The muddied distinction in the top-of-the-ticket race

Thought-provoking piece by David Harsanyi at Human Events on the set of conditions a juncture like our current one - a radical socialist incumbent president facing yet another mushy-middle Reasonable Gentleman challenger - presents to each of the candidates.  For the MEC, the challenge is to find a reason to go after Romney's record as Massachussetts governor.  If Mitt talked a good game about limiting government and pursuing low-tax, wealth-creating policies and then governed otherwise, well, doesn't that make the case that he wound up doing things that likely MEC voters would endorse?  Conversely, we know the dilemma that an examination of record poses for Romney: It exposes him as a man without a real conservative core.

Yes, it's nice that we have Congressional and state races - beginning next week with Wisconsin's hugely important recall election - that draw the much-needed sharp distinction between conservatism and freedom-hatred, but the presidential contest is so fraught with symbolism - to say nothing about actual impact on this nation's direction - that it's disheartening in the extreme to see that, once again, it is reduced to a back-and-forth of blunted messages and attacks based on distractions.