By Howard Fineman
WASHINGTON -- The attack on Mitt Romney was tough, even vicious.
As expressed at a now-infamous fundraiser in Florida, the Republican nominee's "ideology, pitting the 'makers' against the 'takers,' offers nothing," the writer said. "No sympathy for our fellow citizens. No insight into our social challenge. No hope of change."
"This approach involves a relentless reductionism," the writer argued Thursday in the Washington Post. "Human worth is reduced to economic production. Social problems are reduced to personal vices. Politics is reduced to class warfare on behalf of the upper class."
It was perhaps the most thorough, full-throated denunciation of Romney this year -- and, of course, a conservative Republican wrote it.
The author, Michael Gerson, has impeccable right-wing bona fides: He worked at the Heritage Foundation, served Chuck Colson and Bob Dole, and was President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter.
On this 46th day before Election Day, the story is not the alleged disintegration of the Romney campaign team in Boston. Yes, there is a lot of infighting going on. "It's a shame to see it," said Hogan Gidley, who was Rick Santorum's campaign spokesman. "They're all trying to save themselves." Still, it looks like the band will stick together (and give each other bonuses) until what could be a bitter end in November.
The real story, the deeper story, is the flying apart of the modern GOP into its constituent but rivalrous pieces. The Romney campaign feels like the end of an era in the party, rather than the beginning of one, because there's no center and it cannot hold.
More: Howard Fineman: Mitt Romney Is Driving The GOP To Pieces: Countdown Day 46
Source (nice article): Michael Gerson: A Republican mind-set without promise - The Washington Post