WILLARD! WILLARD! WILLARD!

Nothing could have been better than a Willard victory in Michigan. CNN just projected a Romney win in his old home state. It could very well lead to the ultimate joy: a brokered GOP convention. How about a Cheney/Jeb ticket? No good? What about Cheney/Dobson? Can you think of something better? Looks pretty conclusive from exit polls in both New Hampshire and Michigan that independents have woken up-- despite Holy Joe-- to the real John McCain and the love affair is over. In 2000 over 60% of independents voted for McCain in New Hampshire and this year it was only 38% of independents. In Michigan McCain got 35% of independents in 2000 and tonight only 25%. It only took 8 years but they've finally figured out that the image is all hype and he's as radical right as Bush and Cheney.


UPDATE: WILLARD... A FAKE?

The A.P. head line about Michigan this morning startled me: Mitt Won, Authenticity Lost. It didn't startle me because I didn't know what kind of a flip-floppin' phony-baloney Mitt Romney is. It startled me because it's in the mainstream media.

Mitt Romney's victory in Michigan was a defeat for authenticity in politics.

The former Massachusetts governor pandered to voters, distorted his opponents' record and continued to show why he's the most malleable-- and least credible-- major presidential candidate.

This morning's NY Times offers Republicans a crushing analysis:

Mr. Romney won easily in Michigan, where he grew up, with a pointed focus on the slowing economy, which voters there overwhelmingly identified as the top issue. Senator John McCain of Arizona won New Hampshire last week with the backing of independent voters, who are so influential there. And Mike Huckabee of Arkansas won the caucuses in Iowa powered by social conservatives who make up a substantial part of its population.

On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized Democratic Party.

Even in victory, Mr. Romney stood as evidence of the trouble the party finds itself in. He won, but only after a major effort in a state he once expected to win in a walk. That was before he lost Iowa and New Hampshire, two other states where he had campaigned all out.