George Will's latest tells us that "America's 57th presidential election is the first devoted to calling the nation's bluff. When Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan, Republicans undertook the perilous but commendable project of forcing voters to face the fact that they fervently hold flatly incompatible beliefs." What are these "flatly incompatible" beliefs? We never learn, as Mr. Will runs quickly to voters not being as conservative as they say they are to "clientelism" to FDR to public-sector unions to "diversity" to Walter Mondale to Andrew Jackson to telling Nevada to shut up if they vote for Mr. Obama again. The whole thing looks like he made up his mind to tell Americans they want too much, but didn't have the guts to say so. Of course Americans don't "want too much," nor do they want "incompatible" things -- Americans just want good government, government that gives a hand-up when you need it and stays the hell out of your way when you don't, and if that fervent desire doesn't fit snugly into Mr. Will's worldview, that's his damn fault.
Meanwhile, boy oh boy are the "liberal" media fact-checkers having a field day with that speech Paul Ryan made last night. Of course Talking Points Memo can get its licks in the next day, and maybe even the Associate Press, but Politifact? Business Insider? Fox News? Of course we shouldn't make too much of Fox News's infidelity to their man; it only happened on a Fox News blog, where all mainstream media outlets hide their writers who actually want to work, and the fact that it happened at all only means Bill O'Reilly can get a zinger in on anyone who challenges Fox's fairness. And we shouldn't make too much of the "liberal" media's quickness, either, because Paul Ryan's lies are bigger and bolder than usual, and he didn't have the foresight to deliver his remarks over the Labor Day holiday like Mr. Bush did. Besides, the next time any "liberal" media oldhead wants to reminisce about when men were men, he'll fall in love with Paul Ryan's "seriousness" and "intelligence" all over again. God help us if he becomes Vice President.
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