ARMED ROBBERY? With a cup of hot coffee, robber steals cash.

WHEN ROMNEY MADE HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE JOKE, I wasn’t near the computer, but tweeted:

Romney joke not about birth cert.Way of reminding people of Obama’s post-American approach topresidency.Will work.

— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) August 24, 2012

Ann Althouse has more detailed thoughts along the same lines.

Romney is saying — in so many words — I’m more truly and fundamentally American than Barack Obama. And the implication is: I want you to think about the ways that Obama hasn’t fully embraced American values of freedom, capitalism, etc. etc.

Of course, you don’t have to be born in America to have those values. I imagine Ted Cruz has those values, and he was born in Canada. He might make a great Senator from Texas soon, but he can never be President. We don’t need to see his birth certificate, because it’s no secret. He’s not qualified to be President, and it’s no disparagement of him to say that. But notably — and pay attention now, because this should help with understanding Romney’s joke — no one running against Cruz would make a joke about his being born outside of the United States. Romney’s (implicit) joke about Obama works not because of where he was actually born, but because of much more substantive ideas about commitment to foundational American values.

Exactly. With the added benefit that the press would miss the point and thus, in its outrage, spread the idea further than Romney could on his own.

The audience got it, though. As Jan Crawford reported: “At Romney event, two reactions to his birth certificate joke: reporters gasped–and a crowd of thousands laughed and cheered.”

UPDATE: Jim Bennett emails: “Why does Ann Althouse assume Ted Cruz is not eligible to be President just because he was born in Calgary? Both of his parents were American at the time of his birth, and his mother was American by birth.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ann Althouse updates her post: “I didn’t mean to be the first Ted Cruz birther! I agree that if both your parents are American citizens and you are therefore an American citizen at birth, that’s good enough for the constitutional requirement.”

MORE: Frank J. is on a roll:

BREAKING: Romney has issued an apology. “It was wrong of me to point out how foreign and divorced from basic American values Obama is.”

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) August 24, 2012

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that dog-eating weirdo was from another country.”

— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) August 24, 2012

And reader Bobby Franklin writes: “Romney owes Obama rent for living in his head. It appears we may have underestimated ole Mitt. He is simply toying with Obama, Democrats, and the media – and they don’t even know it.”

I believe he has adopted the picador strategy. Prof. Stephen Clark agrees: “Glad to see you and Althouse make these points. This is your picador strategy at work again. The reaction from the press and, more importantly, from the White House was clearly foreseen. This is ruthless, interesting, and entertaining. I cannot imagine John McCain, or any similar politician, doing this even now.”

STILL MORE: Eugene Volokh emails: “Glenn: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-local-news/texplainer/texplainer-could-canadian-born-ted-cruz-be-preside/ reports that Ted Cruz’s father was not a U.S. citizen when Ted was born, though I think that doesn’t change his eligibility: Under the law at the time of his birth, all it took was one citizen parent for the child to be a citizen, so long as the parent had lived long enough in the U.S. (which Ted’s mother had).”

NOW ON YOUTUBE: INSTAVISION: I talk with John Fund about his new book (with Hans von Spakovsky), Who’s Counting: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Maybe You’re The Reason Your Relationship Is Dull.

CHANGE: Drug companies start offering coupons for prescription drugs.

SCIENCE: 17-year-old girl builds artificial ‘brain’ to detect breast cancer.

An artificial “brain” built by a 17-year-old whiz kid from Florida is able to accurately assess tissue samples for signs of breast cancer, providing more confidence to a minimally invasive procedure.

The cloud-based neural network took top prize in this year’s Google Science Fair.

“I taught the computer how to diagnose breast cancer,” Brittany Wenger, the Lakewood Ranch resident, told me today.

“And this is really important because currently the least invasive form of biopsy is actually the least conclusive, so a lot of doctors can’t use them.”

Wenger wanted to create a way for more doctors to use the minimally invasive procedure, called Fine Needle Aspirate, in order to ease the process of having lumps examined.

Of course, under ObamaCare this technology will only be available to the politically-connected.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHPS: Weird Wedding Trend: “Morning After” Wedding Shots.

SCIENCE: Super-sweet superfood: Tesco launches sweeter broccoli to persuade children to eat greens. I like broccoli just fine. Even did when I was a kid. But, then, I was weird.

PEOPLE WHO GIVE THE MOST TO CHARITY live in areas where the most people are religious.

NOOOOOOO!

ED DRISCOLL INTERVIEWS DAVID GELERNTER about his new book, America-Lite: How Imperial Academia Dismantled Our Culture (and Ushered In the Obamacrats).

TODAY’S THE LAST DAY of the Liberty Island crowdfunding push. Please consider donating.

PAGING PRINCE HARRY: Carnival tests ‘all-you-can-drink’ alcohol package. “The world’s largest cruise company this month has begun testing a nearly $50 per day package on the Carnival Victory that gives buyers access to unlimited wine, beer and spirits as well as sodas and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails.”

COMPETENCE: Obama’s Solar Panel Tariffs Threaten To Destroy An American Business. “Ironically, it was just a few years ago that Keith was the poster boy for the Administration’s solar energy initiative.” Actually, I think these days the word is “predictably.”

COMING SOON FROM AMAZON: New iPhone/iPad competitors? I’ve been very happy with my Kindle Fire. It’s not quite as good as an iPad overall, I suppose, but you can buy all the Kindle family for less than a single iPad, and it’s got virtues of its own as well. I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

HEY, GUESS WHAT POLITIFACT CALLS TRUE? Wonder why the press hasn’t picked up on this story more?

BRENDAN LOY on Isaac and Florida.

GETCHER Paul Ryan “Math” T-Shirt Right Here.

SO I BOUGHT GAS YESTERDAY AND IT WAS TEN CENTS A GALLON MORE THAN WHEN I FILLED UP LAST WEEK: Must be time to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve! Nothing political about it. . . .

HEH: Reader Arthur Barie writes: “The best snark on Biden going to Tampa that I’ve heard is, ‘If the Dems send Biden to Tampa, the GOP will punch back twice as hard and send Biden to Charlotte.'”

THE OLD RSS FEED IS STILL NO GOOD, but here’s the new one. Please update accordingly.

Also, follow me on Twitter!

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): The $16 Trillion Debt Threshold Looms.

CAN WE SUE, OR JAIL, THOSE RESPONSIBLE? Plastic Bag Bans Lead to E-coli Deaths. I mean, pharma executives who were responsible for a similar debacle would have reason to worry.

HIGHER EDUCATION UPDATE: Ex-Professor Indicted Over Fake Doctoral Degree. “A former professor at Richard J. Daley College was indicted Wednesday on charges of theft from the government over allegations that she falsely claimed to have a doctoral degree to be paid extra money.” I’m shocked to hear of fraudulent documents being used to secure advancement at a college named for Richard Daley!

UPDATE: Speaking of academic fraud, here’s more on the scandal at UNC.