When Mitt met Dirty Harry in Tampa version

AS THE TV cameras channeled the final night of the Republican convention into our home,    I remembered reading of Dean Martin's opening line for his show at the Sands in Las Vegas:

"Who are  all of you people and what are you doing in my room?"

Some thoughts:

Romney surprised nobody with his warm and fuzzy references to God, motherhood, America and, of course,  businessmen.   It was part John Wayne tough guy and part the caring small-town  preacher with no limit to his blessings.    It was the stuff of sermons for hawkish frontiersmen heading out to  dispatch  the horse thieves from the range. God and guy stuff.

Still, he lost me immediately with his description of  Paul Ryan that went: "He represents the best in America."

He said what?   Forgive me for asking,  is this the same Paul Ryan who was ripped from coast to coast for telling so many lies in his own speech?  I have a feeling that Ryan's recklessness with the truth will make him a high maintenance guy as the campaign  moves on in earnest.

 But the fellow who gave the benediction, Cardinal Dolan, doesn't mind.  He had said earlier that he found Ryan to be an "upright guy".  Even when he bears false witness?

And how about Mitt insisting that America "united" behind Obama when he was elected, hoping for a better America.  Who wrote that whopper in his speech?  Who ignored the truculent threats by the big guys in the GOP to block Obama from Day One on any  initiative  - which the Tea Party controlled House of Representatives and their parrots have done for four years.

My notes also show:    Romney attacks Obamacare without mentioning its predecessor,  Romneycare. In your face!

Turn now to the most pathetic appearance of the night: Clint Eastwood's embarrassing off the cuff drivel that stumbled, mumbled and struggled in a way that did no favors for guys his age (82).  This was Dirty Harry going after Obama.  You remember his Hollywood role of Dirty Harry Callahan, don't you?  He was the terrorizing cop who broke all of the rules of police work in nailing the bad guys.  I kept hoping that the lights would go out in the hall for a few seconds and when the place lit up again, Clint would have mercifully vanished - for his own good. It was an ugly scene in an arena where you can always make an allowance for a little goofiness. But not this.  My notes:  The delegates seem delighted.

Another note:    Why is Newt Gingrich still hanging around the action?  The media can't resist him, nor he, they. Alas, will we never see his promised permanent base on the moon in his "second term"?

Finally, back to Romney:  Would it be a kinder, gentler nation under him?   Morning in America?  Compassionately conservative?  Don't know about you, but even as cliches, none of them seemed to fit this orchestrated, tightly-strung mystery  candidate on this night.  He was simply the old Romney being the old Romney. Oh, and another thing in my scrawl: If there's so much out there against Obama's "failed" presidency,  why did Romney &  Co. make so many things up?

If you watched this spectacle of empty suits and a spent old incoherent Hollywood actor,  can you say that you are better off now than you were before it began?