Matthew Yglesias: "it's not as if this is going to be the last recession in American history."
Really? Why?
Empires fail. Don't they?
Which is not to say we can't watch the Republican Frontrunner talk weird shit.
I agree with Steve and Duncan that Romney (ittdgy says "Rmoney" and I dig, but I teach English, cannot wilfully misspell, Prime Directive etc.) is not so much guilty of a "gaffe" as he is of trying to act like a deliberate asshole in the way GOP candidates traditionally behave.
But, yeah, see, I'm going to have to go ahead and point out that while Steve is right that this is "lite dog-whistling," it's very badly done. In the video, Romney looks like he's tweaking. He's darting his eyes all over the place, he's blithering -- he's the handsome, brainless, over-caffeinated dentist who does community theater and always fucks things up by yelling "line"! Except here he's yelling "Racist Dog-Whistle!" If people can hear you, your dog whistle sucks.
For evidence we can listen to the yipping that emanates from the kennels. Here is The Pride of CNN:
The problem here is that the middle class won’t vote for a Democrat pledging to raise taxes only on the rich for the same reason they won’t vote for a Republican who says he is not concerned about the very poor. They know they are next. And evangelicals who Romney already has a problem with are very mindful of the rich man and Lazarus.
Which is nutty, but that's kind of the point: this is the lunatic base's critique of Romney's remarks.
And then we have the Allegedly Sensible Criticism, from Jonah Goldberg:
Again, I’d happily vote for Romney over Obama. And I’d be fine with Romney crushing Obama with negative ads, if that was remotely possible. And there are plenty of things one could say to defend Romney on the merits of what he says here. But great politicians on the morning after a big win, don’t force their supporters to go around defending the candidate from the charge that he doesn’t care about the poor. They just don’t.
Fart fart fart.
Look, nobody likes Romney. Nobody liked McCain, either.
Here is a blunt conjecture as to why no non-incompetent Republican wants to get serious and run for president. They don't want to. Why? Because that is not where the power or the money is.
If for generations you've preached the Gospel of Slagging Off Public Service, you have a problem recruiting bright young idiots for Public Service.
The GOP will do fine fucking up the House and Senate and state governments, but I don't see them even giving much of a shit about the presidency.
Does Fox make more money with a Supervillian Kenyan Marxist in the White House, or with a square-jawed dink who used to run Taxachusetts?
This will be a nasty, but stupid, campaign. Take Obama and the points.
MAS. Strictly for yuks, and also my thesis-strengthening, enjoy this Son of Erick idiot tantrum:
But the coup de grace came late today when, to mitigate the damage, Romney reminded everyone he supports automatic hikes in the minimum wage — a truly conservative position.
It's amazing that the GOP is such a mess when its sole core belief is "fuck you liberals." You'd think that wouldn't be all that tricky to go with. Your 21st century GOP: "We can botch 'Fuck You!'" Inspiring...