There is an absolutely astonishing article in today’s New York Times about the Republican National Committee’s use of intricate stagecraft, set design, and trompe l'oeil to make Mitt Romney seem less Mitt Romney–like at Tampa’s convention. In other words, the party is quite literallynow relying on smoke and mirrors.

Per the Times: “The campaign aides are determined to overcome perceptions that Mr. Romney is stiff, aloof and distant. So they have built one of the most intricate set pieces ever designed for a convention—a $2.5 million Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired theatrical stage.” (They shall call it: Falling Expectations.) “From its dark-wood finish to the brightly glowing high-resolution screens in the rafters that look like skylights, every aspect of the stage has been designed to convey warmth, approachability and openness.” It’s definitely the sort of thing where you can just tell no one has considered the possibility that all this will just make Romney look comparatively more robotic and miserable in his own skin. (“Why does that sad man look so unhappy in the soft lighting? Does it burn his skin?”) Let’s read on.

“The most ambitious element of stagecraft, however, will be the podium—which features 13 different video screens—the largest about 29 feet by 12 feet, the smallest about 8 feet by 8 feet and movable. . . From the six-feet-high podium, staircases slope into the audience. The intended symbolism: Mr. Romney is open and approachable, not distant and far above.” So. . . something like this?

And there are props! The stage will feature “a digital clock mounted to one of the arena’s upper rings that will show the national debt ticking ever-higher” and “video screens will help augment whatever messages a speaker is trying to convey, be it images of woeful-looking Americans to convey that President Obama has mismanaged the economy or pictures of the Romney children that speak to the candidate’s deep bonds with his family.” First of all: hope those speeches are timed perfectly, otherwise when the candidate mentions a “woeful-looking American,” the audience might see, say, Rafalca Romney, wealthy horse; second of all, there are worse strategies than hypnotizing a nation with pictures of Josh Romney. Maybe they’ll use that one you took of him walking your dog on the beach in Maine.