7 WTF-Wonders of the 2012 Republican National Convention

The future of women and our country, as seen from the floor of the RNC.

So, the Republican National Convention is over. And since describing us as “concerned” over officially adopted Republican policy towards women’s rights issues is like saying Jon Stewart is “approving” of Clint Eastwood’s Obamachair speech, we thought we’d reflect.

We’re still a bit bewildered, frankly. So let’s cut the intro and get straight to the crazy.

1. A Whole Other Level Of Peanut Gallery

An attendee at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday allegedly threw nuts at a black camera woman working for CNN and said ‘This is how we feed animals.’

– Kyle Leighton, TPM

(And then he was thrown out – because that’s how the world deals with animals.)

2. Shucks, Don’t You Worry Now

Ann Romney was comparing the entire nation to a high school girl being escorted home from a dance. That was her pitch: I love him, you should, too. Don’t worry your pretty little heads about the details.

– David Corn, Mother Jones

3. Facts Don’t Tell The Whole Story

Rae Lynne Chornenky, the president of the National Federation of Republican Women, addressed the convention on Monday, repeated the oft-discredited claim that 92 percent of all the jobs lost under Mr. Obama were those of women.

– Susan Saulny, New York Times

Here’s FactCheck.org on that very issue.

4. If I Might Address The Chair…?

Mr. Eastwood’s rambling and off-color appearance just moments before the biggest speech of Mr. Romney’s life instantly became a Twitter and cable-news sensation, which drowned out much of the usual post-convention analysis that his campaign had hoped to bask in.

It also startled and unsettled Mr. Romney’s top advisers and prompted a blame game among them. ‘Not me,’ an exasperated-looking senior adviser said when asked who was responsible for Mr. Eastwood’s speech. In interviews, aides called the speech ‘strange’ and ‘weird.’ One described it as ‘theater of the absurd.’

– Michae Barbaro & Michael D. Shear, New York Times

Back where we work at The Daily Show on the West Side of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, you don’t have to go far to see an old man yelling at an inanimate object. But rarely is that inanimate object on stage at a national political convention. And almost never is that old man…Oscar winner Clint Eastwood.

– John Stewart, The Daily Show

And the show goes on: everyone give a warm welcome to Eastwooding and Invisible Obama. (As for POTUS, he said he remains a “huge fan“).

5. Climate Change? What Climate Change?

Thanks go to Grist for summing things up.

6. Pants On Fire

On the other hand, to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was  Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.

– Sally Kohn, Fox News

7. Failing To Address The Elephant In The Room

Yes, we’re talking about him.

Image: Gage Skidmore

Mike Sowden

Mike Sowden is a freelance writer based in the north of England, obsessed with travel, storytelling and terrifyingly strong coffee. He has written for online & offline publications including Mashable, Matador Network and the San Francisco Chronicle, and his work has been linked to by Lonely Planet, World Hum and Lifehacker. If all the world is a stage, he keeps tripping over scenery & getting tangled in the curtain - but he's just fine with that.