RNC 2012: Ryan finishes off a powerful second night
TAMPA — Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention was drifting along unremarkably for a couple of hours. For Georgians, even Attorney General Sam Olens’ speech — the only one this week by someone from our state — suffered from his pairing with his Floridian counterpart, Pam Bondi; the tag-team format just didn’t work all that well. Speeches from Sen. John Thune, the South Dakotan whose name was bandied about (inexplicably, I’d say tonight) as a potential presidential candidate, and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee, were flat.
Then came the wave.
It started with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate. To be honest, I wasn’t able to catch much of his speech, but I could tell that the crowd responded to it with much more energy than any of the earlier speakers generated.
Then came Condoleezza Rice. The former secretary of state is highly regarded for her intellect and experience, but I don’t know anyone who expected a set-piece speech from her like the one she gave tonight. She’s obviously known as a foreign-policy expert, but her topics ran the gamut: immigration, education and school choice (which Rice, who grew up in Jim Crow Birmingham, called “the civil rights issue of our day”), and the federal debt. She was powerful on the moral aspects of American leadership in the world and the threat that our finances pose to our ability to exercise it: “There is no country, not even a rising China, that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we do not do the hard work at home.” She was firm in speaking against the “narrative of grievance and entitlement,” which she described as alien to America. She was wholly impressive and utterly convincing as a future politician (though she’s served in government, she’s never run for office).
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez followed Rice and, having never heard her speak before, I wasn’t sure about the wisdom of putting her between such a powerful speech by Rice and the night’s headliner, Paul Ryan. But Martinez was very impressive. She spoke of her upbringing in a family with its own small security business — and of working, at age 18, as an armed guard for it. She had one of the lines of the night, describing her surprised reaction after she and her husband met with Republicans trying to convince her to switch to their party years ago: “I’ll be damned. We’re Republicans!”
But Ryan, of course, was every bit the closer the GOP wanted this night. He took on President Obama directly and forcefully, as the vice presidential nominee traditionally is expected to do. He spoke of wasted stimulus money that went to companies “like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs and make-believe markets.” He welcomed the confrontation with Democrats over Medicare: “Our nation needs this debate, we [Romney and Ryan] want this debate, and we will win this debate.” He described the Obama campaign as “a ship trying to sail on yesterday’s wind.”
He defined himself as the youthful candidate on the ticket and in the race, playfully comparing Romney’s songs, which he’s heard “on the campaign bus and in many hotel elevators” with his own playlist, which “starts with AC/DC and ends with Zeppelin.” But more importantly, he made a play for young voters with the line of the convention, maybe the campaign, so far: “College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.”
Two nights in, this campaign is taking a shape that it sorely lacked before Ryan joined the ticket and, to some degree, even until this week. It will be interesting to see not only how Romney closes it out Thursday, but how the Democrats react in Charlotte next week.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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318 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
9:30 am
from Fox News:
Paul Ryan’s speech in 3 words
2. Deceiving
On the other hand, to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.
The good news is that the Romney-Ryan campaign has likely created dozens of new jobs among the legions of additional fact checkers that media outlets are rushing to hire to sift through the mountain of cow dung that flowed from Ryan’s mouth. Said fact checkers have already condemned certain arguments that Ryan still irresponsibly repeated.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/30/paul-ryans-speech-in-three-words/#ixzz252IGHseB
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
9:36 am
Talk about deceiving, Finn. You make it sound as if “Fox News” is blasting Paul Ryan, when in fact, the “opinion” piece is written by Sally Kohn and POSTED on the Fox News site. From Wiki:
“Sally Kohn is a political commentator, community organizer, and founder and chief education officer of the Movement Vision Lab, a grassroots think tank.”
Pathetic, Finn. Simply pathetic.
gm
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
I guess giving vochers to people who have paid in to Medicare all their lives is a good thing? I guess cutting education programs by 30% has no effect on blacks who can not afford to go college and use pell grants is no big deal, cutting food stamps for needy Americans black and white is no big deal?
Please come out of denial about the history of whites southerners attacks on blacks””’
Rice and Davis have not been in the black communtity since both of them used the same system cilvil right leaders died for and now they support a party that wants to destroy it.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
Tiberius, can’t handle the truth, can you?
Verbal Kint
August 30th, 2012
9:41 am
Finn – you point to the debt ceiling issue. I guess in your world, if your credit card is maxed out you call the bank to get an increase so you can KEEP ON SPENDING.
Pay as you go….right Finn?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
9:46 am
What does it say about a poster who never has his own opinions, but merely cuts and pastes those of others?
translation: whhhiiiiinnnnneeeee
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
9:49 am
Verbal, household finances and the finances of a nation have nothing in common.
zero
nada
zip
I would explain it but why waste my time with you Cons?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
This is too easy . . .
“I guess giving vochers to people who have paid in to Medicare all their lives is a good thing?”
You failed the test, gm. Medicare reform doesn’t change the program for ANYBODY 55 years or older today. IF ever put into place, seniors will have a choice: continue with the current Medicare system, or get a voucher and shop for a better deal. So, yes, it is a good thing because Medicare doesn’t change for ANYBODY if they don’t want it to. Keep current, willya?
“I guess cutting education programs by 30% has no effect on blacks who can not afford to go college”
What education programs, gm? Why is Washington, D.C. funding education in the first place? Isn’t education a LOCAL issue? I thought you libs were all about helping the students, not the bureaucrats?
“and use pell grants is no big deal,”
It’s not.
” cutting food stamps for needy Americans black and white is no big deal? ”
Let’s see . . . Which administration is BEGGING people to use food stamps? Do you think that maybe a program that has to beg people to use it needs a bit of cutting?
@@
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
Rice and Davis have not been in the black communtity since both of them used the same system cilvil [sic] right leaders died for and now they support a party that wants to destroy it.
It’s not merely the existence of civil rights laws that make a difference in one’s life, it’s what you do with ‘em.
As a pillow, they’re pretty useless. As a pillar on which to build, they’re of value.
ragnar danneskjold
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
While I probably would not have watched anyway – I already know everything they were saying – I was unable, due to interstate travel over a family health matter. However, the apolitical Mrs. jbmlaw watched last night, and on my arrival back home advised me that she is really impressed with Paul Ryan. Think that seals the election.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
“Tiberius, can’t handle the truth, can you?”
Actually, I can, Finn.
It’s just that I’m still waiting to hear any from YOU.
Lynnie Gal
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
Condi Rice is the only class act at the RNC convention. Here’s analysis of Lyin’s speech last night, ala Fox News–It’s shocking. I didn’t think I’d live to see the day when someone at Fox told the truth!
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/30/paul-ryans-speech-in-three-words/
Thanks, Granny, for pointing me to this article!
BuckeyeInGa
August 30th, 2012
9:56 am
@Verbal Kint 8:55
The plant was closed for all intents and purpose in 2008
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/36026504.html
MikeB
August 30th, 2012
10:01 am
@ Buckeye…. Knowledge of Fast n Furious and the specific operational activities before Congress.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:03 am
But . . . but . . . Fox News is soooooo biased!
gm
August 30th, 2012
10:07 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
Out of touch as usually, so if I am 40 -55 and 2.9% of my wages have come out of my check for the last 25 years, its ok to give me a $1900 vocher and my bill is 14k when I reach 65, and you people are ok with that?
Why is Washington, D.C. funding education in the first place? Isn’t education:
T
his statement shows why America is at the bottom compared to the world in education, funny, Pell grants were good enough for Paul Ryan along with the SSI that funded his education (hypocrite).
Let see what President who the right refuse to call his name at the convention because he destroyed the enconomy cause millions to be on fodd stamp?
I mean have you ever seen a convention who had a President for 8 years and no one will call his name?
claytondawg
August 30th, 2012
10:08 am
I can’t intelligently respond here since I did not view the speeches last night. However, Ms. Rice has and will be a terrific force for the Republican Party. She has intelligence and class where not many people can attain (men or women).
MikeB
August 30th, 2012
10:10 am
BTW.. Wonder if all these Zealous “Fact Checkers” will be working as hard next week? Wonder if the liberal mainstream media will cut/parse/talk over and choose with the selectivity vs. letting Americans see all the speakers without their snide comments and dissaproving/disgusted looks….. Thought these pundits were supposed to be pro’s???
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
10:11 am
During a normal August, downtown Tampa is a bit sleepy…..But with the convention in town, the city looks somewhat like it’s under siege. Helicopters fly almost constantly overhead and packs of police cruise by on bicycles. Fast boats whiz by the region’s three bridges, looking for unseen threats. Tall chain-link fences shield the pretty parks along the Hillsborough River from view. The main library is closed.
Wonder what these Republicans are all afraid of? Bin Laden is dead. Why are they all hiding under the bed? Afraid of Americans?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
10:14 am
Wonder if all these Zealous “Fact Checkers” will be working as hard next week?
Shouldn’t need to. Democrats have much less of a NEED to lie to their constituents.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:15 am
gm, you’ve entered the delusional stage, son.
“so if I am 40 -55 and 2.9% of my wages have come out of my check for the last 25 years, its ok to give me a $1900 vocher and my bill is 14k when I reach 65, and you people are ok with that?”
What part of, “you’ll have a CHOICE to take Medicare as it is” do you NOT understand? Sheesh!
And are you REALLY going to attack Paul Ryan for using SSI benefits when his father died before Ryan was an adult? Really? Especially since he nor Romney have any plans to “destroy” that program? Why is it that you libs can’t understand that certain “entitlement” programs like SS and Medicare are PAID FOR BY THE RECIPIENTS? Do you really believe that just because you’re a conservative, that suddenly you have no right to that which you paid for? Are you really as stupid as that?
That was a rhetorical question, btw. It has already been answered – loud and clear.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:17 am
“Wonder if all these Zealous “Fact Checkers” will be working as hard next week?”
No need. Their lies have been exposed for the past 4 years already. Seems a bit redundant to plow over the same fertile ground.
gm
August 30th, 2012
10:20 am
Rice during the whole speech never mention her boss GW Bush, Ryan never mention Bush, if the rep party was so great why has no one mention his name? oh I forgot 3500 dead 911, 4500 American troops died in Iraq, caused the worst economy meltdown in American history.
Watch next week how many Dem call Clinton name and Obama will appear with Clinton, will Mitt ever appear with Bush hm, hm ?
tiredofIT
August 30th, 2012
10:21 am
Paul Ryan showed that he will tell lie after lie in service to Mitt and the GOP. The indoctrination of the republican party members, appears to be a success.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:26 am
I’ll figure Bush’s name will be used in speeches more next week than Clinton’s will be.
After all, there is only one political party still living in the past.
@@
August 30th, 2012
10:29 am
Wonder what these Republicans are all afraid of? Bin Laden is dead.
Well yeah, but there are still those that share Bin Laden’s concerns. OWS? Radical environmentalists? Anti-capitalists?
schnirt
In the message broadcast on Friday, Mr. bin Laden veered away from his traditional vows to inflict death and destruction on the United States, and instead discussed climate change, globalization and monetary policy in a message that he said was directed to “the whole world.”
He called for a worldwide boycott of American goods and the dollar. He faulted the United States for failing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which sought to curb global warming by restricting greenhouse gas emissions. And he offered a word of praise for Noam Chomsky, the American linguist and liberal political activist.–NYTimes
In the Middle
August 30th, 2012
10:36 am
Okay, Lets take this piece by piece. In February 2008, then Senator Obama said the following at a campaign stop:
“This can be America’s future. I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday, and I know how hard your Governor has fought to keep jobs in this plant. But I also know how much progress you’ve made – how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. ”
The bad news he was referring to was a report that showed GM had a tremendous 4th qtr loss. Two months later, the following happened:
“In April 2008, GM announced that the plant would cut back full-time production to a single shift. Combined with an ongoing employee buy-out program, layoffs totaled around 750 jobs in July 2008.[5]
During GM’s 2008 annual shareholder meeting on June 3, 2008, CEO Rick Wagoner announced that the Janesville assembly plant would close by 2010, along with three other GM factories, and could close sooner if the market dictated.[6] The cutbacks announced, along with other changes, were expected to save the North American division $1 billion per year starting in 2010.[7]. GM extended its annual summer shutdown an additional two weeks and planned another ten weeks of shutdown for the remainder of 2008 because of excess inventories of SUVs made at the plant.”
We are still in 2008 and the election has yet to take place. Next:
“In October 2008, GM announced Janesville Assembly would be largely idled December 23, 2008 when production of SUVs would end”
GM by this time had laid off all but some 50 plus employees who remained to complete the final work orders that were in place. That was to finish up a shipment of ISUZU vehicles. These vehicles were completed and shipped:
“Assembly work continued at the Janesville Assembly until April 2009, completing the Janesville/Isuzu light truck contract and then an additional 40 to 50 “skilled trade employees” worked to decommission the plant.[11″
Here is the problem with what Paul Ryan said. Prior to last nights speech, he was telling crowds on the campaign circuit that the president “promised” to keep the plant open and that he broke his promise. Obviously, someone got to him and said, that’s not at all true. But they showed him how to manipulate his words to insinuate what he had already said about the promise. So last night, he fashioned a storyline to still fit the “he broke his promise” narrative. There are deliberate lies, then their are lies of omission. This was an omission lie!
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
10:36 am
I’ll figure Bush’s name will be used in speeches more next week than Clinton’s will be.
Your dang right.
Some of you have short memories but we dont.
We aren’t going back to Bush 2.0 aka Cheesy Grits aka Mitt Romney.
No way !!!!
We are just starting to recover from that disaster.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
10:38 am
People were pretty fired up about Sarah Palin too.
How did that work out ?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:42 am
Intelligent people (which is why I leave you out of this statement, Cheesy) know that Romney isn’t Bush 2.0.
Some people learn from their mistakes. The current GOP leadership in Romney / Ryan (and others) have shown that they have.
Obama? Still touting more of the same programs that failed miserably 4 years ago.
Some people haven’t learned from their mistakes. We call them – liberals.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
10:42 am
The radical leftist environmental agenda has managed to insinuate itself, even here. The enclosed walkway connecting the two main sites of the Republican National Convention is lit by hundreds of energy-efficient red, white and blue compact fluorescent light bulbs, which are destroying our freedom, according to Republicans. GOP lawmakers rallied around a bill that opposing “the little, squiggly, pig-tailed” bulbs, as sponsor Rep. Joe Barton called them (Barton is best know for apologizing to BP during the oil spill). New government regulations encourage the sale of the bulbs, which conservatives see as a radical environmentalist power grab.
salon.com
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:45 am
“People were pretty fired up about Sarah Palin too.
How did that work out ?”
Let’s see . . . Great fundraiser. Energizes the base. We’ll see how her coattails work when some of these candidates she got chosen in the primaries do in the general.
I think she’s done OK.
Jefferson
August 30th, 2012
10:45 am
His pants are truly on fire.
ragnar danneskjold
August 30th, 2012
10:47 am
Hope you all saw Mallard Fillmore today – maybe the only political cartoon this season that will amuse both conservatives and leftists.
David R. Boag, DDS
August 30th, 2012
10:48 am
Indy @ 7:17
“Condi gave a very nice little speech to the same white folks who turned the fire hoses and bombs on little Black girls in Birmingham. I doubt a single Black person will join the bigots because of her and Artur Davis.At least she did not repeat the welfare/work lie. However for her to talk about national security is a bit much for the person who utterly failed to do their job on 9-11 and then got us in a worse hole in Iraq.”
Clarification please: When you use the word “bigots,” are you suggesting that Ms. Rice, who shares the ideas and values of the people of her party, should be chastised for identifying herself with those who share her views? If she is able to get beyond the mistakes that some–and let’s be honest here, not MANY or MOST–made during the years you alluded to, isn’t that a challenge for others as an example to follow? Or are those mistakes unforgivable despite changes in behavior and the FACT that most of the people at that convention never have and never will participate in those kinds of behaviors?
Instead of deriding her, you should be setting her up an an example of how to conduct oneself when common ideas are shared and behavior changes for the better as a result of those shared ideas.
gm
August 30th, 2012
10:49 am
Calm down John McCain, one day you will get a chance to go to war with other people kids, what a war hawk.
Paul Ryan please come clean and tell these buffet government people who like to pick and choice what part of the gov thats ok, how about the money you requested for your state?
Thank you Obama for spending money on Americans when will the right look at the America people who jobs were saved such as firemen, teacher, police and say we should have let you starve and unemployed, yet these people parade around saying what a great American they are, ha , ha, what a bunch of selfish idiots.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:54 am
gm, why should th American people be on the hook for debt that keeps teachers, firefighters and police on the streets of individual communities?
Please tell me why NY can’t pay for however many teachers they need. Please tell me why my tax dollars from Georgia should pay for firefighters in Idaho. Why can’t that city or town in California pay for their own police protection?
Make the case why communities shouldn’t be responsible for their own teachers, firefighters and police.
Verbal Kint
August 30th, 2012
10:54 am
Finn – the copy/paste maestro of liberal blogs!
It’s like a mouse doing an OP-Ed on a cat.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:57 am
“Calm down John McCain, one day you will get a chance to go to war with other people kids, what a war hawk.”
Really, gm? Are you really that stupid, or are you just insensitive to the FACT that John McCain served his nation by going to war and was tortured in that service?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
10:58 am
“It’s like a mouse doing an OP-Ed on a cat.”
The line of the day, Verbal Knit!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:01 am
Paul Ryan: The definitive fact check
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_ryan_the_definitive_fact_check/
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:02 am
Finn McCool: The definitive mindless liberal.
(Redundant, I know)
gm
August 30th, 2012
11:03 am
Tiberius – pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
John McCain served his nation by going to war : So that gives him the right to put thousands of young men lives in danager?
If we listen to McCain we would have been in at least 5 wars by now, what are you smoking?
Rice has the nerve to stand there take shots at the President about foreign policies ha, ha, after her GW Bush have 4500 American soldiers blood on there hands, only the right can sit there in denial””””
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:05 am
The John McCain who graduated at the back of his class? The Johnny Boy who crashed 5 planes in Vietnam? The Johnny who, upon returning home, dumped his wife for the chick with the bankroll?
“Hey, baby. You waited for me for how many years? Uh…well….guess what….”
EJ Moosa
August 30th, 2012
11:06 am
In the end it will be about the economy. And the economy is in a coma.
We have the lowest level of home ownership in 50 years, the highest levels of unemployment and underemployment, the highest levels of college graduates not finding jobs.
By November, unemployment will be once again approaching 9%.
People voted for a feel good President. We do that every few generations. And it never does really work out.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:09 am
“John McCain served his nation by going to war : So that gives him the right to put thousands of young men lives in danager?”
Actually, as a U.S. Senator, he has not only earned that right through election, but his service and knowledge compels him to advocate military action when he feels it is necessary. I happen to disagree with his views, but he has more than a right to say them – he has an obligation.
I smoke nothing. I drink little. I am perpetually high on life itself.
gm
August 30th, 2012
11:11 am
This just In, the rep are flying in the Taco bell dog, and sit him in the front to show more diverse, he would make 15 minorities out of 5,0000.
Please right wing out of touch people watch the convention next week and you will see what America really looks like, we dont have to fly in latinos from different countries, blacks who are paid my Mitt to show he has black friends””””’
td
August 30th, 2012
11:11 am
Finn McCool (The System isn’t Broken; It’s Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:01 am
Salon a “fact checker”? Thanks for the laugh. I needed one this morning.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:11 am
And just how have YOU served this nation through military service, Finn?
tiredofIT
August 30th, 2012
11:12 am
“People voted for a feel good President” — I’ll take that over a full time flip-floper and liar any day.