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
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:13 am
“Please right wing out of touch people watch the convention next week and you will see what America really looks like”
A bunch of whiny, unhappy people living off the government dole . . .?
JamVet
August 30th, 2012
11:14 am
The profligate spender Ryan is the poster boy for the Party of No Personal Responsibility.
Paul Ryan is not the solution to our problems. Paul Ryan is the problem. ~Ronnie “It Ain’t Ever my Fault” Reagan
@@
August 30th, 2012
11:15 am
Finn:
Have you seen the guidelines on how to dispose of those squiggly bulgs? Do you honestly think people are taking care to dispose of them properly? I don’t.
I can just see it now…the impending health scare.
SOIL AND WATER CONTAMINATED BY MERCURY IN CFLs!!!!!!
@@
August 30th, 2012
11:16 am
Oops!
bulbs
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:17 am
So, tiredofIT would rather vote for an unsuccessful community organizer whose only achievement in life is to get himself elected to successively higher offices, rather than someone who has successfully turned around businesses, saved a Winter Olympics, successfully served as a Republican governor in a heavily Democrat state, and has succeeded in virtually everything he has touched in life.
This is why the term “mindless liberal” is truly redundant.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:17 am
I smoke nothing. I drink little.
but I pop pills like they are going outta style!
EJ Moosa
August 30th, 2012
11:18 am
“People voted for a feel good President” — I’ll take that over a full time flip-floper and liar any day.”
Maybe you would….but most people are not feeling good enough about their futures to make the same mistake twice.
Verbal Kint
August 30th, 2012
11:18 am
Over/Under on Bush being blamed next week in Charlotte? I’ll say 1,000 times.
Obama said himself if he could not fix the economy in his first term, then it would be his last.
Well, guess what?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:22 am
And just how have YOU served this nation through military service, Finn?
Had I been of age during a war with a draft, I would have gladly served.
…unlike Mitt, Cheney….there’s a long list here…Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich
Junior Samples
August 30th, 2012
11:22 am
“was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”
-Sally Kohn, Fox News
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:23 am
what this election will come down to is that people just don’t like Mitt. Why take one of the people (bankers) who got us in this mess and make them the leader?
How Bat$&it crazy do we look?
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:26 am
Over/Under on Bush being blamed next week in Charlotte? I’ll say 1,000 times.
Maybe more. Alot more.
People have short memories but we aren’t going back to the Bush policies.
That exactly what Romney will do.
Jefferson
August 30th, 2012
11:32 am
When/If the GOP loses, expect them to kick in the auto budget cuts in spite.
If they win, the blame game goes 180.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:34 am
The profligate spender Ryan is the poster boy for the Party of No Personal Responsibility.
This is what the Republicans do.
And their supporters are dumb enough to fall for it every time.
They will talk and talk about the deficit. Out of control spending.
Then when they get into office they will spend like crazy. Within a year they will be dropping bombs on somebody and that gets expensive too.
But the war will give them an out with their hillbilly base. They will wrap themselves in the flag.
All of a sudden deficits wont matter.
yuzeyurbrane
August 30th, 2012
11:37 am
So far, I am not awe struck by either the message or the messengers. Bring it on.
Joe The Plumber Too
August 30th, 2012
11:44 am
gm@ 9:19am wrote: “Rice has no more connection to the black community then Paul Ryan, every 4 years we have to watch the rep party bring some black person and parade them around on stage so they can say we have one who has made it dispite the abuse and terror we have inflicted on them.”
For some reason gm and gotnolife and little debbie seem to think they speak for the black communities, when in reality they are just wannabe racebaiters. Well, the black communities they live in must be a helluva lot different than the one I live in.Maybe in theirs, the checks arrive on the first, ebt cards are charged up and raises in assistance are given with every new baby. It is understandable that they want this fool currently residing in the White House to be re-elected. In my community, people like Condi Rice, Allen West, Herman Cain and even Barry Obama are respected because they rose above the expectations of simple minded Blacks and bigots of all colors and made someone of themselves. Then again, in my community, people get up and go to work, pay their bills and don’t rely on handouts to get by, their votes are not purchased by promises of being taken care of. That is how Blacks are still controlled by the politicians. People like jesse jackson, al sharpton, cynthia mckinney are not respected by the people in my community because they made their names and riches on the shoulders of those they claimed to be fighting for. Racebaiters know that they have to keep the color of a persons skin, front and center, otherwise they might have to get a real job and be responsible for themselves.
EJ Moosa
August 30th, 2012
11:44 am
“what this election will come down to is that people just don’t like Mitt.”
Dream on. People are not going to vote for a weaker economic outcome just because they dislike someone.
Voting for someone that they liked has not been good for them economically. Liking someone does not get you a job or put food on the table.
@@
August 30th, 2012
11:45 am
Cheesy:
Did you witness the tepid response to McCain’s call for intervention in cases where brutal dictators rule?
’twas a small smattering of applause. What liberals like to call a quiet golf clap.
JamVet
August 30th, 2012
11:45 am
If by “fix the economy”, BHO meant making sure it didn’t do the George “this sucker may go down” Bush then yes, I suppose one could say that he was successful in stemming the hemorrhaging from that Bush orchestrated meltdown.
Did he do enough to reign in the banksters and other Wall Street/corporate criminals?
Of course not!
He did EXACTLY what you soft on crime Republicans wanted. He preferred to “look forward”. Any leader with moral courage would have empaneled grand juries to investigate the massive amount of criminal activity that damn near sent this republic over the cliff.
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government to trial and bid defiance to the laws of our country. ~Thomas Jefferson
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:47 am
Dream on. People are not going to vote for a weaker economic outcome just because they dislike someone.
No they wont. But Romney is the weaker economic outcome.
He wants to go right back to what got us in the mess. W’s’ policies.
People wont vote for that no.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 30th, 2012
11:48 am
People are not going to vote for a weaker economic
Well, since America is better off now than it was the last time a Con handed over the keys, I’d say that won’t really play into it.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:48 am
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/us-usa-campaign-economy-bush-idUSBRE85D0XI20120614
Pretty telling that after 4 years many more Americans blame Bush for the economic mess than Obama.
And thats why Obama will win easily.
JamVet
August 30th, 2012
11:49 am
Joe, excellent job! You sir a re a true soldier in the army of the Lily White Party!
And you wonder why virtually all of the minorities in this country – including my Hebrew tribe – do NOT trust you Republicans at all?
Our BS detectors are highly sensitive and accurate…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:50 am
“Had I been of age during a war with a draft, I would have gladly served.”
Some people serve without being forced to, Finn.
Thanks for thinking of yourself and not your country.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:51 am
And btw, Romney did enter the draft. Just didn’t get picked.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:51 am
Did you witness the tepid response to McCain’s call for intervention in cases where brutal dictators rule?
Too bad they dont make policy.
The chickenhawks in the back room do.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:53 am
And btw, Romney did enter the draft. Just didn’t get picked.
Ummm he got 4 deferments.
Mitt Romney Got 4 Draft Deferments During Vietnam War
Mitt Romney was caught in a decades-long lie about his active draft avoidance during the Vietnam War.
Selective Service records show that Mitt Romney had four draft deferments (between academic deferments and his work with the Mormon church). That’s one less deferment than Dick Cheney got.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:54 am
The LAST thing a traitor to the concept of American individualism and freedom should be doing is quoting Thomas Jefferson.
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
11:56 am
They included college deferments and a 31-month stretch as a “minister of religion” in France, a classification for Mormon missionaries that the church at the time feared was being overused.
He only stopped with the deferments when the war was winding down and he knew it was safe.
Riding down the road
August 30th, 2012
11:56 am
How does one enter the draft?
Does that mean after his two deferments he decided to lets everything take its course and he just so happened to not be selected?
I am not knocking him because he could have been selected and many on both sides of the aisle opted to use influence to evade going to Vietnam. But let’s be honest and forthright here, if the man wanted to join one of the branches of the military no one was stopping him.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
11:56 am
Cheesy, is English your first language?
Because I never stated Romney didn’t get deferments.
I said he registered with the draft. Which he did. Following the deferments.
Pay attention to the little nuances of the English language every now and again, willya?
Joe The Plumber Too
August 30th, 2012
11:58 am
jammy, please grow up. It always comes down to you trolls pulling out the race crap. Because I tell the truth of my community, I am of “the lily white party”. That would come as a complete shock to everyone from my mother, wife, children, neighbors and employees. While I may not be your version of black enough, I can assure you little man, I am a dark mocha. I pray for minds as weak as yours little fellow that have no recourse but to use code words like lily white, uncle tom among others because people are more complicated than tiny brains such as your can understand.
Verbal Kint
August 30th, 2012
12:00 pm
“Well, since America is better off now than it was the last time a Con handed over the keys, I’d say that won’t really play into it.”
This is an astounding statement. Quickly, what was the unemployment rate when Obama took office? What was Obama’s PROMISE on the unemployment rate if the stimulus package was passed?
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
12:00 pm
I said he registered with the draft. Which he did. Following the deferments.
Following the 4 deferments. And when the coast was clear.
Ok gotcha.
Riding down the road
August 30th, 2012
12:00 pm
Outside of working to obtain another deferment, what legal options did he have not to register?
Consciousness objector?
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
August 30th, 2012
12:01 pm
HDB: 3) Ryan then noted that Obama, while campaigning for president, promised that a GM plant in Wisconsin would not shut down. Except Obama didn’t promise that…and the plant closed in December 2008 — while George W. Bush was president.
———-
False. The plant stopped making cars and switched to making SUVs in December 2008. It was then closed in 2009 during the Obozo regime.
Dang, your blind acceptance of whatever your stoogemasters feed you has made you look really ignorant once again!
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
12:02 pm
Quickly, what was the unemployment rate when Obama took office?
8 percent and rising like a rocket. Eventually went all the way up to 10
Its back down to 8 because of Obama. If Bush or McCain had been in office.
No telling how high it would have climbed.
Good Point Verbal.
@@
August 30th, 2012
12:02 pm
O.K., I’ve been reluctant to share a personal experience but here goes.
I find myself caught in the middle of a neighborhood quarrel. Both staunch Democrats, one white, one black. The white guy is definitely racist. The black neighbor is seeking revenge. It all centers around a utility shed.
Anyhoo, my advice to both is enjoy your private property rights. Don’t encroach on your neighbors. Put up a 6 ft privacy fence if you must.
If there’s any amusement to be found, my black Tea Party neighbor is fully engaged…playing both sides against each other. When I admonish him for fueling the fire, he responds with “Why should I care? They’re both democrats, their own worst enemies. Let ‘em succeed in destroying each other. That’s two less for me to worry about.”
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
August 30th, 2012
12:03 pm
Where is Obozo’s registration with Selective Service? We need to see it. Why is it being hidden?
I demand to see Cheesy Grits Birth Certificate- Long Form Please
August 30th, 2012
12:04 pm
What was Obama’s PROMISE on the unemployment rate if the stimulus package was passed?
I dont think even he realized how bad Bush had ruined our Economy.
Its so cute you guys act like everything was fine when Obama took over.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
August 30th, 2012
12:06 pm
So Obozo’s unemployment rate has been over 8% for almost four years? That’s the worst record on jobs since the Depression.
Thanks for the update, Cheesy.
They BOTH suck
August 30th, 2012
12:06 pm
@@
Regardless of their politics or your politics as long as they are not encroaching on your rights, let them be babies all they want.
Joe The Plumber Too
August 30th, 2012
12:06 pm
@@, that is too funny, I must admit my yardsign sticks out like sore thumb among all the obama signs in my neighborhood but last election and this one it hasn’t been stolen or trashed. I think my neighbors and I know that politics are fleeting but friendships last for decades. Hopefully, your neighbors will come to the same conclussion.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
August 30th, 2012
12:10 pm
374,000 more new jobless claims this week. Last week’s number revised up… Again.
JamVet
August 30th, 2012
12:13 pm
The LAST thing a traitor to the concept of American individualism and freedom should be doing is quoting Thomas Jefferson.
Oh noes!
Tibby egregiously and wantonly violates Kyle’s Rule Number One!
I think we should all start an email campaign to Kyle to have him permantently red carded for his continued history of unprovoked personal insults!! The very thing that has gotten him in SO much previous trouble on various forums.
LOL!
(Or maybe I’ll just sue him for slander…)
In the Middle
August 30th, 2012
12:13 pm
False. The plant stopped making cars and switched to making SUVs in December 2008. It was then closed in 2009 during the Obozo regime.
Dang, your blind acceptance of whatever your stoogemasters feed you has made you look really ignorant once again!
========================================================================
Lil B,
Sorry, but not completely how it happened. The plant closed in December 2008 and a few dozen skilled workers remained to complete the ISUZU orders that were already in place. Once those were completed in April 2009, they were decommissioned.
Get Real
August 30th, 2012
12:13 pm
Looks like the hard core libbies on this blog are getting a bit anxious. It really does not matter, as no amount of logic or rational discussion will change their views. The target audience all along has been the independents and based on initial reports the republican speakers have done rather well…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
12:16 pm
Most of America knew how bad things were four years ago.
Why is it Obama gets a pass from you libs who ignore his ignorance of the obvious?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 30th, 2012
12:17 pm
And don’t worry, AmVet, your violation of the rules from yesterday has been reported.
JamVet
August 30th, 2012
12:17 pm
It really does not matter, as no amount of logic or rational discussion will change their views.
And that is an example of said logic and rational discussion?
Too funny…