Beneath the surface of the GOP convention

Romney did not hit it out of the park.

Everyone except the most partisan loyalists seems to think that.   The convention concentrated on trying to humanize the man instead of talking policy.

Maureen Dowd got in some good lines about it in today's AJC in her column about their "masquerade ball."

"Republicans care deeply.  They really do. 

"They care deeply about making us think that they care deeply.  That's why they knocked themselves out producing a convention that was a colossal hoax."

She then talked about how full of diversity the speakers roster was and how many touching stories of immigrants with rags to riches stories there were, while we all know that the audience was mostly white and that Republicans prefer riches-to-riches stories.

"That's why my heart swells to think of the herculean effort the GOP put into pretending its heart bleeds . . ." and Romney's effort to "reach deep inside himself to give a speech in which he appeared genuine.  It was also remarkable to see that even when he looks genuine, he still seems fake. . . .

"In his speech . . . the altar boy [Ryan] altered reality, conjuring up a world so compassionate, so full of love-thy-neighbor kindness and small-town goodness, that you had to pinch yourself to remember it was a shimmering mirage, a beckoning pool of big, juicy lies. . . .  The convention was an unparalleled triumph of mythmaking . . .

"Ryan's harsh stances toward women, the old and the poor are on record, so he set a new standard for gall when he intoned, 'The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.'"

I think that pretty well sums it up.

Now let's see what the Democrats do with their turn this week.

Ralph