Reflections on Day Three of the Republican National Convention

Posted by DarthDilbert at 9/04/2008 02:16:00 PM

The speeches last night by GOPAC Chairman Michael Steele, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, and Governor Sarah Palin were magnificent. Brian Thomas was not doing his show this morning on 55KRC, so I was going from one station to another to hear other commentary on the speeches from last night. I began to laugh when I tuned to WIZF-FM. I'm not sure what broadcast Russ Parr and his lemmings heard last night, maybe it was the YouTube parody of McCain's decision to select Palin for VP. Then again, maybe they were distracted by the items up for auction in Vegas from the pedophile Michael Jackson, or the latest CD from former crack dealer and bullet magnet, 50 Cent.

His lemmings whined about the speeches by Palin and Guliani in particular. One described Palin as "rude" which qualifies her as a replacement for Greta Van Susteren on FoxNews who was equally as ignorant about the treatment the Palin family has received by the drive-by media when questioned by Laura Ingraham. They also whined about Guliani's speech complaining that it wasn't fair that 9/11 happened while he was mayor. They went on to imply that if a democRAT had been in office the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, not to mention the events on board Flight 93 would never have happened. They further used the single-page democRAT playbook (pamphlet?) saying that any description of the events surrounding 9/11 including Islamofascism and Islamic Terrorism were intended only to strike fear in the hearts of American's in order to deflect attention from the issues that the Messiah Lord Barack Hussein Obama (the most merciful) are in favor of -- such as inflating your tires.

Here are a few snippets from each of the speeches last night I enjoyed:

"John McCain has never lost faith in the power and ingenuity of the individual to create the legacy of a nation through hard work, self-sacrifice and discipline. Through his service he reaffirms to the American people his core belief that government should be limited so that it never becomes powerful enough to infringe on the rights of the individual. That taxes should be kept low so that families can keep more of their hard earned money. That the ideal of a colorblind society is worth fighting for because each man, woman, and child is an individual and not a member of some hyphenated class or group.

Some just talk about change, but John McCain believes the resiliency of the American people is the real source of the change America needs; and that means putting country first. So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's change the way we educate our kids. Let's empower those whose minds are shackled by a poor education with real choices in where they go to school.

So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's change our tax code to confiscate less of our hard earned paychecks so more and more families may actually know what it's like to save for the future. So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home. In other words, drill baby drill! And drill now! So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's make decisions about our security based on what keeps us safe and not on what's politically correct." -- GOPAC Chairman Michael Steele

"On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer, and immersed himself in Chicago machine politics. Then he ran for the state legislature - where nearly 130 times he was unable to make a decision yes or no. He simply voted "present." As Mayor of New York City, I never got a chance to vote "present." And you know, when you're President of the United States, you can't just vote "present." You must make decisions.

A few years later, he ran for the U.S. Senate. He won and has spent most of his time as a "celebrity senator." No leadership or major legislation to speak of. His rise is remarkable in its own right - it's the kind of thing that could happen only in America. But he's never run a city, never run a state, never run a business. He's never had to lead people in crisis. This is not a personal attack ... .it's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada." -- Rudy Giuliani

"Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys. Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a special love. To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

Long ago, a young farmer and haberdasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman. I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

I've noticed a pattern with our opponent. Maybe you have, too. We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers. And there is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals." -- Governor Sarah Palin

One comment that Palin made which struck home to my family was her reference to special-needs children. Both my son and daughter are special-needs children who were horribly abused by their birth parents in ways that still stagger the imagination.

Chicago Sun-Times
GOP Convention 2008