From electable and inevitable to awkward

Make that awkward and defensive. Mitt under fire isn't as smooth as advertized. So if you bought into that narrative it's time to update.

For the record, I believe Mitt is still the favorite to win the nomination. (Not my favorite, the favorite.) Which is not to say he'll be a strong candidate against Obama. I think Michael Walsh nailed it a few weeks ago:

The Dems have already telegraphed a good deal of their playbook — they’ll paint him as a nervous, grinning, stuttering, heartless capitalist who’s also a “weird” social-issues nut — and hope to scare the hell out of the electorate, which by now has grown used to the dull pain of the Obama administration.

He's not shaping up as a fierce campaigner against President Obama, either. No one who wants to defeat Obama can be comforted by this exchange between him and Laura Ingraham. 

The polls are saying that Mitt is likely to lose, and maybe lose big, to Gingrich in SC. If so, he'll also lose his "winner" veneer, which was never based on much besides speculation and wishful thinking.

Dan Riehl tweets:

Would be a real shame if Tea Party traitor Nikki Haley can't deliver her own state to Mitt. Oops!

With Perry gone, Dan's for Newt. I'm not. I've transferred my allegiance from one hopeless candidate to another who's almost hopeless. Not that it matters much; even if it's not over by March 6, date of the Virginia primary, the only guys on my ballot will be Willard M. Romney and Ron Paul. So I'll be choosing between staying home or spoiling my ballot with an invalid write-in.

Ladd Ehlinger Jr. says it's time to concentrate on something else.


Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the Buzzworthy link.
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