Bain-Pain 2012

So Willard Mitt Romney has named a VP candidate. I really didn't think it would be Eddie Munster, but apparently I was wrong.

What this says to me is that the attacks on Romney about Bain Capital, his tax returns, and his severe lurch to the right to appease the base are all working. It wouldn't surprise me if his high dollar campaign donors (the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, etc.) dictated this move as they saw Willard's poll numbers go in exactly the wrong direction. Sort of an ultimatum as it were -- give us the guy we want who we actually believe we can trust to do what we want, or the funding dries up faster than the Arizona desert after a monsoon.

There are a few good things about this pick for the Democrats. First, it allows the campaign to make this an election about choice rather than a referendum on the Obama presidency, a change I'll guarantee campaign hq in Chicago has been praying for. After all, with unemployment and the economy absolutely stuck with no sign on the horizon for a positive move anytime in the near future (thanks Tea Party obstructionists), Obama certainly doesn't want to run on his record at the present time.

Second, over the next few weeks the term "end Medicare as we know it" is going to be imprinted on every voter's brain. I guarantee not a day will go by between now and November 6 without you hearing that phrase -- and it plays right into the hands of the Democrats. Romney has been running using the idea that the ACA cuts Medicare, but now he's married to the guy who wants to cut it completely. I don't see how he can continue that meme, but I have no doubt they'll try. It just won't work.

Ryan claims that his budget will cut the deficit and the debt severely over the next 10 years without raising taxes on the middle class -- but every reputable economist that I've read says just the opposite. You see, there is no way that that you can give huge tax cuts to the rich without paying for them and simultaneously increase the defense budget significantly without both raising taxes on the poor and middle class and cutting to the bone or eliminating the social net completely. I've got to believe that there are enough rational people out there under 54 (and even those above) who will see through this. It's just not possible to do what Ryan's budget says -- the math doesn't add up no matter how you try to juice the numbers.

Romney has said we don't need anyone from Congress anywhere near the White House -- instead it needs to be someone with business and executive experience. Yet now he hires the GOP face of Congress, a man whose business experience consists of driving the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile to be his running mate. You can't have it both ways, Mitt, and Jim Messina, David Plouffe and David Axelrod will know how to exploit this latest flip-flop from Mr. 1%. I also find it amusing that Mitt now says his business life should now be off the table -- it's only issues we should be discussing. This from the man who has been running for President for six years based on his business experience. I would argue that his business experience and his tax returns are entirely germane to the campaign, because they tell us what his Mittness is likely to do regarding economic policy in the country.

If I were the Obama campaign, I would immediately offer a new bumper sticker to every one of my supporters -- "Bain-Pain 2012." You see, it will be Bain and it's ilk running the country on policies that will bring immense pain to all the non-millionaires out there.

I would also hit every retirement community in every swing state either personally or with a surrogate reminding them of exactly what this will mean for Social Security and Medicare, even if they won't personally be affected. I'll bet they won't like the idea of their kids and grandkids being shut out of these programs that are part of our way of life in order to feed more money to those who don't need it, no matter what they say.

Thank you Willard. You've made me and every Democrat, liberal and progressive in the country very happy this weekend.