Strange Doings in Tampa

++The GOP convention got off to a wobbly start. Rinse Penis tried to explain The Donald's absence and why Willard's birther joke was alright. The Ron Paul delegates are still incensed about the Rules Committee power play. Michael Steele shouted down Republicans complaining about Tampa as the site of the convention. And tweeting from the floor remarked how dazzling white the whole crowd was.

++Chris Matthews accused Rinse Penis on the Morning Joe show of playing the race card this morning. Romney surrogate Haley Barbour returned the accusation at President Obama. Then Romney himself said that President Obama changed the welfare requirements because he was "shoring up his base." So the base is supposed to be welfare recipients. Of course reality is that states have to ask the Administration for wavers on any changes in welfare. Now the Romney camp launched another ad blasting Obama for both the welfare "change" and stealing funds from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. Two for One. Romney tripling down on these two issues even though any normal human being knows they are false does show he is playing the "Race Card" . Why? The GOP knows that you must stoke the resentment of lower middle class whites against minorities and not let the Obama critique of the uberwealthy gain any traction. Whether taking the "Southern strategy" national will win is another matter.

++A Time/CNN poll shows Obama beating Romney 50-46 in Florida. Women favor Obama by 54-42 and minorities Obama 70-29. Romney leads in North Carolina by 1. Obama also hit a 50% approval rating in two national polls today which is a good sign. Rasmussen has Obama ahead 47-44 in his tracking poll. But he may want to establish the "narrative" of "America's Comeback Team". 

++John McCain's old campaign team blasted the Romney people for not enough outreach to Hispanics. Unfortunately, the GOP Platform has been leaking out all day. The section on immigration is rough, forbidding any types of amnesty and arguing for a humane policy of "self-deportation", Romney's own language from the primaries. The GOP platform also argued for the impeachment of judges who rule contrary to the "people's opinion". Also, instead of taking the high ground on Medicare, the leaked section promised radical changes along the lines of the Ryan Plan.

++Willard said he doesn't really have a like ability problem because he was elected President of his booster club at Brigham Young, which shows he gets along with people. This was at a time Brigham Young was being boycotted by the NCAA for his racism.

++Do any of the dog whistles on race turn off white voters? Doesn't anyone resent being manipulated by appeals to racism?