When Republicans Attack (Each Other)

Greg Sargent says:

This general election will turn heavily on a battle over the two candidates’ visions of capitalism and the proper role of government in regulating it. Yet the leading GOP candidates are on record arguing that Romney’s practice of it — which he regularly cites as proof of his ability to create jobs, as a generally constructive force and even as synonymous with the American way — is not really capitalism at all, but a destructive, profit-driven perversion of it. Thanks to them, this is no longer a left-wing argument. As the GOP candidates have themselves confirmed, this argument reflects concerns about Wall Street excess and lack of accountability that are thoroughly mainstream, and you’ll be seeing plenty of footage of these Republicans making it in battleground states this fall.

Do you think that's how it's going to go? It's certainly pretty to think so. But it will only happen if the media can restrain themselves from chasing the shiny objects that the campaigns throw out there.

The problem is that nobody likes any of the people making the criticism any more than they like Mitt, so I don't know how much weight their criticisms really carry. It's always fun to have Republicans tearing each other apart but I'm just not sure that it will do anything but reduce GOP enthusiasm to the same level as Democratic enthusiasm. But then that's probably the governing dynamic of this coming race, isn't it?

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