So Mitt Romney and Clint Eastwood will speak tonight. Is anyone here watching? (Heads up: I am not.)

In other news: The Justice Dept. gives the Bush-era CIA interrogators of detainees a pass- no criminal charges.

George Zimmerman's new judge is Debra Nelson.

Aurora shooting news: CU psychiatrist Lynn Fenton testified today at a hearing that she had only met with James Holmes once, five weeks before the shootings, and that he could not be considered her patient after he dropped out of school. Prosecutors want access to whatever it was Holmes mailed her, saying the privilege didn't apply. The defense countered the package contents are privileged and informed the court Holmes had tried to call Fenton 9 minutes before the shootings. [More...]

I bet he does:

Chris Christie believes if Mitt Romney could re-do his recent recent birth certificate joke, he'd take it back. [...] “I think if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t make the joke,’’ Christie told Matt Lauer on TODAY Tuesday.

I know Christie is wrong about this:

If you get a chance to talk to Governor Romney, I think he’d tell you that he wishes he could take that one back.’’

No apologies Mitt? No way.

(Before the Deluge.)

Isaac will be a Cateogry 1 Hurricane when it hits Louisiana around 7 pm tonight. New Orleans is directly in its cross-hairs. Here's the latest advisory.

How much has been learned in the seven years since Hurricane Katrina? Even the $10 billion invested in its hurricane risk reduction system hasn't fixed the attitudes of some:

Jefferson Parish officials issued a stern warning to anyone who dares tread outside during Tropical Storm Isaac. "If you create damage, you are going to jail,'' Sheriff Newell Normand said during a news conference that just wrapped up.

[More...]

Mitt Romney "jokes" about the racist birther attacks on the president. But the short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump, slated for, in his words, "a big role" at the Republican National Convention, is deadly serious about it. After receiving the "Statesman of the Year" award (I kid you not) from the Sarasota Republican Club, Trump said:

[S]ome people thought [Romney's quip] might not be a joke. It happens to be an issue that a lot of people believe in. [...] Let’s just say this there’s a huge group of people that are not believers in what [Obama] did, what he said and where he came from. We’ll see what happens. Well see what happens over the coming weeks and months."

[...] I had a big role tomorrow night. You know what happened tomorrow night. So it’s now up to them. […] It’s totally up to them, whatever they like," he said. "They gave me a big role and I was looking forward – I was actually going to Tampa right after this, right after this dinner, but now I probably will be going back to New York. I may come back but I’ll probably be going to New York after the dinner. Asked to elaborate on what the "big surprise" was, Trump just said it was a "very big thing." "I think they're still going to probably do it," he added.

A very big thing from the leading birther in the nation for the Republican National Convention. Suuuure Romney was joking.

NOTE: Due to Hurricane Isaac, Trump has been bumped from the schedule.

Here is the Republican party platform from 1956. It's very worth reading, for the stark contrast to the party's platform in 2012.

The latest version of the proposed 2012 Republican Platform was erroneously posted on the RNC website yesterday and quickly pulled. You can read it here. Here are summaries by the Washington Post and LA Times.

Shorter version of the comparisons: A party that has gone to hell in a handbasket in the last 50 years. [More...]

From an AP interview of the president:

"I can't speak to Governor Romney's motivations," Obama said. "What I can say is that he has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have taken. And whether he actually believes in those or not, I have no doubt that he would carry forward some of the things that he's talked about."

This is a critical point. Mitt Romney is a weak man of little conviction except that he should be President. He will do as he is bid by the extreme base of the Republican Party. No Pat Buchanan primary challenges for him if he can help it. At a conference I attended last May, conservative legal scholar Michael Greve said:

[Liberals cannot] seriously believe that, but for their extravagant positions, we would hand over the country to Opus Dei, bind our wives’ and daughters’ feet, allow George Soros or David Koch to buy their very own Congressmen, or for that matter toss ailing widows and orphans into the streets. The real fear is that the Constitution might pose some limit to progressivism’s anything-goes imagination.

Michael Greve does not call the shots in the GOP, and neither will Mitt Romney. The President has it right - whether he believes it or not, Mitt Romney will implement the extremist GOP agenda.

Mitt Romney changes course from yesterday:

"As I said yesterday, Todd Akin's comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country," Romney said in a statement. "Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race."

Reuters reports Akin is staying in the race.

A new WSJ-NBC poll finds Romney's selection of Paul Ryan doesn't have much impact: 22% of voters are more likely to vote for Romney, 23 percent are less likely to vote for Romney, and 54 percent say it won't affect them one way or the other.

President Obama today called GOP Senate Candidate Todd Akin's statement about rape and pregnancy offensive. So did Mitt Romney, but he wouldn't join other Republicans in calling for Akin should step down.

What he said (in response to a question about his opposition to abortion, even in the case of rape resulting in pregnancy:)

“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

The RNC Chair called his comments "bizzare" and "biologically stupid" and suggested he forego attending the convention. Missouri Republicans can still select a replacement candidate if Akin drops out by tomorrow at 6 p.m.

Here's the reaction of medical experts to his woefully misinformed view of pregnancy and rape. [More....]

Erick son of Erick speaks:

Todd Akin will withdraw from the MO Senate race.

Todd Akin, GOP candidate for Senate from Missouri, clarifies that he meant "forcible rape", not "legitimate rape." Akin is saying his views are exactly those of Paul Ryan, and that happens to be true:

Paul Ryan also co-sponsored HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" bill in which Republicans tried to redefine rape so that it only applied to "forcible" rape so those fake rape victims would stop exploiting loopholes to cash in on fabulous gifts and prizes.

This is the real story - Todd Akin's views on this are mainstream Republican - which is to say extreme and radical.

Politico:

The Donald is gearing up for Tampa. When the Republican National Convention kicks off next Monday, Donald Trump will have a “surprise” role on its first day, people familiar with the matter said Sunday evening.

Why is Romney having a birther featured at his convention? Also too, was Joe Arpaio not available?

Rudy Giuliani today said Joe Biden is "too unbalanced" to be step into the role of President should that become necessary.

"I don't think he's nuts. I'm just saying I wonder if he's got the kind of balance - probably what I should have said is the balance to be president of the United States," Giuliani said. "This guy is like one gaffe after another, and he's a joke on late-night television."

Earlier this week he said Biden isn't too bright. He was referring to Biden's comment on Tuesday, when speaking to a predominantly African American group, that "Mitt Romney's regulatory policies would "put y'all back in chains."

In 2008, when Sarah Palin used the words "blood libel" in responding to media reports that she may have contributed to the Arizona shootings, which many regarded as anti-Semitic, he defended her. [More...]