Ten Reasons Why the Republican National Convention in Tampa Failed

If I had bi-location abilities like a mystic, my first act of rescue at Tampa's Republican National Convention would have been to wake up the group of enraptured fans who were, apparently, hypnotized for television cameras, while watching a litany of boring political speeches.  I wonder if white, upper middle class fans in the convention arena rehearsed their glowing poses. They were ready for their close up photographs, like they were on a "kiss cam", their glowing faces fixated, like neon magnets, on staged events in front of them.

Rather than rouse the independent voters or cement the right wing political base, the speeches left viewers wondering if they missed something?  

http://themoderatevoice.com/158125/romney-entered-the-gop-convention-the-underdog-and-left-the-convention-the-underdog/ 

Simon Owens writes in "The Moderate Voice", how Romney entered the convention as an underdog and left as one, too. 

Unfortunately, it was hard to endure the mis-cues, the negativity, the "blaming everything on President Obama" rhetoric and lies, but I watched, because, I didn't want to miss "the big one".  

Surely, I thought, something big would come out of this convention, when Governor Mitt Romney accepted the nomination to run against President Obama in November.  Instead, I found 10 reasons why, in my opinion, the convention failed to win voters who might have been waiting to see how a potential President Romney might lead our nation.  Although Romney's wife, Ann Romney, told the beaming audience how her husband "would not fail", he did, in fact, fail to lead Republicans through a stellar celebration, framed to showcase his introduction to American voters.

Here's my top ten reasons for the failure:

1.  Sarah Palin, the pretty right wing darling, was nowhere to be found. The woman is charismatic!  She would have lifted the ceiling of the convention with right wing enthusiasm. In fact, even Fox news snubbed her.http://tinyurl.com/8g7lvw6

2.  Republican National Party Chairman, Reince Priebus, thought he could get away with spreading Republican rhetoric on Wednesday's, MSNBC's "Morning Joe", spewing racist euphemisms for the purpose of muckraking negative sentiment against Obama, just to stir up white angry men voters.  Instead, the conversation enraged pundit Chris Matthews who put Priebus in his place. Nonetheless, Republicans called MSNBC to fire Matthews.  Priebus went whining to reporters about how he thought Mathews was "a jerk", but he couldn't say Matthews was lying or wrong in his attacking remarks.

.http://politics.kfyi.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=104707&article=10375935

"Priebus also said the the two shook hands and that someone from MSNBC had been trying to call him all day, possibly to make amends. And while he said no amends was needed, he did refer to Matthews as an Obama “surrogate.”

3.  The convention was boring. 

4.  Many keynote speakers didn't mention Governor Mitt Romney's name, until about half way through their self gratifying speeches. New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie's unconventional convention speech, somehow forgot to shower praise on candidate Mitt Romney:  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/republican-convention-biggest-moments-2012-mitt-romney-nominated/story?id=17127301#6

5.  Mrs. Ann Romney's important speech was scheduled on the same night with Governor Chris Christie, but he missed delivering a rousing Romney endorsement. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/28/ann-romney-soars-chris-christie-stumbles-in-kicking-off-the-republican-convention.html

Moreover, one review says Ann Romney overplayed her "being poor" stories. http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/08/31/ann-romney-overstepped-playing-poor/tSVWCAFoIdh96hb1vxh9sL/story.html

Did anybody notice the designer wrist watch Mrs. Romney wore with her pretty red dress?  

Boston Globe blogger Joanne Weiss writes:

"Inside, (the convention) it’s easy to get caught up in the fervor, project the partisan cheers onto a nation. But when you’re watching in a quiet room with your spouse and your Twitter feed, you view these speeches more skeptically. You approach them with...questions, like.. 'What’s that Ann Romney just said about tuna fish?'" 

6. US Congressman Paul Ryan filled his acceptance speech with lies, especially falsely claiming that an automotive factory in his district of Wisconsin was closed during President Obama's administration.  Ryan lied.  In fact, the factory closed while President George Bush was still in office.   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772804577621551971442634.html 

7.  Actor Clint Eastwood upstaged Governor Mitt Romney's official acceptance speech.  As the delusional "mystery guest" Eastwood decided to go rogue with his anecdotal remarks.  Was the nomination of Governor Romney about Eastwood's legacy?  

http://tinyurl.com/8slmg7j

8. Americans never heard how a Romney-Ryan would be able to deliver a better America. There were absolutely no specifics. In fact, when Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie asked Ann Romney to name one specific policy her husband supported to help women, she sidestepped the question. She did not have an answer.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xt6s5l_nbc-today-show-ann-romney-thrilled-by-support-and-speech_news

9.  The Republican Party Platform is unbridled right wing extremism

Regarding women's health and reproductive rights, the Party's platform is regressive. It's time for the Republicans to stop pandering to right wing extremists and tear up the entire platform document.

Ezra Klein writes about the 10 Oddest Things in the Republican Party Platform in his Wonkblog:  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/29/gop-platform-the-10-oddest-items/

10.  Nowhere in the Republican Convention was there a mention of the wars Americans are engaged in nor was time taken to provide sympathy and support for millions of victims of the raging Hurricane Isaac, battering the Gulf Coast.  In fact, for the first time since 1952 there was no mention of war in a Republican National Convention.  This is strange given the Republicans in the US Congress are determined to raise the US Defense spending as their way of providing stimulus money to preferential voting districts.  

http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/top-news/first-since-52-no-talk-of-war-in-gop-speech/nRQY7/

By any measure, the Romney-Ryan Republican National Convention lacked coordination and was certainly void of positive star power (Clint Eastwood certainly failed to provide this element, if that's what was intended). Chairman Reince Priebus is responsible for the failures.  Although Priebus knew Tampa sits square in the path of the risk for tropical storms and Gulf hurricanes. There were no contingency plans for the program in case weather caused glitches.  

Romney-Ryan-Preibus were unable to coordinate a National Convention.  I sincerely doubt they can run our nation.

Incredulously, the Republicans will get a political poll "bounce" out of this fiasco.  This is quite irresponsible on the part of the voters who should give this convention a C minus grade.

Next week, Democrats have their week in the limelight.  Fortunately, the Democratic Convention organizers cannot do any worse than their Republican counterparts.  Hopefully, I can write about 10 reasons the Democratic National Convention is a huge and convincing success!