The 2012 Republican National Convention will go down as one of the greatest messes in American political history. Instead of the “bounce” candidates generally expect from a convention, the RNC actually hurt the GOP nominee in the polls.
Why? The answers are numerous.
The Clint Eastwood chair incident ended up making a mockery of GOP supporters. Making the entire convention an inside joke based on the president’s “You didn’t build that” comment didn’t help. Having a keynote speaker — Chris Christie (R-NJ) — who didn’t mention the party’s nominee until the 17th minute of his speech was also comic.
But it could have been worse.
Using the storm that canceled the first night of the convention as an excuse, Romney’s team rejected a video made by Donald Trump and his political advisors. Not only is the video predictable and trite, it’s insulting to voters and as convincing as the comments section on WorldNetDaily. Inexplicably, it places Trump — whose entire political presence hinged on his racist birther accusations — in a position of power over the president of the United States.
Worst of all, the RNC crowd would have loved it and exploded in glee as the birther fired the president, sending a message of exclusion and hostility to everyone in America who wasn’t in on the joke.
Trump’s advisors finally released the tape to Breitbart.com on Saturday along with a string of vitriol against Christie, whom they seem to believe stole the limelight from Trump as Romney’s favorite during the campaign.
“You’ve never run a business,” Trump says to the actor playing the president. “Who hired you?”
The American people did — by a massive margin over another guy who, like Ronald Reagan, had never run a business.
Facts that never permeated the bubble of the Republican National Convention.
