Just a thought about the Romney candidacy. It has been shown over and over again that he, essentially, has no conviction other than wanting to be president. Whenever anything that might be a little controversial comes up, he evades giving an opinion. It's like he is waiting for someone to tell him how to answer. Someone to tell him what his opinion is.
Quotes from the movie:
Dr. Yen Lo: His brain has not only been washed, as they say... It has been dry cleaned.
Raymond Shaw: They can make me do anything, Ben, can't they? Anything.
Quote from Romney senior campaign adviser :
"I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes," Fehrnstrom responded. "It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."
There are many here on dkos who are politically sophisticated who will say, " wow, you just got that?" Yeah, some inner part of me just clicked to where I really understand that Romney is an empty vessel, a blank hard drive just waiting to be programmed. The scariest thought for me is that the players vying to do the programming will be the worst possible choices for deciding what is best for the country. Whether it be Wall Street, the religious right, or (most likely) a combination of both, the nation will be lost as a democracy and further transformed into a plutocracy with a heavy dose of religious ideology.
I admit to being naive. It is a nightmare to wake up and realize that this "man" has a real chance to be elected. I never really conceived how horrible that would be. A person so lacking in empathy, morality, and so many other qualities I consider necessary to be a human being is so close to the presidency. And so many of the electorate can't see it or he wouldn't be close to Obama.
And if Romney does win, I know I will not like the ones behind the curtain pulling the strings. Such is the pain of my political maturation. Such is my nightmare.