Late Afternoon Coffee at the Last Manatee

++Howard Fineman actually caught the focus of these strange Welfare ads by Romney--working class women. Apparently these ads have been tested and they influence women of this class to feel racial resentment. If you have a gender chasm, maybe this is the route you take.

++Willard Romney has been asked for his birth certificate by a Boston reporter because she thought like I do that his middle name is Milton. 

++The leaked GOP platform criticizes the Obama foreign policy for supporting "legalized abortion" and the "radical homosexual agenda". The platform plank was undoubtedly inserted by the Christian Right who have been campaigning in Africa for more anti-gay laws.

++Willard Romney said that he wanted to appoint to his cabinet women like Meg Whitman, failed Senate candidate and HP CEO. Meg shares Willard's love of overseas bank accounts. But she said today she is not available.

++An AP/Gf poll shows that 53% of Americans support a tax increase to shore up Social Security's solvency. 

++The National Review today published an op-ed that urges investors to drive the stock market down so that Romney could get elected.

++Willard said today that the abortion issue has been settled by the courts for sometime but he didn't comment on the GOP platform.

++The Obama Campaign said today that the election is down to Florida, Virginia and Ohio.

++Pew has a new poll on American attitudes' toward the rich. 71% believe Romney's policies favor the rich. 63% say that the GOP favors the rich. 60% say that President Obama's policies favor the poor. 35% say the Democrats favor the middle class,32% say the poor and 20% say the rich. 55% think the rich are greedy,34% say less honest, 43% say intelligent, 42% say hardworking.

++Tampa has the highest homeless rate of any city in the United States.

++Rush Limbaugh claims President Obama manipulated weather forecasts so the GOP would have to cancel their convention. Rep. Issa said that he would mind if New Orleans was hit by Isaac if that means the GOP win in November.

++100s of cops and helicopters overhead made Tampa look like a city under siege because workers came to protest Bain's policies of bankrupting their companies.