We’re going to be announcing a $10 million initiative just this year and it will include hundreds of people, paid across the country, from coast-to-coast, in Hispanic and African-American, Asian communities, talking about our party, talking about our brand, talking about what we believe in.RNC head Reince Priebus • Discussing the RNC’s efforts to improve its image amongst minorities by increasing its outreach big time. Part of the reason for doing it now, rather than during an election year, is because the party found it was playing catch-up by only focusing on such efforts in the months leading up to the election. “We have become a party that parachutes into communities four months before an election,” Priebus said. “In comparison to the other side, the Obama campaign lived in these communities for years. The relationships were deep, they were authentic.” Priebus’ comments come two days after the party suffered a black eye on the diversity front—a controversial incident at CPAC involving a white supremacist group.
Listen, I don’t think our platform is the issue. I think a lot of times it’s some of these biologically stupid things that people say, you know, that I believe caused a lot of the problems.RNC chairman Reince Priebus • Diagnosing the problems faced by the Republican Party, which ostensibly played a role in their sound defeat at the voting booth last November, in an interview with Radio Iowa a couple days ago. Piebus’ words (a clear reference to damaging remarks by Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock on rape, among others) could be suggestive of the RNC’s strategic thinking on improving their chances going forward — less emphasis on new policies, perhaps, than on using more tactful rhetoric. source
A debate about which party can better manage the federal government is a very small and short-sighted debate. If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal • In a speech he plans to give to the Republican National Committee Thursday evening, during which he will use the phrase “recalibrate the compass of conservatism.” Jindal sounds like he’s running for president in 2016, and also like he’s hoping to score an era-defining speech akin to Rush Limbaugh’s defiant bit at 2009’s CPAC. Jindal’s response to the State of the Union that year didn’t get a lot of love from anyone, but he’s otherwise proven himself to be one of the country’s best Republican governors, so it’ll be interesting to see what sort of bandwidth he gets from this speech.
Everyone please take your seats, otherwise Clint Eastwood will yell at them.President Obama at the Al Smith Dinner Thursday night. (via @politicoroger)
(Source: kileyrae)
Only 36 percent of those who listened to or watched the Republican convention said that it made them more likely to vote for Romney, versus 46 percent less likely. As far back as 1984, there is no precedent for a convention that repels more voters than it attracts… While the impact of the Democratic convention was below average, the Republicans managed to stage the least effective convention in modern political history.Mitt Romney’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign | The New Republic (via felixsalmon)
The Words They Used At The National Convention
I’ve pointed out “women” because one of the bigger impressions I got from the DNC was that the Democrats clearly think they can use the divide on women’s rights (see: Akin, Todd) to their advantage. One of Obama’s biggest rhetorical flourishes last night involved a girl growing up to be president. Almost every speaker spoke to the issue of gender equality as it related to choice and occasionally as it related to equal compensation. I was surprised at how much they seem to feel they have the advantage pressing the attack there. The only thing that surprised me more (at least as far as speech content was concerned) was the repeated, frank mention of voter suppression — maybe a bit cynical on my part, but I assumed that was an issue the media would complain about but would not be spoken about on a national political stage.
- Jason
This chart also includes a nice list of excerpts where some of the words were used. Pretty rad.
President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know. I may have irritated a lot of the lefties, but I was aiming for people in the middle.Clint Eastwood • Reacting to the negative reaction (particularly from the left) his RNC speech drew. Eastwood spoke to his tiny local paper, the Carmel Pine Cone, in the first interview he gave since the speech. (Eastwood was once mayor of Carmel, Calif.) Regarding how Eastwood got away with such a strange speech, he made this claim: “They vett most of the people, but I told them, ‘You can’t do that with me, because I don’t know what I’m going to say.’” Turns out it involved talking to a chair.
The prop person probably thought he was going to sit in it.A senior Romney aide, regarding just how the campaign allowed a now infamous moment to take place during the RNC’s climactic night. Surprise speaker Clint Eastwood reportedly asked a member of the backstage staff for a chair, without giving any specifics on why he wanted it. Obviously, the production team had every reason to comply – Clint Eastwood asks you for a chair, and what, you aren’t going to give it to him? The reward for that attentiveness – the most memorably bizarre distractions from a nomination speech in recent history.
(Source: The New York Times)
In which USA Today tries for the powerful quote headline to emphasize the RNC’s overarching message, and somehow pulls off the opposite effect. (via Charles Apple)
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
Exclusive: How the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the...
soon
Yahumblr.
Google found the...
Instagram Food Photograph Gets Identity Thieves Busted
...
Mitt Romney accepts Republican presidential nomination
“I am running for president to help create a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find one,” Mitt Romney said after accepting his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
“And unlike the President, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. Paul Ryan and I have 5 steps.” Read Romney’s prepared remarks on CNNPhoto: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan onstage at the RNC after Romney’s speech. (Getty Images) via CNN
And in case you missed it, Clint Eastwood talked to a chair for ten minutes, just because:
So basically, if you’re sick of the 2012 election, you didn’t miss anything outside of the video above.
I interviewed Meghan McCain at the RNC in Tampa August 28. Topics included the War on Women, Todd Akin, and the perception of women in the political sphere. McCain also discussed the pressures of being a commentator who’s always in the public eye, and women’s sometimes distorted body image. We also touched on why it’s dangerous for the GOP to seek ideological purity over Ronald Reagan’s big tent.
— Meg
Great interview by Meg, who is one of the Tumblr users that had a chance to visit the RNC this year.
Delegate Joseph Strauss of West Virginia in Tampa
This reminds us of that episode of Party Down — it even involved young Republicans and cigars!
New Jersey papers like it when Christie points.
Chris Christie has an index finger, and he’s not afraid to use it.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
