From this Saturday's Up With Chris Hayes, Chris takes a look at the message we saw coming out of this year's Republican National Convention and as he concluded "It's an ugly message, but in a time of anxiety and diminished expectations, not a stupid one." It may not be stupid but it's extremely cynical.

The RNC’s backward-looking tour of nostalgia:

This week the Republican party gathered in Tampa to tell a terrible and tragic tale of American decline. They couldn't quite say that, explicitly, of course. This is the party of Reagan and sunny optimism, or so they'd like to present themselves, but you couldn't help notice that the three days of speeches on the convention floor were an orgy of imagined persecution, grievance and doleful recollections of halcyon days gone by.

But the packaging for this message was insistent invocation of American greatness. As Rachel Maddow's team documented in a montage for MSNBC's convention coverage, almost every single speaker told a story of upward mobility, usually taken from their own family's past: tracing the arc of the American dream that had brought them to the podium.

Part of this is just standard political treacle, a way for, say, an extremely wealthy prep school graduate like Ann Romney, to seem relatable. But the larger reason this was such a dominant theme at the RNC is that the Republican Party's platform and tribal identity are zealously committed to the notion of American exceptionalism, and when people talk about American exceptionalism, this is usually what they mean. [...]

Somewhat oddly almost every single one of the stories of "we-built-it," plucky American success didn't revolve around the speakers own experience of social mobility but rather that of their hardworking relatives and ancestors. It struck me, listening to these invocations of the labors of previous generations as a slightly odd note, a backward looking tour of nostalgia for an America that we are losing. But of course, that's precisely the message of the Republican party this year and its a potent one because it's based on a core reality.

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From this Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, one of Bill's "Real Time reporters," Alexandra Pelosi, sent the show this report from the 2012 Republican National Convention. Lots of Obama derangement syndrome, teabaggers and wingnuts galore.

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Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign on Wednesday partied with wealthy donors on a 150-foot yacht that flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, according to an ABC News report.

Members of the Romney Victory Council, who have each raised more than $1 million for the candidate, mingled with Romney's brother, Scott, and other relatives in Tampa aboard the luxury yacht "Cracker Bay."

While they waited outside the unadvertised event, ABC News snapped photos of the Cayman Islands civil ensign flag flying on the yacht's stern.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) was reportedly scheduled to speak to the more than 50 people attending.

"It was a really nice event," billionaire energy industry executive Wilbur Ross told the network. "These are good supporters."

Romney came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed that he had millions stashed in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven. In August, Vanity Fair reported that Romney still had a personal stake in at least 12 of Bain Capital's Cayman Island funds, worth up to $30 million.

The candidate recently insisted to Fox News host Chris Wallace that "there was no reduction — not one dollar reduction — in taxes by virtue of having an account in Switzerland or a Cayman Islands investment."

"I think it's ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn't even pay its taxes," a woman who lives at the marina where Cracker Bay is moored told ABC News.

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From House Speaker John Boehner's press conference in Tampa this Monday, a reporter asked him to explain why voters should ever trust Republicans with control of both houses of Congress and the White House again after what they did to the country the last time around and Boehner's response was basically, forgive tax cheats who've been hiding their money overseas and everything's Obama's fault with the economy now.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Republicans or anything resembling an actual answer to the reporter's question.

Q: You talk a lot about the deficit and rightly so, but this time as you into the election, you're seeking the House, Senate and presidency. Why should the American people trust you with the trifecta? Last time you had it, you passed a health care reform that wasn't adequately funded. You cut taxes more than spending was reduced and you turned a surplus into a deficit and you let the country into a catastrophic recession in 2008. Why should anyone give you that much power again? How has the Republican Party changed?

BOEHNER: Listen, I think our pro-growth economic policies are exactly the right prescription for this country. I think that getting our tax code reformed is going to make American companies more competitive and make American exports more competitive and help bring those $3 trillion worth of corporate profits that are sitting overseas back to America to help create more jobs here. So, if you look at our plan, I think we have a solid plan for getting our economy back on track.

The President's policies have failed. I just went through the whole litany earlier. They failed. They made things worse. And he didn't do what he promised he would do. And I think the American people will hold him accountable.

It's too bad that apparently none of them there were allowed any follow up because the next thing that should have been said is, you didn't answer my question and when do you think the American people are going to hold you accountable for how you've governed, or better said, the refusal by Republicans to actually govern and do anything but obstruct since President Obama was elected.

I'm not sure which outlet the reporter was from since they did not say anything other than his last name when he was called on, but I would not be shocked to find out he's from a foreign outlet between the accent and the fact that he was willing to ask Boehner a question you'll never hear out of the better part of our American press that's allowed anywhere near him most of the time. We've got way too many lapdogs willing to give him softball interviews and never push him on just how destructive their policies have been to the country.

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The religious lifestyle show hosted by televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday suggested that Christians in Florida had convinced God to move soon-to-be Hurricane Isaac away from Tampa, Florida to protect Republicans.

During a segment about how Isaac forced the first day of Republican National Convention to be cancelled, Christian Broadcasting Network's Paul Strand noted that Current TV host Jennifer Granholm sent out a "snarky tweet" saying that "God has ways to shut that whole thing down."

"For anybody who's a liberal who's part of a party that would like to whitewash God out of America, it's amazing that she's acknowledging that God has any part in the storm," conservative radio host Bill Bunkley told CBN.

"But gratitude's been a predominant attitude in Tampa's Christian circles as it looks like the city will escape much of Isaac's wrath," Strand reported, pointing out that the group "Pray Tampa Bay" was leading an effort to "cover the party conventions in prayer."

"We have had lots and lots of people praying around the clock that it would move," Rev. Jesten Peters explained. "And if you watch from the very beginning where they were saying it was coming up and now where they're saying it's going, then it's really moved a lot for us, and we appreciate God doing that and moving it for us."

Tropical Storm Isaac is project to strengthen into a hurricane within a day, sparing Tampa, but making landfall south of New Orleans almost exactly seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

At the time, Robertson suggested that then-Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' unwillingness to overturn abortion rights caused the storm.

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It looks like the Republicans have got themselves a Huckabee problem for their upcoming convention. Democrats Call On Romney To Drop Huckabee From Tampa Over Akin:

Democrats say Mitt Romney has a Todd Akin problem and, by extension, a Mike Huckabee problem. The conservative radio host has reaffirmed his support for the embattled Senate nominee, just before he’s set to speak in a primetime slot in Tampa Monday night. Democrats are urging the GOP to boot Huckabee, one of its biggest social conservative stars, from the lineup.

American Bridge, the Democratic tracking firm, is launching an online drive to push Huckabee from the Tampa podium next week. The group says that keeping Huckabee on the schedule suggests the GOP isn’t serious about distancing itself from Akin and his stated views on female biology.

On Thursday, Huckabee took his party to task for calling on Akin to quit the Senate race in Missouri following Akin’s “legitimate rape” implosion, making the former Arkansas governor the most prominent of Akin’s remaining conservative defenders. [...]

That set up a potentially awkward situation for Republicans, who scheduled Huckabee to speak in the same primetime block Monday night as Ann Romney. (On Friday morning, reports surfaced that Ann Romney’s speech may be moved from Monday night after TV networks said they wouldn’t air it.)

So far, Republicans won’t say whether Huckabee’s support for Akin and will change anything Tampa. A spokesperson for convention organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning. As long as Huckabee’s scheduled to speak, Democrats say they can keep talking about Akin.

Read the rest and check out the new ad American Bridge is going to be running against them over this. It's about time to see Democrats on the attack instead of the other way around.

Huckabee appeared on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox this Friday to defend Akin and as Media Matters noted, HuckaJesus did his usual amount of very un-Christian-like lying on there: Fox's Huckabee Defends Akin By Misleading About Obama And Abortion .

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Billionaire birther Donald Trump on Monday revealed that Republican officials are hoping that he will play a part at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month.

During a weekly call-in interview, Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade noted that it had been confirmed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Fox News host Mike Huckabee and others would be speaking ahead of Mitt Romney's formal acceptance of the Republican nomination for president.

"Do you think that you're going to have a role there?" Kilmeade asked Trump.

"Well, I know they want me to," Trump replied. "And I'll see what happens."

Just one day before the convention kicks off, Trump will already be in Tampa to receive the "Statesmen of the Year" award from the Sarasota County Republican Party.

Conventional wisdom is that Trump's insistence that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen would bring Romney unwanted criticism at a time when the candidate is trying to win over independent voters. But those views didn't stop the former Massachusetts governor from attending a political fundraiser with Trump in Las Vegas earlier this year, just one day after the reality star told CNBC that "nothing's changed my mind" that Obama was born in Kenya.

“In his own words, @BarackObama ‘was born in Kenya, and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.’ This statement was made, in writing, in the 1990s. Why does the press protect him? Is this another Watergate?” Trump opined on Twitter the day after the Romney event.

And on Monday, Trump was at it again, insisting that Romney should not release his tax returns if the president continued to refuse to release documents that the billionaire believes will prove his point.

"I'd like to see his college records, I'd like to see his college applications, I'd like to see something about his past, which many people know nothing about," Trump told Fox News. "I'd like to see his passport records, which are sealed. You know that Obama's spent over $4 million in legal fees to keep these things quiet, and then he stands up and says he wants to see [Romney's] tax returns."

"If Obama gives some of his sealed records where all of this money has been spent to keep them sealed, I would certainly make that trade," he added. "I think that would be a trade that you'd like to see. I tell you Fox & Friends would like to see it. I'd think you'd find some things that are very, very interesting and very shocking."

(h/t: Politico)