Update From The Republican Convention
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-08-29/update-republican-convention
Mitt Romney officially became the Republican Party’s 2012 nominee at the Republican National Convention yesterday. Hours later the full bore effort to broaden his appeal began. His wife, Anne Romney and up and coming Republican Party leader, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey gave speeches aimed at weak spots in Governor Romney's support: female voters and undecided voters dissatisfied with President Obama’s performance. This week’s Republican convention presents a critical opportunity for Romney to re-introduce himself on the national stage. Please join us for an update from the convention
Guests
Ron Elving
Washington editor for NPR.
Stuart Rothenberg
editor and publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report and a twice-a-week columnist for Roll Call.
Chris Cillizza
author of The Fix, a Washington Post politics blog, managing editor of PostPolitics.com and author of a new book, "The Gospel According to The Fix."
Comments
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http://www.harpers.org/archive/2012/08/hbc-90008805
The GOP claims to want to reach out to become more diverse -- but obviously they have not told the troops. I would be interested in hearing the guests discuss the harassment of the Puerto Rican speaker at the convention.
Apparently, the Harpers reporter mistakenly took the chanting to be toward the lady from Puerto Rico when, in fact, the chants actually started BEFORE she could speak. The chanting was a chaotic scene in which Rep. Ron Paul delegates were being refused seating at the RNC conflab. One reporter from Daily Kos said the chants in his area were "Seat them now!"and similar outcries. There were different chants from other areas comingled to create confusion. RNC wheel Reince Priebus had some difficulty sorting things out and getting the speaker her chance to give her report.
However, it is true that two attendees were tossed out of the Convention for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and shouting words to the effect of "That's how we feed the animals!"
The GOP is treading a very thin line of innuendo using frequent jibes about welfare recipients and even Mitt's own quicky about his birth certificate and where his family came from. Michael Steele pointed out that the majority of welfare folks are white. What he failed to point out is that 70% of those recipients are under 18 or disabled poor elderly.
One might ask Ann Romney how Mitt paid for his time in business school and law school and where he and his chums got the capital to start their fledgling business, the meals off the ironing board notwithstanding. Rick Santorum mentioned a family member who got a college degree "on the GI Bill"......which is, of course, a form of government assistance.
These conventions seem to consist of those who "preach to the choir". If you only want to hear what you want to believe, than the convention is for you. If you want the unvarnished truth, you won't get it in a convention.
Why? Because many can't deal with reality. And truth is not always good news.
And I believe that the above applies to all political ideologies. Supposedly the late George Wallace stated that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans". I would agree.
The fact that Anne Romney stood up and extolled her husband is hardly "news" -- what would you expect? And while I'm sure they have had a loving and successful partnership over the years, her references to hardships early on is just plain disingenuous coming from someone who married into an extremely wealthy family.
If Romney actually ran on his moderate record he could pull some Dem's in but he has not. He clearly swung to the tea baggers. And with his right wing radical go get Iran warmongering team who can he possibly pull in from this angle?
Mrs. 1% Romney will not be pulling many 99% in?
Will the Rehm team have Cindy and Craig Corrie on to discuss the Israeli court deciding Israel is not at fault in crushing human rights activist Rachel Corrie to death? You folks just did a program on Hezbollah..when are you going to do a show on the human rights abuses of Israel in the past continuing to this day. Been a long long time since you folks have dedicated a full hour to what is really going on in the I/P situation
Honest?Abe wrote: "Michael Steele pointed out that the majority of welfare folks are white. What he failed to point out is that 70% of those recipients are under 18 or disabled poor elderly"
Black people are about 13% of the population but receive by far most of the welfare per capita. As noted these figures do not include all the other public assistance programs that are overwhelmingly lopsided to one race.
Total number of American’s on welfare 15,000,000
Percent of the US population on welfare 4.1 %
Total government spending on welfare annually (not including food stamps or unemployment) $131.9 billion
Percent of recipients who are white 38.8 %
Percent of recipients who are black 39.8 %
Percent of recipients who are hispanic 15.7 %
Percent of recipients who are Asian 2.4 %
Percent of recipients who are Other 3.3 %
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/
What an embarrassing mess Ann Romney's speech was.
And speaking as a WOMAN... I thought the pandering to women of lesser means than herself was so insulting I thought I was watching a parody on SNL. It seemed like code for the 1950s-philiacs in the conservative community.
I hope the Romneys return quickly to their many mansions...
A listener in Indianapolis
I found Ann Romeny’s medical history that she included in her speech was very representative of the current haves & have nots experience within US health care system and the corresponding impact on personal financial stability. If she had been the wife a standard blue color worker – rather than the wife of a $100million+ corporate raider – today she would likely be confined to a wheel chair, financially unstable if not in bankruptcy and likely relying upon MedAid to address her medial needs. I find it extremely hypocritical that her husband’s intended first task upon being elected to the Presidency is to overturn ObamaCare which tries to extend portions of the same sort of care Ann Romney has received to the general public – so they like Ann can continue live productive and full lives – even in the face of serious medical issues.
Sounds like Chris Christie was looking after number one--himself. He's looking forward to 2016 and probably wasn't aware that he was supposed to laud Romeny. LOL
Typical politician.
When Ann Romney referred to "fear" of Mitt Romney's success, my observation was that the first issue is *definition* of "success." To the Romney campaign, success seems to mean being in the top .001% financially. Does success mean a country in which there is an extreme income skew? The Republicans are doing a very good job of twisting this issue (among others).
Also, Ann Romney's speech could have been taken directly from a speech that had the sole purpose of indoctrinating a gathering of Mormon teen-agers -- regarding the proper roles for women and men. Mormons throughout the U.S. must be ecstatic today about Ann Romney's opportunity for missionary work on the convention stage.
Similarly, I wondered if the PBS television camera was targeting only men in the audience in white shirts, tie, and jacket (the standard Mormon uniform for men). Or was the modal attire of the audience?
You mean that people have no idea why Bush wasn't invited to the convention?
Where have they been since 2000? LOL
Speaker of the House John Boehner's speech was a disgrace!
You can take the man out of the bar room but you can't take the bar room out of the man. Boehner's speech was the set-up to a cheap joke - "a man walked into a bar..." without a punchline but with a violent and crude analogy of "throwing "President Obama of the bar room...or the White House.
Did not watch, did not even tune into NPR. I just have to look at their platform and to hear inadvertent misstatements to know this is the party that controls women and wants to alienate people who are not made in the white man image...yuck my vote is cast. now if I can convince those around me and get them to the polls
Listening this morning to a cozy collection of DR Show guests all agreeing with each other; how predicable is that – boring bunch offering nothing original?
It will be interesting to read the comments when the Uterus convention starts next week, the socialist palooza!
I think the GOP party is really trying to reach out to Latino, African-American and other minority voters by putting those faces up on the stage (note, Artur Davis, Nikki Haley). I have found this to be an inauthentic attempt to skew the perception the public has about the party as being diverse while the party is simultaneously trying to block minority votes through voter ID, anti-immigrant laws and even statements from John Boehner that he hopes Latinos and Blacks "won't show up" to the elections (http://news.yahoo.com/boehner-says-loud-hopes-blacks-latinos-wont-show-1...) I would be interested to hear about the racial and ethnic composition of the delegates.
fool me once,
You said, "It will be interesting to read the comments when the Uterus convention starts next week, the socialist palooza!"
Are you anti-uterus, or do you wish to control it?
Conventions are about money.
Politics is about money.
Major surprise???
The conventions are useless, and the money (no telling how much) could be used for better, non-political purposes.
jim_bird:
Excellent point!
You're absolutely right about conventions.
Considering the money that's being spent (for both major parties), that can be used to help pay down the debt.
IndieLady7 wrote: "Are you anti-uterus, or do you wish to control it?"
I am only speaking to the vacuous nature of the democrat party. The party of failed ideas and a failed president, a party that can only run on envy, hate and fear.
How long before somebody accuses the Republicans of insensitivity? Stated in the generally as "While Issac rages over New Orleans again, the Republicans throw a huge party". Let it be said I don't hold this view, but guarantee somebody will.
fool me once wrote: " I am only speaking to the vacuous nature of the democrat party. The party of failed ideas and a failed president, a party that can only run on envy, hate and fear."
Truth be told, BOTH parties have failed...not just the democrats. The dems failed in terms of government spending and the republicans fail in terms of favoring the rich.
I think the third party candidates deserve a look. One person that impresses me is Jill Stein of the Green Party.
IndieLady7 wrote:" Considering the money that's being spent (for both major parties), that can be used to help pay down the debt."
The country borrows about 4 billion dollars per day to support the unsustainable, both campaigns would be more than paid for in one day of federal government borrowing. That's the problem with you libs, you cannot comprehend basic math.
in regards to calling out extremism....the leaders of 1930s Germany probably BELIEVED what they were doing...so since they believed it were they were not to be called out on their beliefs and challenged???The GOP has pretty extreme beliefs Santorum and the others far to the right should be called out on it and should EXPECT an equal amount of push back. I tend to use the words ignorant and hateful to describe that group. they may believe it but when I use those words I believe what I am saying
I think everyone at the RNC conference is PHONY in terms of their support for Mitt Romney. We all know good and well that many of them DO NOT like Romney, but they are standing by him for only one thing--to help get him elected. Romney has not shown that he has new ideas in terms of betterment for the country. Tax breaks on corporations; oil, gas, and coal for energy--what's new about that??? It's the same old same old that does not apply to the future. Oil, gas, and coal are NON-RENEWABLE resources. When they're gone...they're gone. We're beyond peak oil now, so when gas and coal runs out...then what???
Tax breaks for the rich and corporations???? How is that going to make things better?? Does anyone with any semblence of intelligence honestly think that the rich and corporation are going to use those tax breaks to create jobs or to help those less fortunate? I doubt it. We've tried tax cuts before, and it has done nothing but bring us into a deeper hole.
Fool me once...you made me laugh at how we could see things so differently!!!
"the party that can only run on envy, hate and fear." that is exactly my take and has been for 20 years of the GOP especially the hate and fear. I think the members of the GOP are too vain to envy!
IndieLady7 wrote: "Truth be told, BOTH parties have failed...not just the democrats. The dems failed in terms of government spending and the republicans fail in terms of favoring the rich."
There is little "truth" in that, both parties are to blame for over indulging the middle class and the poor. The majority of the "Bush tax cuts" went to the middle class and of course his stupid medicare expansion, Obama took the stupidity to a whole new level.
fool me once wrote: "The country borrows about 4 billion dollars per day to support the unsustainable, both campaigns would be more than paid for in one day of federal government borrowing. That's the problem with you libs, you cannot comprehend basic math."
Borrowing money did not start with Obama. This has been going on for decades. Bush borrowed millions from China to pay for two wars, two tax cuts, and a Medicare drug plan. How quickly you conservatives forget about that. If you conservatives were SOOOO concerned about spending, then why discuss it now?? Why wasn't this discussed 10, 15, 20 years ago? Many of you have such personal hatred for President Obama that you can even think objectively. Sad.