Like for the first two days of the GOP convention I was trying to find a fact check article that had some substance but was pretty much unsuccessful.  It seems that Clint Eastwood’s rambling rants to an empty chair was the highlight of the night.

Of course, Mr. Romney pulled out the “Obama Medicare $716 billion cut which has been already thoroughly discounted.  The other big announcement was that he plans to create 12 million new jobs. The only jobs a president can actually create is in the federal government  and I don’t think that is what he has in mind. Here is what one expert said about that

If Mitt Romney were elected president in November, he is likely to oversee an economy that gains 12 million new jobs in the next four years. But, as Mark Hopkins, a senior analyst at Moody’s told the Washington Post, “the baseline forecast is for payroll employment to increase by 12 million jobs from the start of 2013 to the end of 2016.”

So I guess what he is saying is that he will take credit for the jobs if they actually occur It would be interesting to compare what Mr. Romney said last night to what Mr. Obama said four years ago. As I remember they have a lot of similarities. A bunch of promises and little substance to go along with them. But that just seems to be the way of politics now.

To me the crowning words of the night were these from Mr. Romney:

“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division,” Romney said. “This isn’t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we can do something. With your help we will do something.”

If only those words were actually true. If Mr. Romney really wanted President Obama to succeed he would have urged his fellow Republican to come together with the Democrats in doing what they can agree is good for America and not filibuster everything that could have actually accomplished something. It is a fact that the last two congresses have been the least productive in the last one hundred years.  But then again since the new radical base of the GOP just doesn’t trust Romney they likely would not have listened to him anyway.

If President Obama had succeeded it would be very unlikely that Mr. Romney would be elected. So five years and millions of dollars of his personal payments would be for naught. I kind of doubt the sincerity of his words above. In order to get to where he is today Mr. Romney had to basically deny almost all of his life’s crowning achievements to appease the now radical base of his party. He had to say that all the work he did to get almost universal healthcare for his State was a big mistake! This alone make me doubt that he has any foundational beliefs that he is not willing to deny in order to gain the Presidency.

The final observation that I want to make before personally putting politics back on the shelf for a while is that the last three nights have firmed up my belief that without some very substantial change the GOP is bound for oblivion. The reason I say that is that when you look at the convention crowd all you see is primarily white faces and old white faces at that.  Our country is become a more diverse nation as the years go by. If the GOP can’t find some way to stop alienating those who are not WASPs they are doomed.

But what do I know….