Republican Convention

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. Articles  • Republicans don't like racial humor?  Obama impersonator gets cut-off at Republican convention. ( Reuters )  • More damage from the non-war war:  NATO kills more civilians in Libya. ( Reuters )  • Shoring up the red vote: Russian president wants Obama reelected.

There are two major theories about why Mitt Romney is dropping in the polls. One is that Romney is a lousy candidate, unable to connect with people or make his case. The other is that Americans are finally beginning to see how radical the GOPhas become and are repudiating it. Most Republicans hold to the first view, for obvious reasons. And their long knives are already out. Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan called the Romney campaign "incompetent" and "a rolling calamity. " Republican guru William Kristol termed Mr. Romney's videotaped remarks about the 47 percent "arrogant and stupid.

"Trying to keep the clothes pressed has been a little bit of a problem. I look a little more wrinkled than most good Republicans -- more like a news reporter."-- Jay Wolfe of Clarksburg, W.Va., who was staying at a campground with his family while attending the convention."I was nervous. I had to use a little psychology on myself. I tried to pretend I was just talking to the Arkansas delegation and my husband."-- Christene Brownlee, an Arkansas delegate who as assistant secretary of the convention was assigned to repeat the delegate totals for each state during the roll call.

After all the negative advertising, campaign promises and gaffes, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are set to have the first of their critical debates on Oct. 3 in Denver. While political scientists argue that, with a few exceptions, the personal face-offs have not been decisive, they have become high television drama, and this year's series should be no exception. Mr. Romney, while running close in the national polls, has remained a question mark. Even after the string of televised Republican primary debates and an avalanche of advertising, it is still unclear to many voters is what makes him tick and what specifically he intends to do about the economic challenge he will face if he wins in November.

Sen. Zell Miller, Democrat Georgia "I never dreamed that the (Democratic) party was as far left as it is until I went to Washington." Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa "There's a very distinct difference between the two candidates and somebody needs to express it, and I wish the president could express it more." Filmmaker Michael Moore "I now know what th Christians probably felt like walking into the Coliseum." Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina "The winning combination is Republicans who can sell conservative philosophy to a wider audience, showing acceptance to moderates."

"The immigration plank in the party platform is full of platitudes, promises and pandering." - Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, of Colorado, who accused the Bush administration yesterday of maintaining an "open border policy" with Mexico to curry favor with Hispanic voters. DEVELOPMENTS We can't win: Asked on NBC's Today show, "Can we win?" the war on terror, President Bush responded: "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

New York's proud parent Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took time out yesterday to gloat about how smoothly his city has handled the convention. The city has shown this week that "this is where you get your message out," he said. "New York is hot at the moment." Complaining that "every story the press writes is about the potential for a calamity," Bloomberg, who built the media empire bearing his name, argued that journalists had scared people needlessly. "The subways worked, you could take the subways right into Penn Station," he said.

SAN DIEGO -- What an undulating road Republicans have traveled in the 32 years since last they convened in California. Undulating, and perhaps circular.Republicans are, in a sense, back in San Francisco and in 1964, riven by fissures as deep as those that divide them from Democrats. As a result, they are in danger of being on the receiving end of another demonstration of the porcelain brittleness of political prosperity.A party convention is supposed to inspirit the faithful, prompting them to stiffen their sinews, summon up their blood and sally forth to fight for the nominee.

Here is the text of Bob Dole's acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention in San Diego last night:Thank you. Thank you very much, thank you. Thank you very much, what a night. The folks in Hollywood would be happy to know that I've found a movie I like, the one I just saw.L This is a big night for me and I'm ready. We're ready to go.Thank you California. And thank you San Diego for hosting the greatest Republican convention of them all, the greatest of them all.Thank you President Ford and President Bush and God bless you Nancy Reagan for your moving tribute to President Reagan.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Falling confetti and balloons were just settling on the floor of the Republican National Convention in New York when Sen. John Kerry stepped before throngs at a midnight rally for Democrats here in Ohio's western corner and lashed back at the GOP messages that have dominated this week. "For three days in New York, instead of talking about real plans for creating jobs, strengthening the economy, expanding health care and bringing down gas prices, we heard almost nothing but anger and insults from the Republicans," the Massachusetts senator told a crowd of more than 10,000 cheering supporters.

A few years ago, it was fashionable for Democratsto describe themselves as "members of the reality-based community. " These days, it seems the foreclosure crisis has hit them so hard they've been forced to move to another neighborhood. Metaphorically, at least, they've set up a refugee camp in Charlotte this week. In this political Brigadoon, things are going well in America, so well in fact that President Barack Obama obviously deserves a second term because Americans are better off than they were four years ago, and that the Republican Party is little more than a haven for old-fashioned robber barons who think like Klansmen but dress like Mr. Monopoly.

CHARLOTTE -- Despite widespread speculation about his own national political ambitions, Gov. Martin O'Malley continued to deflect questions about 2016 as he dashed through a packed schedule at the Democratic National Convention ahead of his prime time address on Tuesday. The careful approach to talk of O'Malley as a presidential candidate -- which has made the governor a top draw here -- comes after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was criticized by some for focusing too much on himself at last week's Republican convention, rather than on nominee Mitt Romney.

Montgomery County Rep. Chris Van Hollen is the latest Democrat from Maryland to land a speaking role in Charlotte next week, Democratic National Convention organizers announced Friday. The addition of Van Hollen's name to the lineup is not a surprise. As the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, he is well suited to counter Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, the chairman of that committee. In fact, Van Hollen has been doing so for weeks, including during a trip to the Republican convention in Tampa this past week.

One in a series of profiles of Maryland delegates to the Republican National Convention Ask Brenda Butscher to compare this year's Republican convention to the first one she attended, in 1972, and her answer is unexpected. "One thing is I haven't met with an ice pick since I've been here," the 72-year-old Garrett County woman says with a smile. Butscher, who has attended nine national political conventions — more than anyone else in Maryland's delegation — found herself caught up in the Vietnam War protests that accompanied the 1972 nomination of Richard M. Nixon in Miami Beach.

Forget the broadcast networks of ABC, NBC and CBS. And forget PBS, too, unless you are part of the minority that doesn't have cable or online access. Public television simply doesn't have the resources any longer to do any kind of original, first-rate coverage of hardly anything -- even a pre-planned event like a national convention. If you want to use TV to get the best information and to engage as fully as possible with the Republican convention that begins Monday in Tampa and the Democratic convention next month in Charlotte, go with cable.

The silence of the other shoe dropping pretty much describes the clamor that greeted the departure of Newt Gingrichfrom his overblown, self-centered fight for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The man who vowed he would go all the way to the convention slinked away at a sparsely attended farewell news conference, with yet another offering of the ersatz erudition for which he is infamous, and with an ungracious quasi-endorsement of the man who whipped him, Mitt Romney. The coming election, Mr. Gingrich noted, "is not a choice between Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan.

NEW YORK - When President Bush journeys to this city for the Republican convention, he won't revisit the World Trade Center site. He doesn't need to. Fighting terrorism is already ground zero in Bush's re-election quest. Reminders of Sept. 11 - and the president's leadership after that disaster - go to the heart of his campaign strategy and will likely dominate news out of the Republican convention over the next four days. Bush's handling of the war on terrorism is the one issue, above all others, that can earn him a second term, according to strategists in both parties.

As Mitt Romneycontinued to build his delegate count for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night with five more primary victories, his new campaign slogan proclaimed: "A better America begins tonight. " The message seemed to announce that the November election was all over but the shouting, although he has yet to be nominated by a party still demonstrably cool to him, let alone anointed by the American voters as their next president. Actually, all that was beginning that night in Mr. Romney's upbeat speech in Manchester, N.H., the site of his first 2012 primary success, was the dead period that lies ahead until the Republican convention officially designates him, as matters now stand, as the GOP nominee.

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. Articles  • Republicans don't like racial humor?  Obama impersonator gets cut-off at Republican convention. ( Reuters )  • More damage from the non-war war:  NATO kills more civilians in Libya. ( Reuters )  • Shoring up the red vote: Russian president wants Obama reelected.