London in New York

MITT CLAIMS ‘DIRTY TRICKS’ IN MICHIGAN

On the eve of the Michigan Presidential Primary, Mitt Romney was desperately trying to hold on to victory, real or perceived,  in his native state.  In order to manage expectations, in the case of a close win or close loss, so he could render himself triumphant in either case, the ’severely conservative’ candidate, was even heard to be  channeling Bill Clinton in New Hampshire Circa 1992, anointing himself the ‘comeback kid’.  Let’s be clear, Mitt Romney is as much of an underdog in Michigan as I was one to get fed at my mom’s dinner table. This is yet another a desperate ploy by the shape-shifting con-man  to cast himself as the underdog in his home state. The following day, actually today he  explaind his reasons for voting for Paul Tsongas in 1992 was to stop the real ‘comeback kid’, Bill Clinton.  According to the Chicago Tribune:

“In my case, I was certainly voting against the Democrat who I thought was the person I thought would be the worst leader of our nation. In this case, as I recall, it was Bill Clinton. I wanted someone other than Bill Clinton,” he told reporters during in his first news conference in several weeks.”

Then this morning with polls too close  to call, Romney decided to call Santorum’s appeal to Reagan Democrats a ‘dirty trick’ complaining about tactical voting in Michigan despite the fact that he engaged in it himself by voting in the ‘92 Democratic primaries to support Paul Tsongas.  Clearly Willard Milton Romney was hoping the 1% he ‘filled’ Ford Field with would be the only voters on Tuesday in Michigan. Shucks, Santorum ruined that for him by attracting other voters, from the 99%.  You know the ones Willard Milton Romney hoped to send to the street permanently with his ‘Delusions about the Detroit Bailout’ when he said ‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.’ No wonder President Obama said “Romney’s Shoveling A Load of You Know What.” Oh the sweet  irony of the Manchurian Mormon Madoff whose billionaire backed PACS have employed a $55 million dollar negattive attack machine to discredit and dismantle the under financed message campaigns of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich now claiming dirty tricks because Santorum solicited the votes of Reagan Democrats in an effort to ‘Kidnap Michigan’,  the ones Mittens might need should he ever hope to ascend to the Presidency. You see if Romney should lose, its all due to ‘Democratic Mischief’ to keep the ‘clown show’ going, not his own incredible inadequacies as a candidate.

Mitt Romney is called the Mormon Madoff for a reason. For all his millions and rugged good looks, resembling a plastic Ken Doll,  you think some where along the line he would have stopped to buy a personality or a soul.  The soul less, shape-shifting political chameleon is truly one of the inauthentic, insincere, fraudulent, duplicitous, fundamentally dishonest and utterly hollow men to ever seek the Presidency of this country. Up close and personal, Michigan voters may see Romney a lemon posing as a Cadillac STS.  The only issue left for voters to decided about Romney is whether his odd persona is indicative of his being a dork, an out of touch elitist, a douche, a total tool or an outright elitist prick.

ROCKY BALBOA NEEDS TO DROP THIS IVAN DRAGO IN A SUIT

One can only hope that Rocky Balboa drops this Ivan Drago in a suit to the canvas in Michigan like a dirty sack of potatoes.  Oh the horror of the prodigal son returning home only to get an ice pick in his head from Michael Myers. Happy Halloween Mittens.

Epilogue
-Detroit Free Press: Romney Santorum likely split GOP delegates from Michigan congressional districts
-Michigan Republican Party Presidential Primary Preliminary Results
-The Detroit News: Detroit-born Romney victorious on home turf

SANTORUM MUST FIRST UPSET MICHIGAN NATIVE SON – MITT ROMNEY

Rick Santorum (Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikicommons)

 

The often ridiculed and perhaps most controversial Republican candidate is the one who arguably and ironically stands the best chance to beat President Obama.  The question is will he get the chance. Can Santorum Score A Michigan Upset?  Will Republicans be courageous enough to throw caution to the wind and ignore the powerful manipulation and help to shed the myth of Romney’s Inevitability?   Today, despite Rick Santorum’s rise in the polls purely on the power of his message and authenticity Rombo remains the favorite in the battle for Michigan but not necessarily for the right reasons.  Romney is a man with all the advantages and a heavy shovel.  Rick Santorum is outgunned on every basis. Romney is running as a native son of Michigan. He has an unmatched financial war chest to fund his attack machine against Santorum and any challengers,  the boots on the ground across the state to deliver the votes, Wall Street and the RNC establishment firmly in his corner to lay the groundwork for Super Tuesday and Ron Paul doing some dirty work for him. With his entire candidacy potentially on the line in Michigan, in yet another bout of shape-shifting, Romney has tried to claim the underdog mantle in his own house. Jeez Louise what a royal con. Just one more maneuver in the Romney Con’s arsenal. Romney is about as much an underdog in Michigan as I was to get fed at my mother’s dinner table. That Santorum has presented this difficult a challenge to a man who should have run away with the contest is a testament to the strength of Santorum’s character as much as it is a signal of the weakness of Romney’s.

Call me crazy (some of you already do), but I think the latest USA Today/Gallup polls illustrating that Santorum would beat Obama and have greater strength over Romney in a head to head matchup witth President Obama in the battleground states portend of something that many are not quite prepared to grasp.  They may actually find it quite unsettling.  In fairness these new polls provide mixed news for the President and his potential competitors. And that is how does a man who is a caricature of a social conservative to the liberal community and a veritable punching bag to the gay community, perceived as a religious zealot with extreme views, even remotely competitive against a sitting President, one who killed Obama and helped rescue Detroit’s auto industry?

Romney is damaged goods. His CEO branding which might have been a greater asset in different times has been severely undermined by his character flaw.  His inconsistency on a range of issues along with some miscues  have contributed to the further perception of him as an out of touch elitist.  This is not especially helpful when doubts persist about your character and integrity. A narrative about Romney was framed by Republicans who ran against him in 2008 and in this election cycle. He is widely perceived as an inauthentic, insincere, hollow man, a veritable shape-shifting political chameleon with no core principles or values. Some of his own miscues have enhanced a the view of him as an out of touch elitist. When you are already seen as somewhat fradulent, that is hardly helpeful, especially in turbulent and uncertain times where authenticity matters.

Among social conservatives in particular, the contempt for Romney is that he is seen as a man without character or integrity who has served as a leader in the Utah based - LDS MormonCult, widely seen as a spiritual ponzi scheme. Santorum does not have an authenticity problem like Romney. To the contrary, he is seen as a rock solid social conservative by some and a religious zealot by others, a problem in an of itself.  His views are problematic for more libertarian Republicans but also Independents and Democrats. Nevertheless, if Santorum were to get by Romney and ascend to the nomination and focuses in earnest in his discussions with the wider electorate on core economic issues and improving conditions for working families, regardless of their faith, or lack thereof, I would hold that he is a much bigger threat to President Obama with his focus on support of the hardhats and tax breaks for manufacturing.  Romney’s robotic Gekko persona is problematic from an electoral standpoint in that it presents a caricatureof the guy that fired you and shipped your job overseas.

Doubters of this thesis will say that Santorum will get trounced in places like New York and Massachusetts and lose pockets of this country in wide margins. I would agree with this theory. But here is what they ignore, the red states would become increasingly red and the battleground states are ultimately more in play with a Santorum candidacy than with a Romney candidacy. Santorum will even get some Reagan Democrats. I see very few if any Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for a guy who is the embodiment or caricature of the greedy, indifferent CEO. And then you have the Mormon CULT factor – Romney is not just a member but a High Priest or Bishop in a fradulent cult with a racist history. Hence, it is hard to see how the Mormon Madoff gets by President Obama.  His inevitability argument is ringing increasingly hollow.

ROMNEY DESPERATE CLOSING APPEAL IN NATIVE STATE AS ‘UNDERDOG’ & ‘COMEBACK KID’ – Presents Challenge which may ultimately eclipse Santorum’s Rise

The overselling of Romney’s inevitabilty has been to date a very powerful force among Republicans committed to defeating President Obama. Money and psychological manipulation by the mainstream media are the advantages that Romney has over an otherwise fractured and relatively weak and under financed field. As reported by CBS News the recent polls undercut Romney’s electability argument over Santorun on the eve of the Miohigan primary. Even so these  powerful forces at play in Michigan  may deny Santorum the victory mantle in Michigan this evening, even though he has seemed to win the hearts of voters more so than Romney, who offers them calibrated or pragmatic choice, not necessarily the righteous choice.

Michigan was poised to be ‘a Bonfire of Romney’s vanity’  with the Big Varmint, Small Vision Playing to Empty Fields. Even despite Satan’s Santorum Problem with the rise of Santorum in Michigan even given his late appeals that brough him neck and neck with the Manchurian Mormon Madoff, it was going to in the end be difficult to sustain the climb given Romney’s procedural and financial advantages.  Even though I will hold to my steadfast belief that in a general election, he is a stronger candidate against President Obama than is Mitt Romney, the media in recent days seems to be setting up a repudiation of Santorum, with the intended or incidental affect that Christianity looks radical compared to Mormonism. This will help elevate and insulate Romney from the baggage associated with his fraudulent CULT.  There is a chance of a  big victory for Romney in Michigan today buttressed by a lead with the early vote and some of Santorum’s extreme views eclipsing distaste for Romney. And since Romney is rather good at lifting off of others, posing as like Reagan when it suited him, he now seems to be playing  Bill Clinton touting himself as the “comeback kid”   The media will eat it up, playing up Romney’s come back and Santorum’s implosion. Romney will preach about religious tolerance and move further to the center. He will seem inevitable again until he stumbles a on Super Tuesday. Rick Santorum may have peaked. But it’s hard to see how an over financed imperial and inevitable candidate can pull off being the underdog before people start realizing ‘WTF is wrong with a guy who has every advantage and under performs against a weak field’?  It would be sort of like A-Roid bragging of hitting a moon shot against a little leaguer World Series starter, while he was as an adult.  Mitt Romney is similarly a tool; only a douche who laughs about being being unemployed too and who is carpet-bombing carpet-bagger forced to manage expectations of his weak candidacy would present himself as the ‘comeback kid’ in his native state. If voters see through that Romney may be looking at a depressing evening and a long fight.

SMALL VISION ON DISPLAY AT AN EMPTY FORD FIELD IN DETROIT

"It's quite the venue for Romney's speech" @MaeveReston

Yesterday in the America’s heartland, the epicenter of the auto industry, Detroit, Michigan at Ford Field (home of the Detroit Lions) a hollow man with no core principles or values and clearly without a vision gave an awkward gaffe ridden speech to an empty Stadium in his hometown. In this address to the Detroit Economic Club, there was a once in a lifetime opportunity for a man to rise to the challenge of the times and present himself as a serious alternative to the existing administration in the White House. By all accounts he not only failed and fell flat but the ‘Detroit Debacle’ may have stalled whatever momentum had been building over the last few days in his campaign. Mitt Romney’s Ford Field Fumble was not only a missed opportunity to dismiss his under funded rivals for the nomination but raised serious doubts about his viability against President Obama. As reported in the Daily Kos, “Mitt Romney’s speech to a nearly empty Ford Field [was] roundly mocked on Twitter.”

As further stated by the blog Outside the Beltway:

“The real problem for Romney, though, is that unforced errors like this — and by that I mean the bad choice of venue, the lackluster speech, and the line about the Cadillacs — chip away at the only real argument for his candidacy, the argument that he’s the best candidate to beat Barack Obama in the fall.”

The native son of Detroit and perceived candidate of the 1%, in the heat of battle for the Republican nomination, and in a must win situation in his home state outlined his plan to restore American exceptionalism and economic opportunity to a cavernous Ford Field which was not so ironically 99% empty. The symbolism of Romney delivering “a big speech about nothing to an empty field” was not lost on anybody and neither should it have been lost on Romney and his handlers. Sometimes less is more and sometimes what is billed as more is often less. Mitt Romney never fails………to disappoint. His pseudo conservative rhetoric often results in his speaking to crickets. The only question left for Michigan voters to decide on Tuesday maybe whether the ‘empty suit’ and lying Clown Prince of of the LDS Mormon Cult (Mormonism was founded by 19th Century convicted con-artist and fraudster Joseph Smith) who famously opined ‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt’,  is a cold hearted prick, a jerk,  an out of touch elitist douche or maybe even simply an elitist freaking a-hole. Now that’s a problem, don’t ya think??

In terms of full disclosure, I enthusiastically supported Barack Obama in 2008.  As an American patriot, while I believe and have come to expect that there is always a thoughtful and perhaps even persuasive critique of any sitting leader, including President Obama, I do not believe in any way that the demonic caricature of him and the endless stream of lies by Mitt Romney and forces on the right is at all helpful or constructive to advancing our republic.   We should always have a reasoned debate about the performance, accomplishments and failures or our elected leaders.   I welcome the opportunity to consider perspective from enlightened individuals and thinking voters from across the political spectrum.  Every incumbent deserves a challenge that amounts to something more substantial than replacing them with a better looking empty suit or even a plastic Ken Doll. There is a joy that comes from enlightenment that allows you to recognize a better path to the one you already know.   I am not at all threatened by being awakened to that realization, whether it is in my politics, my morality or my sensuality. Learning and evolving are good. The current debate does not contribute to my enlightenment or increase the likelihood that I would ever vote for Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is a tool.

Mitt Romney and the RNC establishment had a unique opportunity in this election cycle. But they have thus far put forth a rather uncivilized non factual critique of this President, hoping to engage voters in a nonsensical dialogue. They assume you will buy into it and join the opposition to  President Obama because of the relatively unstable and uncertain times we live in, blaming him for the creation of every misery you can think of or that one may be experiencing. They are half right. But the debate truly borders on the absurd and is an insult to the American voters of all stripes. Frankly we deserve better.

RICK ‘ROCKY BALBOA’ SANTORUM THREATENS TO TAKE MICHIGAN & ‘SHOCK THE WORLD’

In contrast to Romney’s inconsistency,  Rick Santorum is a principled conservative who does not waiver in his core beliefs to seek greater popularity, to his credit and also to his detriment as a politician.  His focus on moral issues makes some uncomfortable, including those in his own party.   Rick Santorum does not, however,  have the authenticity problem that plaques Romney as he attests to his conservative credentials and thus Santorum is is able to better connect with voters one on one.  Likewise, this is the reason perhaps why during his barnstorming of western Michigan in the closing hours before the upcoming Michigan Republican Primary that ‘Rocky Balboa’s’ calls upon Michigan voters to ’shock the country’ ring true and give his low budget underdog campaign the opportunity to upend a native son.

And to those who fear that Rick Santorum seeks to  impose some kind of theocracy, I simply do not think America will go backwards in that regard, and even he knows it. He is on some level playing Machiavelli.   In fairness to Santorum he has spoken earnestly and sincerely about the collapse of the middle class, a break down in the family unit and tied his economic policy to restoration of a cohesive and functioning family unit without in any way threatening to impose his some of his unpopular personal beliefs into policy. In my estimation that is a function of media drama queens blowing his moral stance out of perspective for ratings and to sell newspapers and for individual writers and activist to preserve their stature within the liberal community; ironically it is those who I most often see eye to eye with. Santorum has been a convenient punching bag for the progressive and gay community ever since gay activist Dan Savage gave him a google problem redefining the name Santorum with a byproduct of gay sex. There are far better ways to advance a dialoque between the faith community and gay activists.  The google problem remains. We have gone so far that a man who talks about faith, family and freedom seems like a throwback to a bygone era. And frankly that frightens me. It used to be the aspiration of every middle class kid to obtain a good job, save money, marry the man or woman of their dreams, buy a house and build and nurture a family. Now I suspect, it is to get a gig on a reality show, become famous and have endless sexual partners and a nice shoe collection; a different form of life if you will. I am not sure how that it is necessarily better.   Santorum is not the demon here. Of that I am confident.

Rick Santorum has no choice but to play Macchiavelli because he does not have all the advantages that does Romney with the media illuminati, Wall Street and RNC establishment firmly entrenched in his corner. The media has thus far has seemed to try to spin every positive for Romney into a water shed event and every misstep by his opponents as catastrophic to their candidacy. Even with all these advantages the Mormon Madoff cannot break free of a relatively weak and under financed field of competitors. This is quite telling of Romney’s fundamental flaw as a candidate and as a human being. It is thus no wonder why many see him  as either an out of touch elitist douche,  a callous cold hearted prick or simply an asshole.

THE VISION THING – MITT ROMNEY DOES NOT HAVE IT

“I’m not a big-game hunter. I’ve made that very clear,” he said. “I’ve always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times.” –Mitt Romney, Avid Hunter of Small Varmints

Mitt Romney’s problem is the “vision thing’’ – an inconsistency which has contributed to the fair perception of him as an ‘empty suit’ and more than justified the references to him being a shapes-shifting, political chameleon, soul less opportunist and an otherwise veritable hollow man with no core principles or values. Without question Romney may truly be  one of the most fundamentally dishonest, fraudulent and duplicitous men to ever seek the presidency of this country.  His reckless disregard of the factual truth combined with the weird and sinister beliefs and practices of his LDS Mormon Cult, belie even something more troubling about this man, his disconnection from reality on this planet and the average human being.  Romney’s campaign gaffes have become the stuff of legend. Playing to an empty stadium is right up there with Dukakis riding in a tank.  Romney has certainly had more than his fair share of Dukakis moments in this campaign. Not surprisingly, George Will has stated that “Romney is their [Republican] Michael Dukakis”. His response in 2007 referenced by the quote above about his hunting can only make you wonder how seriously out of touch is this man; a perfectly manufactured nothing is Mitt Romney. Or as Jon Stewart theorizes he is either a pixar character or alien pod person. Maybe he’s just a tool in a bad romance with Wall Street.

Romney is a political Elmer Fudd, a big varmint in an empty suit with a small vision at a time in American history where we need big game hunters. Even some powerful voices in his own party who “hate his gutts”, seem rather concerned about a guy who hunts little varmints as their standard bearer. In a piece by John Heilemann entitled ‘Lost Party: The strangest primary season in memory reveals a GOP that’s tearing itself apart’, a loss in 2012 is what the GOP’s political class now expects:

“Six months before this thing got going, every Republican I know was saying, ‘We’re gonna win, we’re gonna beat Obama,’” says former Reagan strategist Ed Rollins. “Now even those who’ve endorsed Romney say, ‘My God, what a fucking mess.’”

The True Conservative, Rick Santorum, regardless of what one may think of him has actually put together a more visionary campaign, a cogent economic message, one that even this President now seems to be listening to. If Romney did not look like the guy on top of a wedding cake, his candidacy would have imploded long ago. There is simply nothing there but hubris, entitlement and ambition for the brass ring.

MICHIGAN VOTERS – RECALL ROMNEY UNDER THE ‘LEMON LAW’

Romney is a lemon posing as a Cadillac STS.  Michigan voters can recall Romney under the Michigan Lemon Law this coming Tuesday in the Michigan Presidential Primary. My hope is that voters of all stripes flood the polls and vote for his  strongest opponent, Rick Santorum, to send a message that Michigan cannot and will not be bought off by a soul less opportunist and a blatant con-man.  ‘Credit for the auto industry recovery [can be] debated’ but frankly it worked and Romney’s delusions and his candidacy should be brushed aside for his willingness to stand against Detroit in its darkest hour.  ‘Let[ting] Detroit go Bankrupt’ as Romney postured was not an option. At the height of the financial crisis, government was not a lender of first resort, but of last resort and the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy process would have fed vultures like the King of Bain, but led to the collapse of the industry as a whole. Bush and Obama did the right thing. Romney is still wrong and should have offered an apology and a mea culpa for being a douche.   This elitist a-hole does not deserve to be rubber stamped as Presidential material.

MITT ROMNEY IN THE POLITICAL CROSS HEIRS IN MICHIGAN

The Coming Collapse of Another MBS (Mittster Backed Security)

We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
- Won’t Get Fooled Again, by The Who (1971)

The gig may in fact be up on Wall Street’s MBS (Mittster Backed Security). The inevitable and somewhat predictable end may be coming for the once inevitable nominee of the Republican Party.  The MBS = the worst ROI for Wall Street; $18.7 million invested in January with little return for investors. Wall Street reports a potential collapse in the MBS Market. Facing a collapsing market for the MBS, their once prime asset faces a severe downgrade by Moody’s on February 28th. It may be ‘game over’ if they cannot even unload the one that they have on the American public. Turns out that the MBS (Mittster Backed Security), like the mortgaged backed securities which led to the Subprime Meltdown and financial collapse of 2008 and the overall economic crisis, was secured by low quality assets; including an emotion deficit, a defective temperament, low grade or non-existent soul and unverifiable sincerity. There seems to be a rapidly diminishing market for this security in the heartland.  Michigan voters ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ by this sub-prime candidate masquerading as something else, because they can see Behind Blue Eyes (even if his are actually brown),  and just like I Can See for Miles beyond them, so can they.

As we fast forward to 2012, America is at a crossroads. The national psyche is wounded from the impact of globalization on the fortunes of the rapidly eroding middle class, especially in the heartland in places like Michigan. “America’s lower and middle classes are turning out to be the losers of globalization”, according to Der Spiegel.  The decline of the middle class is further pronounced by the rise of the 1% economy and “the integrated system of banking, trade and taxation created by both parties over two decades that is at work on our country now” that is leading to America’s Vampiric extraction by the International Banking Cartel and political corruption, according to Dylan Rattigan. No wonder, American citizens are looking for authenticity and character. They do not know who to believe anymore.  Unfortunately, what Mitt Romney offers is a clear and obvious charade, a deception and the soul less, heartless character and sincerity of a shape-shifting, political chameleon, a hollow man who will say anything to be President, including misrepresenting himself to those in his “home state”.

MICHIGAN’S CHOICE: A  Battle in America’s Heartland Between A Man of Conviction (Santorum) vs. Man of Convenience (Romney)

Romney’s brand is all but shattered as he arrived back on his “home turf” in Michigan. And he faces a very real challenge, perhaps even a critical test in the Michigan Republican Primary.  The stunning string of losses in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado served upon him by a long shot candidate who is not heavily financed, is a stern reminder that the inevitable candidate is intolerable, clearly not invincible and may just in fact be unelectable. In the battle for America’s heartland, it has come down appropriately to a choice between a man of conviction (Rick Santorum) vs. a man of convenience (Mitt Romney).  It is undeniable that Rick Santorum has an authenticity and a certitude that is very appealing. He can speak extremely eloquently – even inspirationally at times, without a script.  Likewise, in contrast to Romney,  whether voters love him or loathe some of his positions, they know precisely where he stands.  Rick Santorum is thus a threat because of his core values, a bigger threat than most Democrats imagine and perhaps a bigger threat than most Republican Party leaders understand or appreciate. Maybe they will, if Santorum succeeds in putting a victory in Michigan out of reach for Romney.  It appears even Romney now realizes what he is up against because he is now downplaying Michigan after previously declaring it a must win, along with Arizona where the race is also close. That says nothing about Santorum’s strength in Ohio, magnified perhaps by the recent defection of former Romney delegate, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Michigan did not quite give their prodigal son the homecoming that he expected. Quite to the contrary, some even suggested that he ‘go away’. The ‘severely conservative’ Republican aspirant who hails from the Wolverine state returned trailing in the polls to the ‘true conservative’, the surging former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. The state which was supposed to be his midwestern firewall against all challengers just may end up being, at worst Romney’s Waterloo or perhaps merely the beginning of the end of the Tin Man or as postulated in the Atlantic maybe the bonfire for his hopes.  Santorum despite leading in the polls is still an underdog and at a disadvantage because he is actually quite underfunded relative to Michigan native Mitt Romney.  Stated another way, if money is the mothers milk of politics, Santorum is doing it while being severely undernourished, like an Ethiopian baby relative to a fat kid in Orange County.  Santorum thus finds himself under a double barreled assault from the aspiring billionaire and his Super PAC’s attack machine. Romney’s Santorum problem is that there is no easy target for Romney’s attack machine. Nevertheless,  lest there be be no doubt, ROMBO is on the loose in Michigan because even Romney and his team understand that it may very well be ‘his last stand’. A Santorum victory over Romney in Michigan and  “all bets are off”. That Mitt Romney is in his home state at this juncture expending substantial financial resources in an effort to explain to Michigan voters that he is a ‘native son’, is in my estimation, cause for optimism for Santorum.  That Romney did so while tooling around Detroit in a car made in Canada may in retrospect make this his Dukakis moment. The battle for the nomination in Santorum’s eyes runs right through Michigan. Reagan Democrats may push Santorum over Romney in the end. If so, maybe  Newt Gingrich is right and “Romney Should Quit, If He Loses Michigan.”

How did we get here? Was this predictable? Did anything foreshadow this situation unraveling this way? Arguably yes. Mitt Romney, has been running for political office since George H.W. Bush was President. He barely got elected as Massachusetts Governor against a weak candidate. Romney never sought re-election, nor has he ever held any other elective office, but instead spent the last two years of his one term Governorship laying the groundwork for a Presidential run. Then before he left office, the Mormon Madoff had destroyed all of his administration’s computer files so nobody would ever have anything on him to define or discredit him or his legend or the one he hoped to craft. Romney has been a full time Presidential candidate since some where in about 2006.  Otherwise, the former King of Bain has largely been a man of leisure consumed with managing his investments, collecting checks from Bain & Company, extending his number of home states and building mansions while never ending the run for President that began before Barack Obama, the man who is now President. Romney came to Michigan in 2008 and in the Republican Primary against John McCain promised to stand by Michigan. Then after losing the nomination to John McCain, the Man with Three Faces proclaimed in a powerful op-ed in the New York Times, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” and has been a harsh critic of the then bipartisan Auto Industry Bailout/Rescue coordinated under President Bush and President Obama, ever since. His ‘managed bankruptcy’ talk in yet a new op-ed in the Detroit News, is more double talk from the Mormon Madoff. After the success of the Detroit Bailout, Romney’s stand befuddles and perplexes even his business allies in Detroit, according to the New York Times.  Forbes says that ‘Mitt Romney’s Auto Bailout Stand Could Cost Him Michigan.’

For all of Mitt Romney’s vaunted management skills, his rescue of the Winter Olympic Games in Utah was actually a federal bailout. Romney in effect, “earmarked his way through the Olympics.” Romney’s Big Problem is that his perceived political advantages were built on a house of cards. Romney’s candidacy was based upon being next, being the chosen one of Wall Street and the RNC establishment and having a war chest that most candidates can only dream of.  His friends in the media and the RNC establishment stoked the inevitable nominee as an invincible man who would defeat Obama. But it is turning out that Romney’s inevitability is a gerrymandered fraud created by RNC Establishment, Wall Street Kingpins supported by hollow data & theory, much like some of the drek that comes out of Bain Consulting’s – House of Lies. It is now clear that some the elite in America got together & chose the Plastic Ken Doll from within their ranks as the most salable and bankable guy to protect their interests. And the folks who created the CDO and 2008’s House of Cards, were in fact wrong. They even tried to rig primaries for the Tin Man who to his credit seemed to forget that you actually need to try to make it close, get some real votes and make it somewhat easier for the puppeteers to help push over the line and steer you beyond the margins. Not even ‘vote fraud’ can help Romney apparently. Voters find him that repugnant.

If as I suspect Michigan voters won’t be fooled again, it may only a matter of time before establishment elites pull the plug on Mitt Romney. Romney has identity (branding) issues that he will not solve via an existential crisis on the national stage as a Presidential candidate. Americans will not buy that a man already exposed as a delusional, lying, elitist, aristocratic prick is in any way a veritable man of the people, regardless of how many Tattersall shirts the well dressed Romney he wears on campaign stumps. Romney cannot even pull off a Scott Brown by riding a pick-up truck because he would come off looking like Dukakis in a tank. Speaking of Dukakis moments, driving around your ‘home state’ of Michigan in a car manufactured in Canada reminding people at this late hour that you are from there, indicates to me a level of desperation for Romney.  Before Romney’s political obituary is written by voters in Michigan, the only thing left for them to discern is whether Romney is actually a prick or a douche. Sometimes it’s just not that clear.  In writing his epitaph, historians may some day find it useful to know.

While he has not baptized any dead people ‘recently’, Romney may have engaged in the posthumous baptism of Holocaust victims,  but I suspect that after Super Tuesday, Romney many want to baptize his own campaign, because it too will be dead.  I do not see how you can become President when you cannot get votes in the Midwest or  the South.   Losing Michigan will be the domino that sets off the chain reaction.