Democrats Blast Republican National Convention As 'Open Mic For 2016 Candidates'

On the heels of Mitt Romney accepting the Republican nomination for president and the conclusion of the GOP's national convention in Tampa, Fla., Democrats attacked Friday, saying the event was more snide remarks than proof of how America would benefit under Republican leadership.

David Axelrod, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the Republican convention did nothing to advance Romney's cause. Instead, it was a session for the party to present its 2016 candidates.

Romney accepted the GOP's nomination Thursday.

"What people were tuning in -- hoping to hear -- were practical solutions to the challenges that we face," Axelrod said. "And what they got were some snarky lines about the president, some gauzy reminiscences about the past and some buzzwords for the base."

Axelrod said the millions of voters didn't get "real practical solutions" to the nation's problems and Romney's "actual proposals."

"He didn't talk about his $5 trillion tax cut that was skewed toward the wealthy," Axelrod added. "He didn't talk about voucherizing the Medicare program. He didn't talk about cutting education and student loans. He didn't talk about what he actually would do.

"A lot of that had nothing to do with Mitt Romney," he continued. "It felt like open-mic night for the 2016 candidates and not a convention that's aimed at promoting Mitt Romney in 2012."

Many of the Republican Party's rising stars spoke at the convention, from Florida Senator Marco Rubio to Utah's Mia Love, who is running to become the first black woman elected to Congress for the Republican party.

Among those criticized for speaking more about themselves rather than the presidential nominees was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Rachel Maddow ripped Christie's speech, calling it "one of the most remarkable acts of political selfishness I have ever seen on a stage this big."

"This is a 2,600 word speech in which he used nearly 1,800 of those words before he first said the name Mitt Romney and as soon as he said Mitt Romney he went back to talking about himself for hundreds more words," said the MSNBC anchor. "This was Chris Christie accepting the nomination of the Republican Party for 2016 because Mitt Romney wasn't even interesting enough to talk about in the keynote address that is supposed to be for Mitt Romney's nomination."

It was rumored that Romney was thinking of choosing Christie as a running mate before he chose Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

Whether or not Axelrod's perception of the GOP's convention is correct is yet to be seen. In fact, Obama's aide said one just has to wait to see what happens.

"What happens in the next few weeks will reflect part of what people saw here and maybe they received it differently than I perceive they did," Axelrod said. "I think they did a lot of work whipping each other up -- hitting the tea party base, hitting the social conservative base. They're presenting their future talents. I don't think they did much to advance the cause of Mitt Romney."

What do you think of the GOP's convention? Do you think you got to know Romney and his plan much more than before? Let us know in the comment box below.