Watch
live video here and join the conversation as we live blog the 2012 GOP convention.
5:38 PM PT: South Dakota Sen. John Thune is speaking now. The previous speakers were the attorneys general of Florida and Georgia and, I kid you not, they claimed to have prevailed in the Supreme Court on their courtcore arguments against Obamacare. Except, you know, for the winning part.
5:42 PM PT: Coming up: Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño followed by former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. Mike Huckabee will speak after that, followed by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and current New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. Then the "star" of the evening, the man at the center of the Committee to End Medicare ... Paul Ryan.
5:42 PM PT: Thune is wrapping up now, and boy oh boy, is he dry as sawdust.
5:44 PM PT: Elizabeth Warren is on MSNBC if you want to watch something interesting.
5:46 PM PT: The current speaker at the RNC is named "Tad True." That would be the awesomest name ever for a GOP convention speaker except for the part about nothing that they are saying is even a tad true.
5:55 PM PT: Re: Danny Gokey: So that's what happens to runner-runner-ups on American Idol?
5:56 PM PT: Maybe my memory is bad, but are conventions usually this dreary?
6:01 PM PT: And Rob Portman takes the stage: the man who could have been Romney's veep. If he weren't so boring.
6:01 PM PT: Apparently, his topic tonight will be international trade. "Yes, he made money," Portman says about Mitt. "He made it the old fashioned way. He earned it."
6:04 PM PT:
Maybe all these terrible jokes are just setting expectations for the comedic stylings of Paul Ryan. He is, to be fair, hilarious.
— @anamariecox via TweetDeck
6:04 PM PT: Rob Portman says the experts say we're going into a recession next year. This man was George W. Bush's Budget Director. That is all.
6:06 PM PT (Kaili Joy Gray): New thread here.