Dem Convention to Feature 'Notable' Republicans, Paint Romney as a 'Heartless Aristocrat

In a move calculated to win over both "moderate" and independent voters, the Obama campaign is considering inviting a select group of "notable" Republicans to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which, by the way, is designed specifically to portray Mitt Romney as a “heartless aristocrat,” POLITICO reports.

"Convention planners are considering featuring a centrist Republican leader on at least two of the three nights. Nightly remotes from swing states may include a CEO or 'major Republican,'" POLITICO's Mike Allen writes. "On Wednesday night, a 'notable GOP woman' is among the possible participants. And on the final night, Democrats may include a Republican leader -- someone like former Sens. John Warner or Chuck

Hagel -- or a GOP woman."

One of the Republicans rumored to make an appearance is none other than former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman (remember him?). However, when we say “rumored,” we mean “rumored.” This detail comes via Breitbart’s Mike Flynn who says he heard it from a source who heard it from a source. As of this writing, there really isn't anything else to back this claim (other than, you know, Huntsman’s well-known distaste for Tea Party-style conservatives). So, take the rumor with a grain of salt.

The convention itself aims to “[e]xpose Mitt Romney as someone who doesn’t understand middle class challenges” while at the same time build up “the President’s image as someone whose life story is about fighting for middle class Americans and those working to get into the middle class,” according to convention planning documents.

“Each night of the convention will include a star turn for what planners call ‘real people’ -- for instance, an auto worker whose job was saved, a student who benefited from college loans and an entrepreneur fueled by federal research-and-development funds,” Allen reports.

But here’s our favorite: Convention organizers are also looking for a gay soldier who helped a straight soldier in a firefight to tell his/her story. Because, you know, possibly saving someone’s life is a little drab. But a gay person saving a straight person’s life? Now that’s something!

“The most innovative -- and harshest -- element of the preliminary program is a nightly ‘social contrast’ in which two people describe their personal experience with a hot-button issue — one person lauding the president’s actions, the other taking Romney to task,” Allen’s report continues.

“Each paired-testimonial should have an ‘unexpected’ participant,” the documents say.

The convention will, of course, focus on those parts of the president’s record Democrats believe are clear successes.

“Tell the story of the President’s accomplishments -- the auto rescue, manufacturing, ending the war, health care, energy -- as central to his fight for the middle class and America’s long-term economic strength,” the convention documents list as one of its objectives.

Simply put, the convention's one and only goal will be to convey this message: Romney is “an exemplar of [the] bust-and-boom economy,” while “Obama led us through the darkest days of the deepest recession in generations. … Now he’s fighting for the next steps, so we do more than recover from a deep recession that was a long time in the making, and reclaim America’s promise on behalf of hard-workers, the strivers, the dreamers, who ask only for a fair shot and a fair shake.”

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Read the full POLITICO report here.