All Downhill From Here

YOU can't swing a cat at local television these days without hitting a Republican primary campaign ad [and if you did, the screeching would pretty much be indistinguishable, except for OBAMACARE! and SOCIALISM! (yes, socialism!)]. The Lugar-Murdock war--now joined by Armchair General Mitch Daniels, who, provided you didn't know enough not to take him at face value, you would be convinced actually believes he can talk some sense into his party--has been elbowed aside enough to allow in several House hopefuls, including the egregious DC resident David McIntosh (imagine, assuming anyone can, a more self-righteous version of Rick Santorum).

(There's a particularly nice touch in this: Daniels appears to've done his promos from the Lugar farm, which is where Lugar was forced to move his voting address a month ago so it corresponded to some property he actually could claim, however tenuously. And Mitch is attired in his Hoosier get-up, the open-collared sports shirt he cannot possibly have worn a single working day in his life. It's like Sincerity! is the new fragrance from the Cato Institute.)

All of these bozos are going to Repeal Obamacare!, and Cut Federal Spending!; one in particular is gonna make the Federal deficit disappear like he helped Mitch Daniels make Indiana's deficit disappear. Which should be some trick. One really wishes for the opportunity to sit Daniels down, look him in the eye, and ask what his plans are for when this jig is up.

Two things should be borne in mind: one, these guys are all seeking to replace retiring Dan Burton, so there's no net effect on the Beltway's insanity quotient, and probably only a small one on some caddy's tip earnings. And, two, these people are vying for the right to run with Mitt Fucking Romney, and so are pledging their troth to preventing him from doing anything that isn't doubling the Defense budget. Mitt Fucking Romney, now "pivoting" to the center, who, regardless of how the national Press tries to sugar-coat it, is a colossal doofus. And who, if he has any sense, will make certain not to pick a VP candidate attractive to the meatheads of his party. If Romney is now made to appear semi-appealing by virtue of the fact that it's either him or that black guy, just remember there's seven months of him to go.