Earlier this year, as the Man of the People^® Tour rolled around the nation in search of new constituencies to offend, it became apparent that presumptive GOP nominee Thurston Howell III Mitt Romney is the sort of man who sometimes doesn’t think things through all the way. Which is bad for him, but fun for the political theater fans amongst us. Chevy Chase probably has his agent on the phone with Lorne Michaels right now. After what Chase did to the Gerald Ford campaign, it boggles the mind imagining what he’d do with Mitt.

Now this:

Romney steps away from Paul Ryan’s Medicare cuts

By Michael Finnegan
August 15, 2012, 9:52 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Mitt Romney on Wednesday unequivocally disavowed more than $700 billion in Medicare spending cuts proposed by his new running mate, Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin.

As Paul Ryan pretends he never heard of Ayn Rand and down-ballot Republican hopefuls across the country pretend they never heard of Paul Ryan, Romney is being forced in front of the cameras in a desperate attempt to distance himself from his own running mate. You’d think somebody on Team Mitt would have discovered, during that long, rigorous vetting process, that Ryan has proposed this plan that’s not terribly grandma-friendly.

Or, if you’ve been watching the Romney campaign closely, maybe you wouldn’t think that at all. Maybe this is precisely what you’d have expected. In any case, Barack Obama is no doubt cleaning off his monitor screen right now. Hint: Mr. President, when Mitt Romney is in the headlines, you should never open Google News while you have something in your mouth.

For my part, I’m watching the TV for new campaign ads. No presidential candidate in history has ever run an attack ad aimed at his own running mate, but at the rate we’re going it’s only a matter of time.

Cartoon by Paul Szep.