Romney Fills Hall With Nothing

For a very wealthy person in expensive clothing, Mitt Romney presents sadly threadbare spirit and thinking.

The most apt analysis of his pathetic RNC speech came in the New York Times in two parts this morning. First, the lead editorial, Mr. Romney Reinvents History, details his biggest lie — that Congressional Republican obstructionism was not the proximate cause of our national struggles in recovery. It goes on with the truly damning truth that neither he nor Paul Ryan have any specific to back up promises of better times if they come to power.

Second, in an analysis piece, Facts Take A Beating in Acceptance Speeches, the most egregious of the fabrications and extreme lies in both acceptance speeches are debunked in one place. A voter would have to be very separated from history and reality to buy into either speech. Each demands "trust me" with no plans or specifics.

Back to a recurrent theme here. the election will come down to how many American voters are willing and foolish enough to go once more for a Republican fantasy, one that has failed again and again.

This time, it appears to demand more of an effort. Neither top-ticket guy has a plan at all. Sure, we can expect them to pretend that it's the fault of the POTUS and Dems that they blocked recovery and jobs growth. That's dirty, but predictable, politics. Here though, in Tampa they had and showed nothing. It was absolutely their obligation to present a path to prosperity. They abjectly failed.

Ryan repeatedly said it would be up to Congress to implement their vague yet overreaching promises...no plan and no details. Hence, neither can claim to be a leader in any way. Romney likewise said electing him would mean lots of jobs...no plan and no details. Honestly, any voter would have to be a Pollyanna or simply delusional to buy into the no-plan/no-details fantasy.

By the bye, Ryan and I shall have the advantage of time to kick this around on Left Ahead next week. You can join us live Tuesday, September 4th, at 2:30 PM Eastern here. Afterward, the show will there, at Left Ahead, or on our iTunes page.

More on GOP Fantasies

Readers here know I fret about how many American voters will choose the fantasy world on November 6th. I have written many times, like here, that this could well be the main determinant of this election. My Left Ahead listeners have heard that too.

The pending (9/10) issue of The Nation was disquieting and reassuring simultaneously to read similar thoughts. There, Peace and Disarmament Correspondent Jonothan Schell had his take on this. Subscribers to this essential maggy can read it online now here. [For heaven's sake and your mind's, subscribe if you don't.]

I come at this from the lamentable prophesy that at least 40% of us and maybe more than half will go with the fantasy. The often and easily disproved economic tripe of trickle-down, job-creator and similar lies is simply too enticing for too many. They want guns and butter, services with no taxes, unregulated pseudo-capitalism with that fairness only the greedy have always delivered to the masses.

Schell though goes through the problems but has an optimistic conclusion. He eviscerates the GOP/Ryan bag of dreams. He concurs that this is too powerful a call to fantasy, so many can't resist it.

Yet, this conclusion is:

The GOP base is fired up. But the cost could be high. Even today’s electoral politics may still have one foot remaining in the reality-based community. Ordinary voters may not be much like Diogenes, carrying a lamp through the world in search of an honest man, but they are much less likely to be passionately attached to a long list of fantasies than the GOP fanatics. That this is so could be a saving grace of American politics in our otherwise spin-stupefied era.

I remain to be convinced. I think the danger is far greater than that. I am not sanguine enough to trust the majority of Americans to be firmly grounded in reality. I still call for Obama and the DNC's crew to hammer the truth until it rings in everyone's ears.

Maybe Schell is correct. We should not depend on the kindness and rationality of millions of strangers. Therein lies the way of Blanche DuBois.

National Fantasy

Ladies and Gentlemen, come November Sixth, the bifurcation to end all forks in all roads confronts all voters. Surely at least 40% of them will head toward a fantasy land. Here's hoping with all my being that they don't take us with them.

I'm old enough, well read enough, and observant enough to draw some lessons an inferences from past elections. This looming one is huge, at least as big as the last Presidential. In 2008, Obama promised a clean break with the failed winger economic legacy of Reagan and the Bushes, as well as with their suicidal, economy-destroying wars. He only kind of delivered, hampered mostly by GOP total disregard for the nation and his own temerity.

Despite Republican efforts to keep millions jobless and our taxes going for military over-spending and benefits to the wealthiest only, we have slowly mirrored the rest of the world in recovering from the Great Recession caused by the parody of capitalism so beloved by wingers. Yet, this election may hinge in large part on the impatience and irrationality of the voters. Even with the GOP House and filibuster wielding Senate preventing big recovery efforts, the electorate tends to look to the President for magic.

Setting aside the reason, the Obama administration has been on duty while we only slowly recover. Many will look to the any replacement as the fantasy miracle he did not deliver.

You'd think that voters would go for the rational response — dump every Republican House member up for election and increase the Dem majority in the Senate. Let's pass the necessary legislation to get the nation moving!

Alas, that would require awareness of reality. Isn't the fantasy more seductive?

We'll be kicking this around tomorrow on Left Ahead. Our version of Ryan, as in Ryan Adams, my co-host, will discuss the election with the Paul Ryan pick. If you can catch us live at 2:30 PM Eastern Tuesday 8/14, do that here. Afterward, it will be available for a listen or download there, on Left Ahead or at our iTunes page.