First Read: “Since we’re in Olympics season, think of it as a floor exercise in gymnastics. Romney picked a routine with a low degree of difficulty — a cartwheel here (visiting Great Britain), one somersault there (the stop in Israel), and a grand finale featuring a simple back flip (the last leg in Poland). There were some upsides for him: Americans saw him on their TV sets during the opening ceremony at the Olympics; he bonded with Israeli PM Netanyahu; he gave a solid speech in Israel; and got his photo-op with Lech Walesa in Poland.”

“But because the routine was so simple, the mistakes stuck out even more. So as Romney performed his cartwheel in England, he stepped out of bounds when he questioned London’s readiness for the Olympics. He lost additional points for flubbing the end of the somersault in Israel when he tried to explain the economic differences between Israel and the Palestinian Authority through a cultural prism (that may end up offending Mexican Americans as much as he appeared to offend Palestinians). And after sticking his landing in Poland, his campaign got into a spat with the judges — that is, the reporters following him.”

Mitt Romney will announce his running mate via an app for mobile phones.

Charlie Cook: “Romney has a chance to hit the reset button with his vice presidential pick. It’s not that his choice itself is likely to make that much difference, but it is likely to begin a new and different narrative, shifting the focus away from his finances and his critical review of the United Kingdom’s handling of preparations for the London Olympics, and that’s probably a good thing.”

“Let’s face it, Romney can’t win, but Obama can lose.”

— GOP consultant Ed Rogers, quoted by the Washington Post.

Mitt Romney’s traveling press secretary “lost his cool and cursed at reporters who attempted to ask questions of the Republican presidential candidate in a public plaza near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw,” CNN reports.

Said aide Rick Gorka: “Kiss my ass, this is a holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”

Gorka than told a reporter to “shove it.”

Politico reports Gorka subsequently called two reporters to apologize.

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro (D), “who was jokingly mistaken for a White House intern by Barack Obama less than three years ago, will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention that will nominate the president for a second term,” the Texas Tribune reports.

“Castro will speak in prime time on Sept. 4, the first night of the convention in Charlotte, N.C. First lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks the same night.”

Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) “will not deliver the keynote speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention but instead will speak immediately before former President Bill Clinton on what party officials hope will be an energetic second-to-last night,” the Boston Globe reports.

Three high-placed Republican sources tell the Columbus Dispatch that Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) “has decided not to run for re-election, leaving party members rushing to find a replacement in time for the Nov. 6 election.”

“A source said LaTourette is leaving because of a dispute with House leadership about future committee assignments.”

The White House “was subtlety gleeful today as Mitt Romney’s campaign dealt with the latest group to be offended during the Republican presidential candidate’s overseas tour that was intended to showcase his foreign policy credentials,” ABC News reports.

“Romney’s newest diplomatic fumble has insulted the Palestinians by suggesting that the discrepancy between the wealth of Israel and Palestinians was due in part to their different cultures. A top Palestinian labeled the analysis racist.”

National Journal: “For any man who would be president there are unwritten rules of
foreign diplomacy. Mitt Romney seems to have internalized some, while
others apparently slipped out of the briefing book on his flight across
the Atlantic to debut as a potential leader of the free world.”

Fred Hiatt: “In this Romney-Obama matchup, the only motivation that surfaces clearly for voters is the desire to stop the other side — the conviction that the opponent’s agenda would be dangerous. If the pattern holds after the conventions, this may be what propels voters to the polls in November…”

“It is a blocking election. The candidates give us little sense of what they would actually do in office. Neither tries to rally Americans behind a positive vision and agenda for the next four years. The rationale instead is the frightening specter of an enemy win.”

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign released a new video featuring a small businessman criticizing President Obama’s now infamous “you didn’t build that” line.

Says Dennis Sollmann: “I mean, I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ He was trying to say: ‘Hey, you didn’t build that business on your own. The government helped you build it.’ And that’s what ticked me off more than anything.”

However, the Huffington Post reports Sollmann’s electric company has relied heavily on government contracts.

This is the second time this has happened: A previous Romney ad starred a New Hampshire businessman who also received significant government assistance.

[Read more…]

A new Democracy Corps (D) survey shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney nationally by four points, 50% to 46%.

Even more interesting: The poll finds President Obama’s approval rating at 50%.