GOP-believing friends/acquaintances from my youth grumbling about Biden debate laughter.

As with a week ago, I didn't witness more than a sliver of the televised debate.  So I can't make any informed commments at this time (though I read opinions from both sides of the ideological divide).

A lot of people who I grew up with in Electra, TX were carefully taught to support the Republican Party and its candidates.

And here is what one person [name withheld] who grew up in my hometown said publicly on Facebook regarding Joe Biden's laughter at Paul Ryan's debate comments:
 "...I think he thinks that if he laughs at what Paul Ryan is saying than the people will think that what Ryan is saying is nothing but a joke. Little does he realize that we the people have sense enough to realize that all he is showing is just how out of touch and rude he is."

Analyzing Mitt Romney and opening act Clint Eastwood..

If you're Clint Eastwood, you're used to running things and getting your own way.  This probably explains why Clint's Thursday night GOP convention speech (demonstrating a willingness to try for improv comedy; i.e. the Empty Chair prop) had the air of something that might be seen in a luxury restaurant/penthouse at a Republican candidates fundraising dinner with millionaires/billionaires (and no ordinary people) in attendance.  I can easily imagine the Mitt Romney entourage giving Clint a prepared speech--and Clint throwing it aside saying "I'M NOT GONNA READ THIS CRAP!"  Ergo, the rambling ruminations which sounded a lot like Clint's character putting down all in sight during the early reels of GRAN TORINO.

As for Mitt Romney: There was a lot of rose-colored Remembrances of Simple Loving Times Past rhetoric which gave me the impression that both Peggy Noonan and Karen Hughes may have contributed to his speech.  There was the inevitable attempt to link Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter.  And, most sickening, the primal Dog Whistle to the conventioneers and TV/online audiences: "THE HELL WITH CLIMATE CHANGE!  I'LL MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELVES JUST LIKE REAGAN DID!"

Selected comments on Romney's choice of Paul Ryan from Twitter.

Just think: In two years, THE NEWSROOM will be reporting Romney's VP pick.--Franklin Harris
Listen, any time you can double down on rich white guys who want to take healthcare away from people, you just gotta do it.--Jordan Zakarin
HBO already on "Game Change 2".--BWD
Little-known fact about Paul Ryan is that the first budget he introduced in Congress was a dog-eared copy of Atlas Shrugged.--Top Conservative Cat aka Tea Party Cat
The Ryan pick tells us that Romney was more concerned about winning his base than he was winning in November.--Markos Moulitsas (DAILY KOS)
Can't wait to see the transformation Julianne Moore makes to play Paul Ryan in four years.--Jordan Zakarin
Has there ever been a presidential ticket featuring two guys with better hair (or worse policy plans) than Romney/Ryan?--Scott Feinberg
NBC NEws reports that Tagg Romney told Pawlenty and Portman that they weren't the pick. Romney delegated the calls!--Marc Ambinder
Paul Ryan's been walking around w/ pair of salad tongs for 2months, trying to make Mitt think he's a fellow robot.--Hunter aka HunterDK

Osama bin Laden is dead. What happens now re Obama and his Presidency?

In the aftermath of Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden's death yesterday, people are now high-fiving and pronouncing the re-election of President Barack Obama as inevitable.

Don't get too overconfident.

It was just a few days ago that Obama went on national television to announce (in effect) that he had been rolled by Republican sort-of-Presidential-candidate/real estate mogul/"reality" TV tough-guy Donald Trump.
So Obama wasted his time (and the nation's) to produce his full certificate of live birth in Hawaii to engage with the nonsensical (and racist) "birther" movement.

However, this much can be said about Barack Obama: he can address the nation at times as if they were a bunch of grown-ups not constantly engorging on trivia.  And, in certain matters of national security, he can act decisively--as witnessed by the demise of bin Laden (like Saddam, a villain once allied with and enabled by America).

In terms of what Obama plans to do with the huge temporary bump in popularity, it's anyone's guess.

One thing Obama should do is forcefully declare an end to the post-9/11 era by having Khalid Sheikh Mohammad tried in a civilian court.  The carried-over-from-Bush policies of ignoring inconvenient passages in the Constitution "because it's wartime" must stop.

Also, Obama could quit demonizing the "left" and too-often meekly deferring to Wall Street and well-heeled corporate contributors to both parties.

In effect, I'm saying this: if Barack Obama can finally rid the world of a Most Wanted terror figure, then he should find (to use an old political cliche) "the fire in his belly" to combat the kind of domestic financial terrorism (against the everyday working class the Democratic Party used to care about) wielded by the likes of Paul Ryan.