Pew: Voters Scrutinize GOP Platform

According to a Pew poll, it appears that the message regarding the out-to-lunch GOP platform is gaining traction:

As the Republican convention gets underway, more Americans express interest in learning about what’s in the GOP platform than in the speeches by either Mitt Romney or his running mate. About half of the public (52%) is interested in learning about the Republican Party’s platform, while 44% are interested in Romney’s acceptance speech and about the same percentage (46%) in Ryan’s convention speech.

You can chalk this up to two things. The first is that platforms matter. When you buy the candidate, you buy the whole party, lock, stock, and barrel. So beware buyer's remorse.

The second reason for this is that the GOP has a really weak bench this year. People seem genuinely interested in the Democratic convention, especially to hear Bill Clinton and the president's acceptance speech. The flip-side shows that there is a lot less enthusiasm for people to listen to Ryan and Romney. And, let's face facts: this is as unexciting a GOP ticket as Dole-Kemp when it comes to fire-breathing. Not going to be much red meat for the masses, I'm afraid, at least from the top of the ticket.

So, if you want crazy, you'll have to check out the seven "birthers" (those who don't believe the president was born in the U.S. and is therefore not legally president) who will be speaking to the delegates in Tampa. Here's a list of them via Think Progress:

1. Donald Trump. The famed billionaire/birther king Donald Trump has been the most vociferous — and most closely connected to Romney — person alleging that the President wasn’t born in the United States.

2. Actress Janine Turner. The Northern Exposure star who has her own conservative radio show wrote a long screed titled “Reasoning ‘Kenyan Born.’” In it, she complains that anyone who questions the president’s citizenship is deemed a racist: “If this were a legal case in court, [Obama's] book bio stating that Obama was ‘born in Kenya’ would be taken into consideration.”

3. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens. During a town hall captured on video (at 3:5), Olens said, “You know the state of Hawaii says he’s produced a certified birth certificate… so on one hand I have to trust the state of Hawaii follows the laws. On the other hand it would be nice for the President to say, here it is, I have a copy.”

4. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. On one radio appearance during Huckabee’s bid for president, the former governor said, “I would love to know more [about where Obama was born]. What I know is troubling enough.” He later walked back the statement.

5. Florida Gov. Rick Scott. In 2010, the Orlando Sentinel reported than an audience member at one of Scott’s campaign events asked “what he would do about President Obama’s ‘birth certificate’ and whether he could legally appear on the 2012 ballot in Florida.” Scott responded, “I’ll have to look into it.”

6. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). The Vice-Chairman of the House Republican Conference once told reporters “Oh, I’d like to see the documents.”

7. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Jindal was willing to sign a “birther” bill into law. It would have required all presidential candidates to release their birth certificate in order to qualify for a spot on the state’s ballot.

And they wonder why huge chunks of the population refuse to take them seriously.