• the Republican convention was a "colossal hoax;"
• "my heart swells to think of the herculean effort the G.O.P. put into pretending its heart bleeds;"
• Paul Ryan is "a prodigy of prestidigitation" and "a beckoning pool of big, juicy lies;"
• "The speakers ranted about an America in decline, but the audience reflected a party in decline;"
• "Ryan’s lies and Romney’s shape-shifting are so easy to refute that they must have decided a Hail Mary pass of artifice was better than their authentic ruthless worldview."
Ironically, Dowd concludes by quoting David ("Hope" and "Change") Axelrod, the grandmaster of smoke and mirrors, who helped provide her with the title of her opinion piece:
"'A masquerade party,' scoffed David Axelrod, the president’s strategist, 'to cover up the final takeover of the Republican Party by the right. It was like Barry Goldwater in ’64.'"
A "masquerade party"? Yes, that's what political conventions are and always will be.
Horrifying reality, however, can be found in the millions of Americans who are now out of work. You can deride the fluidity of Clint Eastwood's unscripted speech or contest the exact number of unemployed persons cited by this remarkable screen star and director, but Mr. Eastwood hit it right on the nail: Obama made promises that went unfulfilled.
As Obama stated exactly one year ago (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-usa-obama-economy-idUSTRE77K14Z20110821):
"I expect to be judged a year from now on whether or not things have continued to get better."
Ignore the conventions. This election is about jobs, and Obama should be granted his wish.
[Yes, Mr. Eastwood, I'd give my eye teeth to be an extra in one of your films . . .]
