What if its Mittens? Part II

I missed tonight's debate but saw a Youtube video, promoted by Drudge, of Perry fumbling around with figuring out the third agency of government he would shut down, and taking a full and embarrassing 53 seconds to do so. Additionally, I think the steady drumbeat of harassment allegations are going to eventually take down Herman Cain. That doesn't mean the accusations are true or fair, this is just my frank assessment, as his campaign isn't handling them well, falsely tying one accuser to Politico, for example.

Which leaves us Mittens, and whoever the next not-Mittens is. Mittens is up again on intrade to over 70% Funny thing about the whole not-the-front-runner thing, is that he usually loses. I am old enough to remember ABC, "Anybody But Carter" in the 1976 Democrat primaries, and "Anybody but Clinton" in the 1992 primaries. Mitt Romney is clearly not the right man we would want as the Republican nominee. Which brings me to this Milton Friedman quote.

“I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office.” (I believe this quote is slightly different than what Milton Friedman says on youtube above.)

What Friedman says about Congress is true for the Presidency as well. It is time to crank up the tea party energy again and re-establish the political climate that allowed such a sea change in 2010. Clear focus that every embarrassing example of crony capitalism and corporate welfare will be exposed and ridiculed and every effort to increase the size of the government will be unalterably opposed are the necessary ingredients to making an historic change in this next election cycle. At a time when government's ties to corporate cronyism are anathema to vast majorities, tying Obama to Solyndra and Wall Street seems like the clear path to victory.

I also heard on the news that the audience in today's debates gave a hearty boo to Maria Bartiromo when she asked about alleged sexual harassment and cheered when the debate returned to economic issues. I think that was a healthy expression of priorities. (BTW, I was not one of those Republicans who thought Clinton should be impeached, so I don't want to be hit up for hypocrisy here.) Time to change the terms of the debate, maybe even the venue.

Today's intrade graph for Romney to win the nomination:

This is an update to "What if its Mittens?"