Friday, August 31, 2012

Things to Know - 1 September

      
Clint Eastwood, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan meet low expectations


1.  There is undoubtedly a lot of commentary on Romney's speech last night.  There is a lot of buzz about Clint Eastwood's rambling introduction, and its impact, which is odd.  Not sure if Ann Romney was all that thrilled with it.  However, what needs to be remembered is that Willard Mitt Romney has been running for president for over 6 years, and his performance last night was said to be the opportunity for all of America to see who the real Mitt is.   What kind of guy do we have, who has been on a 6-year courtship, and is now going to emerge with all of his bona fides in the last 30 minutes?   I think David Brooks did a better job on Mitt than Mitt did for himself.  When Clint gets more buzz about his performance, Mitt is just like the same guy he was before he got to Tampa:

2.  National Memo is my Cliff Notes for catching up on what happened last night.  Biased?... a bit, probably.  However, it is more tolerable than the alternative.   What Romney, and all candidates have to realize, is that in this age of technology, there is a former empty ICBM missile silo loaded with recorded performances of statements, speeches, and flip-flops now being queued to be run on prime time.   Mitt and Paul will be running against themselves at every turn and every issue, and that does not sound very encouraging.  Hypocrisy will be the inescapable nemesis of the RomRyan duo.   Hopefully no amount of Citizens United Super Pac cash can hide it:
http://www.nationalmemo.com/republican-national-convention-night-three-lolgop-liveblog/

3.  The Department of Justice has struck down the attempt by Texas to suppress voting.  In what is recognized as a blatant effort by GOP-controlled states to deny access to the voting booth to mostly elderly and minority demographics, the issue is gaining in prominence on the American stage.   History is full of events and stories of actions, well intended or just plan evil, where the basic rights are denied to citizens.  Here we are in the 21st Century, and having gone through some very dark periods in our young USA, and we still have a repetition of actions by some to others which are shameful, xenophobic, homophobic, discriminatory, and full of hatred.  The right-wing extremists are either ignorant of history, and don't care, or just don't know any better.   A potato famine decimated Ireland in the middle of the 19th Century, as a result of a fungus known as phytopthora infestation.  It seems as though a right-wing activist rabble in this country is infested with a mind-crippling fungus.  Democracy requires tolerance and intelligence to thrive.   There is no room to tolerate those whose minds operate on the same level of a field of infested potatoes.   The 2nd link is of a late Friday ruling in Ohio that runs along the same result in Texas, which preserves voting rights:

4.  After The Paul, Clint, and Mitt show, the opposition is taking it all in and preparing for the return volley.  Betcha we're going to have a lot of skits with empty chairs, Pinocchio noses, and tax returns in Charlotte.   There will no doubt be references to the GOP re-writing the ticket and having Ryan running with Clint as the preferred team, with the Cowboy in the lead role.  The 2nd link is a good column by the WashPost's Dan Balz:

5.  This is not an exquisitely slick production, nor is it intended to to be on the front lines of opposition parry and thrust of the highest order.  However, if you need something soothingly calm to rock you to sleep, and you need something to fill that void between that idle period of sleeplessness between 1:45 am and 2:25 am, tune this in:

6.  EJ Dionne reviews the etch-a-sketch moment that Romney has worked 6 years to work out, rehearse, and finally present.  The problem that Mitt has, is that he will not have the preparation time for each obligated public appearance on the campaign trail.  When he has to endure the 5 to 6 daily stops each day, in front of a different audience each time, he will revert to the same plastic, robot-scripted, and hollow personage that he was before Tampa.  The journalists who have been following him now have a bag full of questions based on the false information, flip-flops and inconsistencies he and his buddy have dished out.   He's going to be very uncomfortable, and he's going to have stresses put on him that will push him back to his comfort zone; rigid, gaffe-prone, and unlikable.  He will find himself in situations that his handlers cannot control, and he either has to back off and be elusive, and get creamed by the media, or he will have to stand there and be Mitt - which is not the best thing going for him:

7.  This is A MUST READ.  It is written by a gentleman by the name of Mike Lofgren.  Mike Lofgren retired on June 17 after 28 years as a Congressional staffer. He served 16 years as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees.  This is a very long article.  However, it exposes every nook and cranny of the Republican Party's agenda to destroy this country, and how it is doing it today.   I feel that this document is  so important, that I am going to repeat it, probably the next day, and have it as the only link.   So, if you don't read it now, you will later.   I will repeat it for as long as it takes to get everyone to read it:

8.  Gail Collins closes this out with a recap of the closing of the RNC - (Romney No Charisma).   Gee, it seems like the Tampa thing was a very weird event.  The odd thing is -  Romney and Ryan are taking time off for the entire Labor Day weekend.   Normally, the post convention bump propels the candidate to take the energy to the campaign trail.  Either there is no bump, or there is some serious etch-a-sketch analysis going on:

Juan

"Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd." 
       -- Edith Sitwell
"Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives." 
       -- Sue Murphy
"Outer space is no place for a person of breeding." 
       -- Lady Violet Bonham Carter
"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside." 
       -- Robert X. Cringely


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