Friday, January 20, 2012

Last night's Clown Car ...

Charlie Pierce watched it so the rest of us didn't have to:

...

For the first time, Willard Romney looked as though he knows he could lose this thing. He was shaky, and easily shaken, and came damned close to a Rick Perry moment while fumbling for an answer on why he hasn't released his tax returns yet, and got booed for his trouble. He got maneuvered into defending the health-care plan he'd signed in Massachusetts — even, at one point, referring to it as "Romneycare," which I don't believe he's ever done before — and he looked out of practice trying to do it. And, as was the case in 2008, he doesn't seem to have any actual allies to bail him out. (Governor Nikki Haley is his primary surrogate down here, and her favorability ratings, as we reported earlier, are tanking faster than his.) He has a chronic inability to inspire loyalty from anyone outside his immediate family. It's more than a simple lack of empathy; Willard seems to ignite an active dislike. If he's trying to run out the clock on this campaign, he's doing it in what amounts to a One Corner Offense. Genuinely nonplussed by having Republicans cast him as Mr. Potter, Romney's now open to every attack from every direction.

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Heh ... It looks like it's tightening up again. Gonna have to get more popcorn.

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