulus and it can't go over forever.   The debt is the biggest incertainty faces businesses and the economy. 

I guess time will tell.  When Romney went after the 47% and Ryan's voucher plan got publicity, America by and large recoiled from them.  Hopefully this will suggest at some level to the Right, that we should start with baby steps, like reforming, rather than throwing out programs that worked well for a very long time.  But, the Romney's doubling down on Bushesque tax cuts aimed at benefiting only the richest and international posturing was so destructive that we have lost the chance for meaningful debate.

Oh well.  I thought you were serious for a moment there Mitt.