Mitt Romney is set to announce his vice-presidential pick on Saturday morning, and some news reports are already saying it's likely to be Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wisc. If it is indeed Ryan, then that's the final demonstration that Romney will never, ever move to the center. He will never stop trying to establish his bona fides with the Republican party's hard right wing, even when doing so demonstrably harms his own interest, as it does here. The inmates will run the asylum.
If Ryan really is Romney's choice, this is a fantastic stroke of luck for President Obama. Presidents presiding over the sort of economy we have right now don't usually get re-elected. But a president handed the opportunity to run against a GOP ticket that's unabashedly in favor of abolishing Medicare--something even the Tea Party opposes--would probably win in November. I'll cross my fingers that the rumors are true.