This morning, I saw obvious anagram Reince Priebus on with my man Chuck Todd, and they were discussing the upcoming Republican hootenanny down in Tampa, and Reince was saying that the convention was going to dedicate itself to telling the inspiring story about how Mitt Romney battled the adversity of having a family fortune and somehow managed to become immeasurably wealthy. It is, as Reince said, an "incredible story." Later, we learned that Chris Christie, the Jersey Barrier himself, is going to haul his not-inconsiderable gravitational field to the podium to give the keynote address. I am not clairvoyant, but I don't think I'm out of line in suggesting that, by selecting Christie as your main speaker — and, perhaps, by salting the audience with some 50-year-old public school teachers for him to insult — Reince is not exactly setting up a convention of great civility and rhetorical uplift, no matter how inspiring he finds Willard Romney's rise from the mean streets of Bloomfield Hills.
Because, here's the thing: This entire past five days has been all about the fact that, as we've said a great many times here before, there is simply no Republican establishment anymore. Reince Priebus couldn't be more of a figurehead if you hung him off the bow of the Pequod. A large part of the decision on who his running mate was going to be was completely out of the candidate's hands. The vice-presidential candidate has a power base within the party completely independent of anyone else's control. (This, of course, started with the elevation of Sarah Palin last time.) The really big money responds to no imperatives but its own. Nobody's on the reservation any more.
Charlie Pierce
When you're born in the world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you're given a front row seat. – George Carlin
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