Allen West calls Obama a "lamb standing before lions"

I've made no secret of my admiration for Florida Congressman Allen West, and his tough, no-nonsense way of speaking...

...and West has made no secret of his disapproval of President Obama's foreign policy strategies.

In a Facebook post this afternoon, West posted a blistering critique in response to Obama's visit to Fort Bliss earlier today:

Zing! RPOF Chair sends DWS a "preview" of Crist's DNC speech

I've had a lot of fun following the Republican Party of Florida's communications over the past few years. They've been doing a great job with some pithy, snarky attacks on the Democrats, like Alex Sink's "iCheat" kerfuffle during the 2010 gubernatorial debates.

When the news broke that our former Governor (and World's Tallest Oompa Loompa) Charlie Crist was endorsing Barack Obama for president, RPOF was quick to respond with a press release condemning Crist's political opportunism and a detailed list of quotes Crist had said when he was still trying to run as a Republican.

Now that the Democrats have announced that Crist will speak at the Democratic National Committee, the RPOF was once again ready with a sharp response:

Jeb! at #GOP2012

[Live-blogging at the RNC...please forgive any errors. Make sure to follow me on twitter: @rumpfshaker]

My former governor (and the first one for whom I could vote), Jeb Bush, entered the stage at the Republican National Convention to a standing ovation and thunderous applause. 

Here are Bush's remarks, along with a teacher and school choice advocate who joined him on stage:

Rep. Connie Mack's #GOP2012 speech

Florida Congressman and Senate candidate Connie Mack gave a positive and uplifting speech to open tonight's Republican National Convention, telling the crowd that "once again, it's morning in America," a tribute to Ronald Reagan. 

Mack delivered his speech and closed with, "Thank you! God bless America!" and then, "I love you, Florida!" as he pointed at the Florida delegation and then exited the stage. 

Excerpts from Mitt Romney's speech tonight

[I'm live-blogging from the Tampa Bay Times Forum, so please forgive any errors. Also, follow me on Twitter @rumpfshaker for more updates as the evening progresses.]

The Republican National Convention concludes tonight with speeches from Florida Senate candidate Connie Mack, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a surprise guest (widely rumored to be Clint Eastwood), and the official acceptance speech from our nominee for President, Mitt Romney.

Here are excerpts from Romney's speech that he will give tonight:

Excerpts from Paul Ryan's speech tonight

Here are some excerpts from the speech Paul Ryan will give tonight:

#GOP2012 interview with Matt Kibbe

I ran into Matt Kibbe, the President of FreedomWorks, earlier today in the Google Lounge at the Tampa Convention Center. Here's his comments on Paul Ryan as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee and why conservatives need to unite behind the Romney/Ryan ticket to defeat Barack Obama:

Media Malpractice

The MSM's coverage of the Republican National Convention last night was completely ridiculous. 

Ann calls Mitt "The man America needs" in her speech tonight

The Republican Convention has released some excerpts from Ann Romney's speech, scheduled for 10 p.m. tonight:

Turning Massachusetts Red, Part II

Almost two months ago, I wrote a post titled "Turning Massachusetts Red," about several of the Republican Congressional candidates running in Massachusetts, Sean Bielat, Jon Golnik, Jeff Semon, and Chris Sheldon:

New Square app for donating to Romney

The Romney Square card reader

I ran into my friend Justin Hart earlier today, who is part of the Romney campaign's Digital Team. He told me about a new grassroots fundraising program that they are launching using the Square card readers for smartphones.

If you haven't seen this before, Square is an app that lets any smartphone accept credit card payments. You just plug the tiny device (it's about 1" square) into the headphone jack on your phone, download the app, and you're ready to go. Lots of small businesses are using them and Square is starting to be used by campaigns and charities now too.

The Romney campaign has a special app and are giving away the card reader devices free to anyone who signs up at www.mittromney.com/square. Justin was nice enough to chat with me on video about the Romney Square app and share how it works:

RIP Neil Armstrong: 1930 - 2012

Hero.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969, passed away earlier today at the age of 82.

His family released a moving statement to the media, which I've excerpted below:

Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend...

"Woman Up!" Pavilion at #GOP2012

My friend Brian Hughes at Meteoric Media just sent me an email about the "Woman Up!" Pavilion at the Republican Convention next week in Tampa that his company is helping the YG Network promote.

There will be a lot of great speakers, panel discussions, interactive displays, and more throughout the week. Make sure to stop by and check it out! Here's the email with all the information:

A quick note regarding Todd Akin's consultants

Politico posted an article this morning discussing Rex Elsass and Strategy Group for Media, the consultants managing Todd Akin's hot mess of a Senate campaign in Missouri. There's one quote near the beginning, about how SGM's response to the backlash against Akin's ridiculous "legitimate rape" comments was to have the candidate film a TV ad apologizing:

Repeat after me: "No changes to Medicare for those 55 and older!"

I've been saying for awhile that every single Republican candidate needs to start every speech they make from now until November 6th with "By the way, Paul Ryan's Medicare plan doesn't change a darn thing for seniors 55 and older!" and then segue into whatever topic they actually wanted to discuss.

Podcasts and a #GOP2012 Convention Preview

Sorry about the lack of posts the past few days. I've been busy getting ready for the Republican Convention in Tampa next week. It's going to be an amazing time and we're not going to let some stupid hurricane spoil our party.

Anyway, I may not have had much time to write, but I did manage to chatter away on some podcasts this week. I've also included some links and news about the convention below the break:

"Look Who's Going Negative!"

My friend John LaRosa posted this cartoon on Facebook yesterday, and when I tweeted it late last night, it received almost 60 retweets. Guess it struck a chord:

Paul Ryan's First Week, By The Numbers

"America's Comeback Team"

The Romney campaign sent out a memo earlier this morning, detailing some of the positive effects from Paul Ryan joining the ticket. The enthusiasm that I have been seeing online and hearing from fellow Republicans is backed up by hard numbers that show a clear enthusiasm for the Romney-Ryan ticket:

Tea party movement sets record straight: They #StandWithSandy

The District 7 Republican primary continues to be a roller coaster. The infamous troublemaker Doug Guetzloe sent out a mailer through his "Ax the Tax" organization in support of John Mica, falsely claiming that he had tea party support. Guetzloe made headlines in 2010 for his creation of a third party political party using the name "Florida Tea Party," that was frequently accused of being a plot to divide conservative votes and assist in the reelection of Alan Grayson and other liberal Democrats.

Despite Guetzloe's best efforts, the hard working conservative activists who are actually part of Central Florida's tea party movement know the truth, and aren't going to sit silently while he attempt to peddle this nonsense. Tea Party Express chair Amy Kremer came back to Orlando today to counter this story, emphasize that the Tea Party Express organization did indeed endorse Sandy Adams, and state clearly the conservative principles that inspired their endorsement.

Here is the video from the press conference earlier today:

Sigh. I'm revoking my endorsement for Judge Plogstedt.

I hate to do this. Hate, hate, hate it. I've met Judge Plogstedt several times, and like her personally. She has done a lot of great work to support our alma mater, the University of Florida College of Law. But there have some shenanigans in this race, and I am no longer willing to sign my name to it.