Mom, Apple Pie and...Wealth Redistribution?

If -- in the most cynical view -- the Mitt Romney campaign was waiting for a moment when the subject needed changing before releasing more tax returns, this Friday of a week-from-Hell was that day. His 2011 returns show him to be the kind of guy who takes his fair share deductions, but not all the deductions to which he's entitled. You don't want to be greedy. It was a week when 47 percent became the most talked-about fraction, based on Romney's remarks at a GOP fundraising event in Palm Beach, deriding the 47 percent of the electorate that doesn't pay income tax, but collect entitlements. Not quite up there with (We Are The) 99 percent, but there's still time. The Romney campaign hit back at Obama with audio tape from the 90's in which the man who would be POTUS enthuses over the redistribution of wealth. Late in the week, Paul Ryan strode to the podium at the AARP convention like a man walking into the tiger enclosure, eager to test out his brand new tiger-proof suit. And his audience obliged, greeting his promise to repeal Obamacare with a roar of boos and cat-calls. (Joining us on the Right is Matthew Continetti.)

Banner image: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talks to an aide on his campaign plane while en-route to Las Vegas, Nevada September 21, 2012. Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters