Chris Matthews gets what the GOP is up to with its new appeal to “cultural themes.”

All Isaac warnings and watches have been dropped for Tampa Bay.

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. Read More

Obama’s base is lazy bums on welfare.

A leaked draft of the GOP platform reveals the Romney/Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a no-guarantee voucher program.

In other words, it’s the Medicare equivalent of ‘private accounts’ for Social Security — switching from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution program.

Let’s be honest: very few working political journalists have any grasp of basic policy details like or particularly care about them. So there’s a decent chance the significance of all this will be almost entirely ignored. But these are mammoth changes which phase out Medicare over a handful of years and replace it with a coupon to buy as much health are as people over 65 can get.

Scenes from the delayed Republican National Convention.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate Tom Smith says his daughter’s decision to give birth to a child conceived out of wedlock is “similar” to deciding to give birth to a child conceived from rape.

Isn’t that kind of ridiculous? “Put yourself in a father’s position, yes, I mean it is similar,” said Smith.

A federal three-judge panel today began considering whether South Carolina’s voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act, and TPM’s Ryan Reilly was there.

For more background on creeping voter IDism, we put Ryan in front of the camera to explain.

From TPM Reader RP …

What Akin said was tremendously stupid and disqualifying, but ultimately based on a misunderstanding of the mechanics of conception from rape. Tom Smith’s statement is pure condescension to rape victims. If faced with a woman impregnated by a rapist, who doesn’t want to carry the rapist’s child, Tom Smith says, “I empathize, my family’s been in a similar situation. My daughter’s boyfriend got her pregnant.”

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The odd, not-really-opening day of the Republican National Convention in 100 wind-swept seconds:

Watch full-size version.