Mitt Romney, Stand-Up

After two days filled with lies - including almost every word from Paul Ryan's mouth last night -  that have been fact-checked to death by those concerned with the truth - and ignored by Mr. Romney and most of the GOP - tonight's the night Mitt Romney has to stop being more than just a cardboard cutout at the RNC.

Frankly, we don't expect anything much from Romney tonight. We're not sure his subroutines are programmed to truly excite people.

If you think we're hinting that Romney is robotic, we are - and he is. If you think Mitt Romney seems unusually stiff, uncomfortable, and plastic for someone running for president, we think you're right - he does.

That doesn't necessarily mean he might not make a decent political leader. After all, the press blasted Al Gore for a similarly wooden nature a dozen years ago. Yet there's little question in our minds, and the minds of most of those in the legitimate political media, that Gore would have made a better President than George W. Bush. Mitt Romney is not Al Gore, though.

In fact, anyone who has actually been paying attention - and who isn't lying to themselves - should have a pretty good idea of who Mitt Romney is. He's been campaigning for president for most of the last six years.

We've had an incredible number of chances to see who Mitt Romney is, and to see who he says he is. That the two don't automatically match up should tell you something already: the REAL Mitt just isn't there. That's been fairly obvious on multiple occasions as Mitt has been both for and against virtually every major topic of importance.

As the late Senator Ted Kennedy once said of Mitt, "Mitt Romney isn't pro-choice or anti-choice, he's multiple choice."

That lack of conviction has been evident for most of Romney's political career.

When Mitt governed, he did it with a center-left state legislature in Massachusetts - and he did what they wanted, just as he's done what everyone else has told him to do, all along. When his father told him he should go into business, he did. When his family said he should become a leader in his church, he did.

When the political winds have shifted over the years, no matter what Mr. Romney's personal beliefs have been, he's changed positions for everyone from interest groups and political consultants to - recently - the racist, ignorant faction of the GOP. Mitt has effectively become a political standup cutout for the Republican Party, something that potential voters are happy to pose next to for a picture - but in whom they have no real solid faith.

As Ezra Klein of The Washington Post noted this week, that Mitt got this far at all is a major achievement in itself.

For us, however, it's not enough.

It's always been obvious that more than anything, Mitt has wanted to win the race to be President. But being President isn't about winning.

It's about governing.

Real Debate, Fake Debate

As you may have guessed, we're barely covering the Republican National Convention this week and we don't really plan on covering much of the Democratic National Convention next week, either. In a world of twenty-four news cycles and a hyper-partisan electorate, the last thing most Americans need is a three or four day infomercial, with a fake internal debate, for a political brand they've already made their final decisions about.

Political polling over the next two weeks won't serve as an escape for political media folks either. The last polls taken before the conventions were released yesterday and held no serious surprises. Most polls for the next two weeks will be effectively worthless, as each major event temporarily convinces the most wishy-washy and emotionally needy people to cheer for their side.

That leaves those of us involved in politics and media who wish to remain ethical to focus on something worthy of being called "news."

For Nebraskans - both current residents and state-level expats - as well as other political junkies, the kind of news we're tackling today is something you might have missed in the run up to the RNC; the recent Kerrey-Fischer debate for U.S. Senate.

Unlike the RNC on Tuesday, where some participants were not allowed to debate and others were treated with serious disrespect, both the former U.S. Senator from Nebraska Bob Kerrey, and the current state Senator Deb Fischer, acted with a general sense of decorum at their debate.

The first debate of their U.S. Senate contest - still the only debate that Fischer has officially agreed to and finalized details for - had its share of jabs from both candidates, though only one of them gave many details.

Kerrey, consistent as he's always been, promoted his ability to find compromise, pledging to "put country first, always." Kerrey also promised the crowd he'd, "shake up Washington, D.C., and challenge Harry Reid as often as I annoy Mitch McConnell."

Fischer, for her part, attempted to sell herself as a staunch conservative. Unfortunately for her, she came off more than a bit hollow to those who know her record in the Nebraska Legislature. In a pleasant surprise, even though Fischer's false attempt to paint Kerrey as an outsider has been a hallmark of her campaign, she refused to discuss that issue at the debate.

Kerrey didn't. He went headlong at the false "carpetbagger" issue ginned up by GOP strategists, and knocked that issue into the dirt where it belongs.

Fischer consistently spouted answers that seemed as though they were written by producers from Fox, with lots of sloganeering, but no details. As you can see on the replay, Kerrey had plenty of details, both about his own plans and about the plans and history of his opponent.

From immigration to climate change, from debt and taxes, to Medicare and healthcare, Kerrey consistently showed a depth of knowledge and thoughtful answers that showed he'd weighed all the facts and chose his own approach - one that doesn't fall along strict Democratic Party lines. Fischer simply towed the Republican Party line, somewhat uncomfortably.

We'd love to see another debate between the two candidates to see if Fischer can relax and be a bit more honest and natural. Chances are, though, like most modern Republican politicians, she'll hide and cower, avoiding another chance to potentially make a mistake in a debate with the more experienced Kerrey.

It's a shame, really, since there's nothing of any real significance importance going on in politics right now, nationally or in Nebraska.

How 'Bout Them Apples?

One of the uniquely American quirks that's developed as part of our nation's character over the last century or so has been an increasing reliance on technology to save Americans from some of the most onerous parts of our own lives.

From washing machines to video recorders, Americans have invented and developed much of the best new technology in the world over the last century - even if more recently, American corporations have been shipping the jobs building those gadgets and gizmos overseas.

It would seem appropriate, then, that when a uniquely American problem sprouts up - say the desire to throw a brick or stone through our televisions, computers, or radios because of all the damn political advertisements - that a uniquely American technology solution would be following right behind.

Thanks to Apple, Americans may soon be able to push a button on their technology that will skip right over those annoying political ads.

Last week, Apple not only won a massive lawsuit against Samsung, who was charged with infringing on the patents - the intellectual forbidden fruit - of the world's largest technology company. Apple also was granted another patent for a new system of technology last week that would allow "seamless switching between radio and local media."

For non-tech people, that means that if you were listening to a radio station - or watching TV - on your iPhone or iPad, and a commercial popped up that you dislaked, Apple's technology would be able to automatically replace the commercial with something you already own. For example, a snippet of your favorite song or favorite movie could pop up for thirty seconds while the ad you do not wish to see is playing. Then, when the offending ad is over, the Apple product can return you to the same station you were watching or listening to - all while you touch nothing on your device to make this happen. American consumers are already clamoring for this type of technology for everything from their radios and televisions, to their computers and iPads.

Imagine - no more political ads!

The danger we run in living our lives without any disagreeable input is the risk of all Americans becoming like miniature versions of Missouri Congressman Todd Akin - or the latest Tea Party Republican candidate to make an ass of himself, Pennsylvania Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Tom Smith. Like Akin, Smith appears to have said out loud the kinds of things that previously had only been uttered in the company of other extreme conservatives. Smith's particular idiocy was stating that his daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy from consensual sex was similar to rape.

The kinds of ideas Akin and Smith support seem loopy to most Americans, in large part because we're all forced on a daily basis to deal with one another - a broad range of people, with a diverse set of beliefs. We have the opportunity to be diverse, but we still must find common ground with each other. That broad diversity is one reason it's hard to say America, as a nation, has just a single culture.

If over-homogenizing our lives gets to be as easy as pushing a button on our phones, America itself could - more easily than ever - become a country in name only. We'd be hundreds of millions of people, each living in our own little worlds, only associating with people just like us, and only taking in the kinds of media and information that already support and reinforce exactly what we already believe.

After looking at the RNC Convention in Tampa, maybe America doesn't need the latest technology from Apple after all.