It's the Party, stupid

Bejabbers! I have been reading news reports and analyses that scare the bejabbers out of me.

All of the media, and millions of people, were made curious by Mitt's shift of position in the debate Wednesday night. He moved away from the far right, his position during the primaries when he said he was a "severe conservative," toward the center.

Yesterday and today, people and pundits were wondering which Mitt was the real Romney. President Obama himself said he had debated the night before with a man who looked exactly like Mitt, but must have been someone else.

Today, much more experienced political minds than mine suggested it didn't make any difference who Mitt was. It's the Republican Party, which "truly is severely conservative," wrote Andrew Rosenthal, editor of The New York Times editorial page, "that matters."

"While we may be confused about the Real Romney," he wrote, "there is no confusion about the Republican Party. There's no reason to think they would tolerate Moderate Mitt in the Oval Office, or that Mr. Romney would even ask them to."

This is not Rosenthal's opinion. He cites a source, former Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, who was an early Herman Cain supporter, then backed Rick Santorum in the primaries. "Who cares" what Mitt believes at this point, Tancredo said. For the rest of the campaign, the Limbaugh Right will lie low. If Mitt's centrism gets him to the White House, Tancredo said, the party can then deal with "the nettlesome aspects of Romney's positions on some things."

It brings new content to my personal Obama campaign yard sign: "Regress, or Progress?" Back toward the Bush Administration, or farther away from it? It will be one or the other, on Nov. 6.