The Shock Theory Ticket

++The Romney-Ryan ticket is the embodiment of Naomi Wolf's book on the Shock theory of capitalism. Or as Paul Krugman called it the Galt-Gekko ticket.

++There is just a load of writing about the Ryan budget and the subsequent avoidance of it by Romney. Bob Schaeffer actually interviewed the two men tonight where they said they would save Medicare but give greater choice--false--and that Obama screwed up everything and they would save the nation. In the announcement yesterday, Romney's language mirrored the White Horse prophecy of his cult, which speculates when the nation is facing catastrophic trouble a Mormon will come and save it. The language continued at campaign events in North Carolina--where Mormons believe Noah built his ark.

++While conservatives are positively ecstatic about the choice of Ryan believing they have pulled off a coup d'etat, questions linger about Romney's taxes. Tim Pawlenty, who has been passed over twice as Vice President first by John McCain and now by Romney told George Stephanopoulos that he had submitted many years of taxes to the Romney campaign. Afterwards it came out that all the serious candidates had--which again raises the questions why hasn't Romney released his to the American public.

++President Obama showed up at his Chicago campaign headquarters and quieted the boos of the staff when Ryan's name was mentioned. Obama was polite in saying Ryan was a fine family man and that he just had differences with him and his vision of America. But Obama did get a zinger in--saying that Ryan was the ideological head of the GOP, both undercutting Romney and painting the party into a radical right corner. David Axelrod sent an e-mail to Obama supporters last night ending with two words,"Big Day".

++The polling firm Greenberg conducted focus groups on the Ryan budget. Most Americans didn't know who Paul Ryan was or what the Paul Ryan budget was. When Greenberg polled on its specifics 74% of senior citizens, Romney's core base, were appalled. Greenberg had Obama leading Romney by three but after knowledge of the Ryan budget was factored in the lead stretched to 6 and Obama started to reach the popular vote level he had in 2008.

++John McCain didn't do Romney any favor with his statement that the Ryan pick was as bold as picking Sarah Palin and that Obama's ads had the effect of making Romney unacceptable. He also demurred when asked whether he supported the Ryan budget.

++Paul Ryan flew off today to get the blessings of Romney's biggest donor--Sheldon Adelson. Ryan is also one of the largest beneficiaries of the Koch Brothers. If personally not toxic, by the end of the contest he will be.

++The Romney campaign had committed half their advertising to running the welfare reform attack ad against Obama where they accused him of signing waivers so people didn't have to work to receive welfare. This issue was settled almost twenty years ago. But those of us who remember Richard Nixon and the Reagan campaign know that it is a racial dog-whistle. With Romney's vow to restore Anglo-Saxon values, we are missing one element of WASP--the P for Protestant. This is the first Republican ticket in history and maybe in the history of both parties where there is no Protestant. The only Protestants running for President are Barack Obama and Gary Johnson. Since the Supreme Court no longer has any Protestants,maybe we should make sure we vote for a  Protestant before we engage with a Neo-Pagan and a devotee of Ayn Rand.

++Speaking of which, Paul Ryan says that he was inspired by Ayn Rand because she provided a moral basis for capitalism. Of course, if you are a protestant, you have Max Weber. If you are a Catholic, you have Michael Novak. To pick Ayn Rand as a mentor in morals is creepy or as David Axelrod would say "weird."

++Nate Silver comments today on Romney's pick as a sober assessment that he concluded he could not win running a campaign that made it a referendum on President Obama. Silver had evaluated the top contenders for the Veep slot and concluded that Ryan was 10th in having value about adding Electoral Votes. But Romney figured he needed something perceived to be bold to "re-set" the campaign. And dutifully today the press declared that the campaign just started. So forget about the primaries and Romney last few months.

++David Frum started off a few days saying that Ryan was a catastrophic choice that would hamstring any maneuverability of the Romney campaign. Now, however, he has calmed down to say that the only one who can sell the Ryan Budget is Paul Ryan himself. But Ryan's attempt to do some among his own constituencies led him to call in Police Officers to arrest a 71-year old asking him questions about his plans for Medicare. 

++In case you haven't noticed, Protestants are out, women are out, Hispanics are out , gays are out and African-Americans are way out. The Two R's don't make a right campaign is trying to stir up the remains of the Reagan Democrats and feed off the resentment of the working class to the poor and President Obama and not the wealthy and the businesses who abandoned America for offshore spaces. They and the post 60 white males are the target groups for the Romney-Ryan effort. Where this gets you I have no idea. While both men try to minimize the effects of their policies on the senior citizens, in the last two days there has been a negative reaction because seniors actually know the meaning of Medicare and Social Security for financial security. What has not been translated for the under 55s is the negatives to their futures and the inter-relationship of the generations in maintaining the social welfare net.

++But does it matter? The amazing double-down by the GOP on things that are utterly rejected by the majority of the population is the result of their perception they are not accountable to the public. They are now only accountable to their donor class, which are all reactionary billionaires who have little sense of the public good and only care about the country as a little laboratory for their own crackpot ideas. Add to that voter suppression and you have the perfect answer to why the GOP believes it doesn't matter what you think. 

++The idea is you will be so shocked by economic disruption in your everyday life that you will be unable to respond or find a way to respond to larger economic forces engaging in the final looting of America.

++In Paul Ryan's congressional career, he passed two bills--naming a post office and cutting the tax on the sale of arrows. But he is the number one recipient in the House of donations from the banks.

++The Ryan budget has become the platform of the Republican Party--a full-scale assault on all government programs--whether it's environmental protection or support for the weakest among us. It is Total Austerity, not growth. It also has nothing to do with deficit reduction at all. It is the largest redistribution of wealth upwards in our history--done by choice not by accident. The Ryan budget doesn't even envision a balanced budget for 40 years and by that time only the military will be left.

++Now translate that into the foreign perception of this country. One of the dilemmas of the United States at the beginning of the Cold War was how to overcome the negative perception of the U.S. as a racist country and Presidents beginning with Harry Truman and Eisenhower took incremental steps to ease racial restrictions in the United States, less for moral reasons than geopolitical purposes. What would be the effect of the Total Austerity program on the perception of the United States, particularly a vision that is nativist and anti-immigrant and anti-black and Hispanic? Do you really think we would get the cooperation of others in matters of global finance, development, and conflict resolution just because we have the biggest military? An adoption of a radical economic agenda in the United States would put us even further back in international public opinion than under George W. Bush.

++I didn't mention the role of Jewish-Americans in the Romney-Ryan ticket. Besides Sheldon Adelson,the Romney campaign is fairly explicit that they do not expect to pick up much of the Jewish vote. But they will pander enough to chip away from the Democratic advantage. Romney himself campaigned in Lakewood New Jersey, which is now the hometown of a large Hasidic community. The basic strategy is to draw those on the extreme right of the Jewish-American community, those most aligned with extreme-right parties in Israel. But in case you want to vote for Romney-Ryan, they offer you Joe Lieberman as possible Secretary of State, and idea which would be totally ruinous.

++I am off tomorrow morning for Ohio. It is rumored that the Secretary of State might actually do the right thing and extend early voting to counties, which are also Democratically-leaning. I am also going to see how many of the Mormon missionaries have been sent to Ohio. Reports from the local parties say they are appearing in droves.

++Hopefully, when I'm driving we'll hear Willard Romney will be releasing his taxes. Until then.