The Clown Car of Darkness

++There really was discussion today about Ronald Reagan appearing as a hologram at the RNC Convention.

++Lindsey Graham and John McCain appear ready to introduce a bill in the Senate supporting Israeli's attack on Iran if it should happen.

++President Obama has caved to the Freedom of Information Act and vows to release his beer recipe.

++The President held an Ask Me Anything Reddit town hall meeting and people literally asked them a lot, particularly on medical marijuana and the Space program as well as who takes care of Bo on a daily basis. It is very hard to believe Willard Romney could replicate the same event with such fluency.

++Paul Ryan's brother told the media his brother is a career politician. Tonight Ryan will talk about his immigrant roots. This must be the new thing for trust fund kids. Ann Romney told Hispanics today she understands being an immigrant since her family came from Wales. 

++The major media has finally caught up with Steve Benen's two year campaign of documenting Romney's amazing ability to lie. Ron Fournier of AP came out today and wrote about the chronic lying in the campaign. This should make it OK for others to focus on this phenomenon. 

++It has been overwhelming the first two days of the convention. Even Republican governors are stepping up to refute the lie about welfare. But this goes to playing the Race Card by the Romney campaign and journalists finally getting people to go on the record that the target is blue-collar whites who resent their current condition and the resentment must be turned against Democrats and especially Obama. 

++Mark Halperin who is a GOP supporter commented on the calm among the Obama campaign top brass. It is not simply the No Drama Obama approach but something deeper. He says that the Obama campaign exudes confidence and is convinced the President will win barring some unforeseen disaster. Other commentators on Halperin's observation claim the Obama campaign is well aware that the polling numbers that the public see do not reflect cellphone respondents and they favor Obama by wide margins. I don 't know. Nate Silver reflects today on the gap in polls which show Romney's advantages when we go from registered to likely voter and that spread seems unusual.

++Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone guts Romney's Bain days showing how federal bailouts kept him afloat and that Romney does have a special genius--creating massive debt as witnessed the number of companies he forced into bankruptcy because of the Bain strategy of making corporations assume massive debt they could never pay off.

++Meanwhile, home ownership is now at a 50 year low after the Bush "ownership" society or "we will own you society".

++Internet commentators laugh at the total viewers of the convention so far as being 20 million with FOX accounting for 6-7 million of those. The final episode of American Idol draws 20-25 million and the Super Bowl attracts 100 million. Personally,I don't think the Conventions are that much of a draw anyway.

++We will see Paul Ryan tonight. The USA Today/ Gallup poll has 38% think of him favorably and 36% of them unfavorably. 58% were found in another poll to have no opinion of him. Reuters/Ipsos have a 50/50 split.

++Willard's sister says that her brother will not outlaw abortion and that he is more "moderate" than that. How about equal pay for equal work.

++Obama's presence at the University of Virginia recalled the huge rallies in 2008. There is something about seeing how the President responds to crowds and how their support for him. Think back to the last administration where a President could not go near a college campus. These rallies also generate enormous local media, which is helping Obama undercut the Republican Convention. Now I know what Karl Rove meant when he recommended the President take a few days off.

++Condi Rice is to speak tonight and earlier today she was asked about any failures of Obama's foreign policy but she could not come up with any. But tonight she and John McCain are supposed to take Obama on.

++The video of the Ron Paul delegates walking out of the convention was effective. The leader of the Maine delegation explained how he had been elected by citizens in Maine and that the Romney people removed him and three veterans of the Afghanistan war. A woman Paulite said this type of thing would affect the election. Somehow I believe her, about Maine.

++The best rumor of the Special Speaker was that it wasn't Clint Eastwood but Rush Limbaugh, which would make perfect sense for this convention.

++The Romney people must be disappointed by the first full day because Chris Christie didn't get around to mentioning Romney until late in his speech. He said that Republicans wanted respect, not love, contradicting Ann Romney's address about love. Fecal Matter Santorum barely praised Romney. So it wash;t clear what theme was struck other than everyone made it themselves. It was pretty weak fare.

++Conservatives are salivating at a Ryan-Biden debate. For them that is worth the price of admission. Tonight we will see whether Ryan can project large since he is only used to speaking in the House and in a small constituency.