the state of play

We're entering that blissful period when people not that interested in politics - the sane majority - look up and examine what's on offer. I suspect they are not as dumb as the Romney campaign seems to assume they are; and not as happy as the Obama campaign would like them to be. Candor and concrete proposals and character are the three things people are looking for. Romney has none of them. Obama has all three but a still-shitty economy obscuring all of it.

--Sullivan

I think that's a pretty fair assessment all around. I have yet to hear a positive argument in favor of Mr. Romney that even approaches something worth considering. Apocalyptic rhetoric doesn't move me, because it invariably turns out to be overwrought horseshit. (If and when it ever turns out to be otherwise, will we be around to appreciate this fact? I think not.)

Neither can I point to a great deal on Mr. Obama's resume that gets me excited, though I can think of no small number of reasons to vote against Romney (my top 3: irrational belligerence towards Iran, perpetuation of the Bush-era fantasy that you can reduce the overall spending gap while increasing defense spending commitments, and the aforementioned vagaries in terms of solutions to...well, anything.)

Do I think a Romney presidency would be the "end of America"? Of course not, because that's a fucking stupid thing to say. But I do think it would be a step back into the policies and attitudes that made the Noughties one of the darker decades in modern history for this country.

You'll get no argument from me if you assert the Democrats are not exactly the model of good governance. But at least they seem to show an interest in actually governing.

It'd be a good year for a Gary Johnson to make waves. But I say that every four years around this time.