Well, either that or blackmail. Remember when gangsters would extort money from business owners in exchange for “protection”? I’m not sure that is so much different from what Mitt Romney gave today as his self-described “closing argument” as to why he should be elected president:
He is saying that if you don’t elect me, then Republicans will force another debt ceiling showdown: “The debt ceiling will come up again, and shut down and default will be threatened, chilling the economy.”
I love how he uses the passive tense for “shut down and default will be threatened”. Is this any different from “It would be a shame if something unfortunate were to happen to your lovely establishment”?
UPDATE: I’m honored that Paul Krugman made the same connection with protection rackets that I did! And I didn’t even have to steal the idea from him.
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I have colleagues who say similar things, along the lines that since Republicans have taken Norquist’s pledge, they can’t move so the only ‘solution’ is to elect Romney to prevent deadlock. I just stand there in amazement; there’s so much wrong with it.
Wouldn’t you rather have deadlock than what they did when the Republicans were last in control during the Bush administration — running up deficits, passing unfunded mandates like Medicare Part D that were giveaways to the drug industry, starting not one but two wars, trashing environmental regulations, and destroying the economy?
Krugman mentions it too:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/opinion/krugman-the-blackmail-caucus.html
And how many people fall prey to being thus blackmailed.