Clint Eastwood's RNC Speech Made Romney Staffer Sick

"Double Down: Game Change 2012" is the follow-up novel to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann novel of the 2008 campaign. There is this gem from the 2012 Republican National Convention Mitt Romney's political adviser Stuart Stevens literally got sick during Clint Eastwood's empty chair speech.

Romney’s senior strategist, Stuart Stevens, was backstage with Romney watching Eastwood, and while the Republican nominee “seemed to think it was funny — at least at first,” the authors write, Stevens was so upset by the “disaster occurring on stage” that he “excused himself, went into another room and vomited.”

It is still amazing that the Romney campaign didn't vet Eastwood's speech.

Quote of the Day

"If somebody is dumb enough to ask me to go to political convention and say something, they're gonna have to take what they get."

Clint Eastwood, on his disasterous appearance at the Republican National Convention.

A Youtube commenter noted that the Republican audience applauded when Eastwood said that there were 23 million unemployed Americans.

Grindr A Big Hit At RNC

Grindr is a phone app that helps gay men hook-up. Apparently, Grindr experienced a massive increase in log ins during the RNC.

The application averaged 1,079 users per day for the five days convention activity was booming in Tampa.

The five days of the convention that have been reported would set a weekly pace of 7,558, a 242 percent increase from the first three weeks of August.

I would like to see data of how many of those Grindr users were looking to grind in the Tampa area. Another takeaway from this article is that there are a lot of closeted gay men in the Republican Party. I can not understand why these men are so fulled with self-loathing. They must on some level realize that they are in a party that does not deem them as humans worthy of the same protections under the Constitution. It really is sad.

Tim Pawlenty's Massive RNC Fail

Lord have mercy. Is there a worse public speaker in America? This isn't a partisan question. Tim Pawlenty would be bad no matter what party he is in.

Pawlenty makes Bobby Jindal's State of the Union response seem like Shakespeare in comparison. Republicans, please don't nominate Pawlenty in 2016. You don't want to listen to Pawlenty make speeches for a year on the campaign trail.

CODEPINK on Democracy Now

Medea Benjamin and Rae Abileah of CODEPINK talk about Mitt Romney's acceptance speech. Benjamin and Abileah sneaked into the Tampa Bay Times Forum to protest the influence of money in politics. CODEPINK have been able to sneak into and protest several Republican National Convention events.

Money quote:
Medea Benjamin: We have actually been going into the convention every single night, Amy. It's amazing with the $50 million they spend on security that they are not able to keep CODEPINK out the insides of the convention. Where we have disrupted the speeches of Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, and last night Mitt Romney with four of us.

The CODEPINK women are ninjas. I got frisked and wand search going to the screening of Occupy Unmasked. (Horrible movie.) CODEPink got into the screening. The film is highly negative of CODEPINK. Did the Breitbart filmmakers not recognize the lefty protest group they dissed in their own film? It was hysterical to hear CODEPINK cheer when they were first mentioned in the movie.

Numbers for Republican National Convention

The City of Tampa have released the numbers for the Republican National Convention. There were only two arrests five incidents of heat stroke. There were only a small number of protesters at the RNC. Media seemed to outnumber everyone else.

Anyone downtown would have noticed the huge police presence. It cost $50 million for the extra law enforcement. The Hill estimated that police outnumbered protesters 4 to 1 on the cancelled Monday. From what I saw, the police to protester ratio was much higher.

Wingnut of the Day: Claire M. Lopez

The Republican National Convention had the Woman Up Pavilion. The GOP thought the top concerns of women was getting their hair done and getting fresh coffee. (The coffee is good.) Woman Up had a panel on national security. Claire M. Lopez, of the conservative the Intelligence Summit, made the bizarre assertion that Sharia law was infiltrating the United States legal system. Lopez also claimed that North Korea will use fishing boats to launch an EMP bomb over America.

Lopez is the redhead in the blue blazer. She is sitting next to Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. Florida's Lt. Governor complains that we are being too mean to corporations. Code Pink is sitting on the sofa to the left and are told to be silent. I member of Code Pink was kicked out of the panel discussion earlier.

Side note: Forgive me for my crappy vlogging skills.

Occupy St. Petersburg Near the RNC

Freedom and I interviewed Lenny from Occupy St. Petersburg. You can see the huge police presence in the background. The cops were actually very nice during the convention.

Codepink At the RNC

I saw Code Pink the two days I helped TheContributor.com cover the Republican National Convention. Code Pinks was able to sneak into The Tampa Bay Times Forum and disrupt Paul Ryan's speech.

Code Pink managed to sneak into Condeleezza Rice's speech in Ybor City and stage a mock arrest. I wasn't even allowed to stand outside the entrance of the building. Code Pink gets in. These women are ninjas.

My favorite Code Pink protest is the members dressed as vaginas. You can tell how comfortable people are with their own sexuality by how they deal with seeing women dress as giant vaginas. I find it clever and amusing. Conservatives are repulsed.

The RNC Freedom Files - Sheriff Joe Arpaio

I worked for The Contributor today. We ran into Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the Republican National Convention. Sheriff Joe let us know that he the sheriff of Arizona. Freedom asked most of the questions. I asked the Sheriff of Arizona about the Justice Department complaint filed against him.

Progressive Events Held During the RNC

The Republican National Convention will take over downtown Tampa next week. Progress Florida has a list of lefty events that will be held that week.

Sunday, August 26th

Lecture: "Mass Media: Enemy or Tool?" Sponsored by Food Not Bombs World Gathering Café Hey 1540 N. Franklin St. Tampa 2:00pm Lecture and discussion led by Dr. David Z. Morris of USF Dept. of Communications.

"Patients Over Politics" Bus Tour Kick-Off Sponsored by Doctors for America Outside Tropicana Field 1700 block of 1st St. N in St. Petersburg 4:30pm-5:300pm To show support for our new benefits gained under the landmark health care reform law, ObamaCares. Bus tour kicks off in Tampa with several Tampa Bay event stops and then heads to the Democratic convention in Charlotte, NC. Check for updates and more specific locations here: www.drsforamerica.org/take-action/patientsoverpolitics

Community Vigil and March on the "RNC Kick-Off Party" at the Tropicana Field Sponsored by Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN) Mirror Lake Drive (in front of Mirror Lake Lyceum) St. Petersburg 5:30-8:30pm Local faith leaders from the Tampa Bay area will convene a gathering concerned citizens to raise awareness of the disparities of the policies that hurt the middle-class and the 99%. RSVP on Facebook

Monday, August 27th

March On The RNC Sponsored by the Coalition to March on the RNC Perry Harvey Sr. Park 1200 N. Orange Ave Tampa 10:00am We will begin with our 10am rally at Perry Harvey Sr. Park, located at 1200 N. Orange Ave in Tampa, FL. After the speakers greet the crowd and our Coalition assembles, we will begin our march towards the RNC going on at the Tampa Bay Times Forum around noon. On Facebook www.marchonthernc.com

Melting Middle Class Ice Sculpture Sponsored by Morning In America and artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese Lykes Gaslight Park 401 N. Franklin St. Tampa 10:00am Morning in America plans to install a 2,000 pound, 4ft. tall by 15 ft. wide ice sculpture of the words "middle class." This event is a photo-video shoot documenting the installation, presentation and disappearance of an ice sculpture. The event continues until the ice disappears, which could take from 6 to 24 hours. Republicans cheering on the melting of the ice and/or hedging bets on the rate of middle class disintegration could happen in reality or metaphor. www.meltedaway.com

March From Romneyville Sponsored by Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Romneyville (Army/Navy store parking lot) 1213 N. Tampa Street Tampa 3:00-5:00pm Demonstrators will call for stopping all foreclosure actions, criminalization of the poor and homeless. On Facebook Contact: Rev. Bruce Wright (bgcwright@aol.com; 727-278-1547)

Panel Discussion: "Is This What Democracy Looks Like?" Sponsored by Awake Pinellas Studio@620 620 1st Avenue South St. Petersburg 6:30-8:00pm Panel discussion with Ruth Conniff, political editor of The Progressive magazine, Dr. Judithanne Scourfield-Maclaughlin of USF, and Arun Gupta of Occupy Wall Street Journal. These progressive journalists will discuss the state of democracy in Florida, Wisconsin, and the nation. Moderated by Progress Florida's Darden Rice. Cost: $5 to support Studio@620 RSVP on Facebook

Tuesday, August 28th

Intergenerational Roundtable Sponsored by Young Invincibles 10:30-11:30am Centro Asturiano de Tampa 1913 N. Nebraska Ave. Tampa We want to hear from you about your generation's biggest problems and what you'd do to solve them. Students, seniors, and all members of the community are invited. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Susan McManus, the author of Young vs. Old, NBC political analyst, and Professor at the University of South Florida. RSVP to sam.whappel@younginvincibles.org or call 301-655-4031. Tweet using #CanYouHearMeNow

Rock The Vote! Road Trip 2012 Sponsored by Rock the Vote 11:00am-3:00 pm St. Leo University 33701 State Road 52 Rock the Vote Road Trip Bus is heading our way! They will be pulling up and unloading at Saint Leo University for an awesome event that will include live music, voter registration, and tons of interactive activations. Make sure you stop by and register to vote, get your picture snapped, grab some free stuff, groove to music, and loads more! Learn More

Rally Against Voter Suppression at the RNC Sponsored by Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN) 5:00pm Centennial Park in Historic Ybor City 1800 East 8th Avenue Tampa As the Republicans gather for their party in Tampa this August, we will be standing up for the most fundamental American right: the right to vote. RSVP On Facebook

Tampa Wonkette Drinky Thing and Meetup Sponsored by Wonkette Starts 6:00-7:00ish MacDinton’s 405 S. Howard Avenue Organizers say, “We might let some Republicans into our Wonkette Drinky thing, but only if they are shirtless.” MacDinton’s is an Irish pub with many choices of fried things and beer.

Rock the Youth Vote with Steve Aoki Sponsored by Rock The Vote 6:00-8:00pm Amphitheater 1609 E. 8th Ave in Ybor City Celebrating the power of the youth vote and the right to vote. Celebrate the recent court decision that protects voting rights in Florida! Ages 18+. RSVP for tickets and get info here: rockthevote.tumblr.com/rsvp

Wednesday, August 29th

Rally of ‘Women Are Watching’ Against the RNC Sponsored by Planned Parenthood Action Fund 2:00-3:30 pm Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park 1001 North Boulevard, Tampa Women are Watching is Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s 2012 campaign to educate women across the country about the unprecedented attacks on women’s health and where candidates stand on pivotal health care issues, empower women to hold anti-women’s health candidates of either party accountable, and work to elect pro-women’s health candidates up and down the ballot. Contact: wendy.grassi@plannedparenthood.org

“Welcome to Mitt Romney’s America” Parade Sponsored by AFL-CIO Tampa official parade route The event is called “Welcome to Mitt Romney’s America” and will look a lot like a carnival but will showcase what will happen to America if he is elected President in November. Contact: Cheryl Schroder at 813-368-7124 or cschroeder@wcffl.org or Joshua Anijar at 850-228-9841 or janijar@flaflcio.org.

Thursday, August 30th

Patients over Politics Rally and Parade Sponsored by Doctors for America 2:00-5:00pm Lykes Gaslight Square Park 401 N. Franklin St. Tampa Show your support for the Affordable Care Act. Check for updates and more specific locations here: www.drsforamerica.org/take-action/patientsoverpolitics.

Friday, August 31st

Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman Fundraiser for WMNF 88.5 FM Sponsored by WMNF 88.5 FM Community Radio 6:30pm Reception, 8:00pm Talk The Palladium 253 5th Street N. St Petersburg VIP reception at 6:30 is $80 and includes book signing. Advance tickets for talk at 8:00 are $10. $15 at the door. Purchase tickets either from wmnf.org or the Palladium http://www.spcollege.edu/palladiu

Food Not Bombs at Tampa RNC

WUSF reports that Food Not Bombs will be feeding protesters during the Republican National Convention. Food Not Bombs will be at Voice of Freedom Park during the convention.

Food Not Bombs founder John McHenry told WUSF that the Tampa RNC was chosen for their world gathering because of Florida's strict anti-homeless laws. Food Not Bombs have had several run-ins with law enforcement for feeding the homeless in public parks. Apparently, the parks are public until someone tries to feed homeless people.

Voice of Freedom Park is owned by Joe Redner, the owner of Mons Venus and liberal activist. Redner is currently letting Occupy Tampa use the park. The Tampa Police Department is forcing Redner to evict Occupy Tampa by September 15th.

"I am not making them leave," Redner says. "The city was kicking protesters out of public parks downtown. They were being harassed and getting put in jail. I thought I was doing the city a favor by letting them stay at my park, but I know they can't stay forever."

Redner also said that the Occupiers have caused no problems for the surrounding communities. The area near Voice of Freedom Park is poor. Occupy Tampa is hardly dropping the property values.

Rick Scott At the Republican National Convention

Scott Arceneaux, Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party sent this email to the media.

With 52 percent of Florida voters disapproving of the job Gov. Rick Scott has done, Florida Democrats are happy to hear that Scott has received a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention. After all, who better than Rick "Toxic" Scott to serve as the face of Florida Republicans while the whole world is watching. And with his record of putting the Tea Party and corporate special interests ahead of middle class families, Scott is the perfect spokesman to explain how he shares Mitt Romney's vision for Florida, and our country.

The Quinnipiac poll has Scott's disapproval rating at 52 percent. Only 36 percent approve of Scott's job performance. Ouch.

It was uncertain if Scott was going to speak at the convention. Not having Scott speak would have been embarrassing. Scott is the governor of the state hosting the Republican National Convention. Scott not speaking would have forced the GOP to acknowledge how unpopular he is as a governor. Lord knows the Republican establishment never let reality interfere with their narrative.

RNC Strip Club Update

Litbrit and I have discussed filming Republicans behaving badly at strip clubs during the Republican National Convention. We even contacted Occupy Tampa to see if they will help. (Does anyone at Occupy Tampa answer their email.) It seems that the Republican establishment is concerned about their members appearing on Youtube.

House Republicans are officially worried that lawmakers and staffers will stray off the straight-and-narrow path at the GOP convention in Tampa this month.

With the advent of cell phones, anyone can be an opposition tracker, so members should be wary of doing anything in public, Rep. Pete Sessions, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, warned fellow Republican at the Capital Hill meeting Wednesday.

Republicans in the House are so worried that they will hold several ethics briefings. This is most likely aimed at the freshman Republican representatives and staffers that got into office courting the Christian Right tea party vote. This says much about the GOP's social conservative credentials.

I continue to encourage people to film Republicans going to the Tampa strip clubs during the convention. They won't be hard to spot. They will be goofy-looking, either wearing suits or dressed in bad tourist garb. Let's make these Republicans Youtube stars.

Strippers Prepare For GOP Convention in Tampa

The Young Turk has a story on Mons Venus and other stips clubs are preparing for the Republican National Convention coming to Tampa next year. I remember reading a Village Voice blog written by a woman that worked in a strip club during the 2004 convention in New York City. The blogger wrote about how Republicans love partying in strip clubs. That tells me that Republicans will lose their family values issues when they don't even believe in the anti-sexual issues they stand for.

Quote of the Year

Nothing this year can top this quote. The Republican platform is ripe with comedy material.

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.

Will someone in the White House press corp please ask Dana Perino why the Bush administration broke the pledge? The non-answer will be priceless.

Live Blogging John McCain Speech

10:12 The documentary is as bad as the one Obama aired.

10:13 Herecomes the McCain.

10:17 Reading off the teleprompter.

10:18 A shoutout to the Bushies. That should play well with America.

10:20 Oh man. This is going as bad as I thought. He will go into scary smile when he attacks Obama on change.

10:21 I'm glad McCain with a green screen backdrop.

10:23 So far, making taking the high road against Obama. Smart move.

10:24 McCain: Making this government start working for you again.

Is McCain implying Republican leadership failed?

10:25: Delegates are drowning out McCain every time he attempts to talk about the economy. Amazing. It's like their putting their fingers in their ears so they can't hear bad news.

10:28 McCain sticking up for Palin. Much of the convention has been speakers defending their nonvetted VP candidate.

10:29 I missed Code Pink getting into the building.

McCain goes on about how Palin and him never break promises.

"Sometimes it's meant as a compliment sometimes not."

Sometimes I feel like a nut. Sometimes I don't.

10:34 McCain mentions farmers and the crowd dies.

10:36 Obama's is in the pocket of big oil. I have written posts about how much money energy compnies have given McCain.

"We're all Americans." Glad the Maverick cleared that up.

10:46 Chants of "drill baby, drill."

10:55 You should elect McCain because he has scares and Obama doesn't. That certainly is an interesting argument.

11:00 McCain recounts POW story. It's amazing story, but the Vietnam narrative will work for McCain as well as it did for Kerry. It's in the abstract. Most people didn't experience the horrors of Vietnam. Thankfully.

11:02 Shot at Obama helped get the crowd back into the speech. McCain was droning and losing the crowd.

End of speech.

This was a failure that is unlikely to convert many on the fence. People are going to judge McCain's speech against Obama's. That isn't fair, but neither is politics. McCain gave lip service to the environment and working class issues. The convention audience were hostile to that message. Republicans can be their worst enemies when they reveal their true feelings. Feeling was what McCain lacked. One never got the sense he was passionate about these two issues.

McCain's Iraq stance has become confused. He avoids talking about the timetable that Obama seeked and the Bush administration signed off on. Iraq is a political loser and McCain fails to address how Al-Qauda is growing. Iraq was not a haven for Al-Qaeda before the war. The war has given Osama bin Laden more recruits and easier ability to target American troops.

Riot Outside Republican National Convention

Creative Loafing reports rioting and arrests outside of the RNC.

“Full on riot in St. Paul. War zone one block from the capital.”

Journalists Jeff Shaw and Ben Palosaari are on-the-ground and document the insanity.

There is drumming. Police have made a pretty distinct perimeter. I haven't seen anyone get violent from the protesters' side. It's been a peaceful protest from my point of view. People aren't going home anytime soon. Police are stating this is an unlawful protest. -- Andy Mannix

7:24 p.m. The cops have cordoned off the intersection and are carrying off protesters one by one and arresting them. They maced at least one protester. -- Jeff Shaw

Live Blogging Sarah Palin Speech

10:31 Palin hits the stage.

10:33 Palin accepts nomination. Shocking.

1036 So far Palin is hitting the right notes.

10:38 Talking about family and panning to cute daughter. Smooth.

10:39 Palin will be our friend in the White House. Let's go get ice cream.

10:43 Palin goes into PTA and hockey mom spiel.

Wayne Garcia
: her voice is, how to put this delicately, amazingly grating and annoying. a deduction on aesthetics points.

10:48 When did Palin stand up to oil interests?

10:51 Palin falsely claims she was against bridge to nowhere.

Running the same attack Republicans used on Kerry. What did Obama do in the Senate? How about this.

In actuality Obama and far right Republican Tom Coburn (OK) worked together in 2006 to pass a landmark bill creating c "Google-like" database for the public to search details about federal funding awards. It passed unanimously and Coburn said "I consider Barack a friend. He's a liberal. He's not ashamed of it. What we agree on is that things should be transparent." The same year, Obama worked with Indiana Republican Richard Lugar to pass legislation to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists, the Cooperative Proliferation Detection Act, which was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously on May 26, 2006 and was eventually incorporated into the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 and signed into law on January 11, 2007. It wasn't the first time Obama had teamed up with Lugar. In 2005 they worked together to pass an amendment to fund research for hybrid/flex fuel vehicles. Then in 2006, Congress passed a Veterans Affairs Committee bill which included several provisions originating in Obama's SAVE Act (S. 1180) and Homes for Heroes Act (S. 3475). Obama worked with two Republican colleagues on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Senators Larry Craig and Richard Burr, on the legislation. This year, Obama worked with Senators McCaskill (D-MO) and Bond (R-MO) to pass several provisions from their "Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act" into law. The legislation improved standards at military medical care facilities. The new law would require the Secretary of Defense to establish a set of standards for military medical care facilities and oversee compliance with those standards by a specific deadline. Finally, the new law would require an annual report to Congress on the conditions of those facilities. The provisions would improve health care services and health care tracking for service members, and would require post-deployment, face to face mental health screenings for returning service members within 30 days.

10:59 Republicans cheer Miranda rights not being read. Scary.

Kicking out the death tax.

11:00 Campaigning against change is going to kill the McCain campaign.

Not looking for a fight? Talk to Rick Renzi.

Rudy Giuliani Live Blogging

10:00 I'm waiting for Rudy to come on. How many times will he make bug eyes, crazy hand gestures and mention 9/11?

10:03 Rudy is here. He informs us he's not running for President. I wonder how that happened.

10:04 Rudy bashes "left-wing media and Hollywood celebrities." The man is orinal.

10:05 Rudy say electing the presidency is a big job interview.

10:06 Rudy brings up McCain's POW record.

10:08 Rudy: It's not good enough to be present. Like Bush reading My Pet Goat in a Sarasota school.

10:12 Rudy is really bad. The base will eat this up. The idea is to convert mainstream voters.

10:13 Rudy, I have looked at John McCain and he is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.

10:15 The crowd is chanting "drill baby drill." THat is their idea for change.

10:17 Rudy finally mentions 9/11.

10:20 Rudy attacks Obama on wiretapping. Serves Obama right for flip flopping.

10:22 Giuliani is in full Zell Miller mode. I look forward to reading the transcript in the original German.

10:22 Rudy attacks Obama's foreign policy advisors. McCain has Bill Kristol advising his campaign.