The GOP is one big happy family
by digby
Aaaand, the Grand Old Party comes together after all now that their True North has joined the ticket. Whoda thunk it?
Thousands of pumped delegates flocked into this hurricane-wary city over the weekend far giddier about the prospects of beating President Barack Obama than they were four years ago — or even four months ago.
Have they finally fallen in love with Mitt Romney — their emotionally unavailable standard-bearer — after a lackluster courtship? Not quite.
For many, it is the other guy who is filling the passion gap for them.
“I liked Romney, but I love the ticket,” said Linda Lepak, a lawyer from Oklahoma and self-described conservative who started out as a Rick Santorum supporter. “Paul Ryan can win back the hearts and minds of the young people in the country. I have five grown children, and he speaks to them. He’s just awesome. It’s made me excited.”
Indeed. Ryan’s everybody’s dreamboat:
As the tea-party movement agitated for fiscally conservative ideals, it often found itself at odds with Republican party leaders. But as the GOP convention opens this week, tea-party activists say they like what they see.
The Republican ticket now includes Paul Ryan, whom tea-party supporters view as one of their own. The GOP platform squares with their values. And some of the speakers who will be showcased in Tampa are heroes of the movement, notably Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.).
Not everything is to their taste. Some tea-party activists have never fully warmed to the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
But in many ways, the convention marks an alignment between the Republican Party and the tea-party movement that is more complete than some imagined only two years ago, when it was unclear whether tea-party energy would strengthen the GOP or distract it by provoking primary-election fights. Some Republicans even had worried the small-government movement could turn into a third party, siphoning off GOP support.
Speaking of the movement’s influence on the convention, Sal Russo, co-founder of the political action committee Tea Party Express, said: “In baseball, it’s called a grand slam.…I would say this is a triumphant tea-party convention.”
No word from the Koch overlords, but I’m guessing they’re pretty happy too.
But the campaign can’t take any group for granted so they’re going to do a lot of outreach to some of their regular voters who’ve felt left out of all this:
In the flurry of other news, a major strategic decision from the Romney campaign has emerged in a series of reports over the weekend. In brief, the dismal economy won’t be enough to boot President Obama from office, the Romney camp has decided. Something more is going to be necessary. And the ‘more’ is going to be the ‘culture war’, specifically a new campaign angled on race and President Obama as an alien presence in American life. In other words, for the sprint to November 6th, get ready for Birtherpalooza with a hard-edged focus on race, President Obama as a foreign threat to American values and so much more.
If anyone thought this wasn’t going to happen, I’ve got some beautiful beachfront property in Fukushima to sell them.
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