From TPM Reader LS …
I’m going to take a localized view, a Midland, Michigan view. I’m seeing everyday people questioning the lurch to the right by the Republican party. Governor Rick Snyder, not perfect, still too conservative for me, is looking better and better these days. His brand of Republicanism is much more attractive than straight Tea Party. He keeps talking about how to improve Detroit. He’s opposing crony capitalism in the form of promoting a new bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor. And as you reported, he refused to sign the most recent voter restriction law. (Michigan already had mandatory ID at the polls.) I’m seeing a split in the Republican party, between the scorched-earth types and the more constructive ones. At least in Michigan, the constructive ones seem to be gaining momentum.
I recently donated a small amount of money to the Obama campaign, enough to get a magnetic bumper sticker for my car. I’m almost certain that it’ll be removed but I’m doing it anyway. It’s about Obamacare more than anything. For my own peace of mind and for my finances, I need the healthcare reform. My husband has employer health insurance, he’s facing for the second time, a significant risk of being laid-off. We’re not old enough for Medicare and not healthy enough for the private insurance market in its current form. There are others who need the healthcare reform for similar reasons. After the conventions, it was clear that Obama, flawed though he is, is a much better choice for the next four years. Romney is looking like a true disaster, a worse economy, a bigger risk of another war, less regulation of banks, more pollution, and more poor people, and more people homeless and starving from cutbacks in social programs.
I think it would mean that the war on Obama will be over and the Republicans will have to compromise. After all, they couldn’t deny him a second term anymore. Somehow, the Republican convention showed how empty the promises of the GOP are. Maybe it was Paul Ryan’s speech, the empty chair, the showcasing of diversity, the absence of gay rights, the lack of coherence.
Yes, I do think the massive amounts from Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers are coming. They will do anything to block this outcome. The money is meaningless to them, except as a way to have more power.
