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The most extraordinary story of the GOP convention — Popular in Politics — TAMPA — When CNN asked top Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom to assess Clint Eastwood's performance on stage at the Republican convention Thursday night, Fehrnstrom answered simply, “It's improv.”
Discussion:
National Review, News Desk, Wake up America, The Week, americanthinker.com and Hot Air
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Clint Eastwood Delivers Bizarre, Rambling Speech To Empty Chair — TAMPA, Fla. — Clint Eastwood opened up the primetime portion of the Republican convention with a rambling, mumbling and often incoherent address next to an empty chair that was meant to represent President Obama.


Clint Eastwood RNC speech transcript (text, video) — Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Save a little for Mitt. — (APPLAUSE) I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what's a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin.
Discussion:
Red Alert Politics, The New Republic, Law Blog and Riehl World News

(APPLAUSE) — So — but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw Jon Voight, a lot of people around. — Jon's here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us.
Discussion:
Salon, Election 2012, Gothamist, The Atlantic Online, LewRockwell.com Blog, USA Today and The Moderate Voice


Clint Eastwood's rambling RNC speech — TAMPA, Fla. — Clint Eastwood delivered a rambling performance at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night in a speech that included the Hollywood legend speaking to an empty stool and telling an imaginary President Barack Obama …


Surprise Speaker Delivers the Unexpected
Discussion:
Politico, BuzzFeed, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, US Politics and USA Today

Romney's speech: Where was the policy?
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, New York Times, Daily Kos, The Week and Saint Petersblog

Romney Vows to Deliver Country From Economic Travails
Discussion:
Swampland, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, Politico, The Caucus, NBC Latino, Taylor Marsh, Washington Free Beacon and American Power

In Prudent Speech, Romney Seeks Role as Generic Republican
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Reality-Based Community, Fox News, Election 2012, Politico and The Week

Eastwood surprises GOP convention - maybe in more ways than one
Discussion:
Liberal Values, Hotline On Call, Saint Petersblog and The Hinterland Gazette

What War? — The United States has some 68,000 troops fighting in Afghanistan. Over two thousand Americans have died in the more than ten years of that war, a war Mitt Romney has supported. Yet in his speech accepting his party's nomination to be commander in chief, Mitt Romney said not a word about the war in Afghanistan.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, ABCNEWS, The Hinterland Gazette, Swampland, ABCNEWS and The Agonist
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Exclusive: Inside Karl Rove's Billionaire Fundraiser — On the final morning of the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party's highest-earning and most powerful donors.
Discussion:
Politico, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, LifeNews.com, Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, GOP 12, Mediaite, The Raw Story and Public Policy Polling

Romney Aces Convention Test — A few hours before Mitt Romney spoke to the Republican convention last night, his campaign did something clever. It's normal procedure before a major speech is to release excerpts so the evening TV news shows can preview the address.
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Romney to Visit Areas Damaged By Hurricane Isaac
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, Red Alert Politics, The Agonist and NO QUARTER

Romney takes lead over Obama with convention “bounce”: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Discussion:
Business Insider, Saint Petersblog, Hot Air and Washington Post

Mitt Romney's Incoherent View of Mothers — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and wife Ann stand on stage at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, 2012 on the final day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). — One of the Romney campaign's …
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Ann Romney: Mitt showed the ‘deepest part of his soul’
Discussion:
Politico, ABCNEWS, The Caucus and Connecting.the.Dots

Romney Campaign is First to Buy a Twitter Trending Topic
Discussion:
NBC Latino, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Twitter Room

Monetary Policy since the Onset of the Crisis — When we convened in Jackson Hole in August 2007, the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) target for the federal funds rate was 5-1/4 percent. Sixteen months later, with the financial crisis in full swing, the FOMC had lowered the target …
Discussion:
FT Alphaville, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Mother Jones and Paul Krugman
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Fed Chairman Pushes Hard for New Steps to Spur Growth
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Hot Air


Behind the Latest Palin-Fox Fight — Last night's kerfuffle between Sarah Palin and Fox News was a classic display of Sarah Palin being, well, Sarah Palin. But her Facebook outburst complaining about Fox canceling her appearance at the Republic National Convention reveals something deeper …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Hot Air, The Week, Outside the Beltway, TVNewser, The Fix, Politicker and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »


‘Honey Boo Boo’ Ratings Top the Republican National Convention — The TLC series hits another high in its fourth episode, nearing 3 million viewers and topping cable news and broadcast network coverage of the RNC among adults 18-49. — Perhaps we spoke too soon.
Discussion:
Addicting Info, Business Insider and Balloon Juice


RNC Delegate Offended By Presence of ‘Mexican’ At Disney's Epcot Center — During a trip to Epcot at Disneyworld, Pennsylvania delegate Mark Harris and his wife were shocked and offended to find a Mexican employee working at the amusement park's American pavilion, which showcases the different cultures in the United States.
Discussion:
The Raw Story

The One Line To Rule Them All — I generally agree with Scott that Romney's speech could have been a lot stronger, and still had the same personal structure and done what he wanted to do with it. Who are his chief speechwriters, I wonder? Is it the same crew (McConnell and Scully) that did Paul Ryan's speech?
Discussion:
GayPatriot and Betsy's Page


MEDIA STRIKES BACK AFTER DIRTY HARRY DARES TO MOCK OBAMA — Newsflash: Obama can't take a joke. But we already knew that. — For four long years we've waited, hoped and prayed that some young comic would break free of the politically correct demands of The State and mock Obama …

Lake Park man allegedly obsessed with Fox News, GOP is in jail after threats made to girlfriend — A Lake Park man “obsessed with Fox News and the Republican party” is in jail today after he allegedly said that he felt he was going to have to kill his girlfriend because she was a “liberal.”
Discussion:
Mediaite and Saint Petersblog


Biden hits Ryan on auto plant, Romney on Bain & Co. — In Ohio today, Joe Biden will go after the most controversial anecdote Paul Ryan told in his convention speech: the tale of a Janesville, Wis., auto plant that closed in 2008 and that has not reopened. In the telling, Ryan made it sound …
Discussion:
CNN


David Koch breaks from GOP on gay marriage, taxes, defense cuts — TAMPA, Fla. - Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told POLITICO he disagrees with the GOP's stance on gay marriage …
Discussion:
Addicting Info, The Raw Story, Advocate, Towleroad News #gay, Red Alert Politics and Prairie Weather


Transcript: Mitt Romney's Acceptance Speech … Transcript of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's acceptance speech as prepared for delivery at the Republican National Convention: — Mr. Chairman, delegates. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.
Discussion:
The New Republic, Outside the Beltway, TaxVox, Reuters, Pirate's Cove and The Huffington Post


Romney-Ryan details remain elusive: Just ask a surrogate — FORTUNE — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is promoting the Romney-Ryan ticket as a team offering a credible, detailed plan for turning the country around. But some of those details proved troublesome in a sit-down interview with Fortune on Thursday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and The Maddow Blog