REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION NIGHT 2
After the first night of the Republican National Convention was more or less canceled due to Hurricane Gustav, the Republicans kicked off their convention tonight in St. Paul, MN.
I missed most of the opening speeches because my son had hockey practice (I'll try to catch them on replay or online) but I did manage to watch the 3 major speeches. The first speech I saw came from President George W. Bush. He gave his speech from the White House via satellite. His speech was adequate. I'm not going to pretend it was overly inspiring, but he reminded of us of the world we live in today and why this election is so important.
Next up was Fred Thompson. HE rocked the house. His speech was great. His speech was inspiring and even humorous at times. What was going through my head as he was speaking was, "What a difference between his speech and the speeches of all the Democrats last week." Fred's speech was enthusiastic about life in America. He spoke of how great it is and what an honor it was to be an American. This was in stark contrast to the Democrat speeches that all basically revolved around their idea that America sucks. It was refreshing to hear an uplifting speech after being bombarded by the negativity coming form the DNC. One of the interesting things is that his most cheered lines came when he mentioned Gov. Sarah Palin. She is definitely a breath of fresh air into this campaign and truthfully, the main reason many conservatives are at least a little jazzed about this election now.
The last major speech of the night came from Sen. Joe Lieberman. It was big news that Lieberman was there and speaking on the stage because just 8 short years ago, he was the Vice Presidential candidate of the Democrat Party. I understand why he was chosen to speak. It was clearly to try and draw in the Democrats and Independents who know that elected Barack Obama would be a big mistake. It was a speech designed to tell Democrats, "Hey, it's o.k. to vote for a Republican. I'm a Democrat and I am voting for him." To that point, maybe it was effective. To me, as a conservative though, I was a little put off by his speech. It reminded me of so many of the reasons I was weary of McCain being the Republican nominee. Sen. Lieberman spoke of all the ways Sen. McCain fought against the Republicans and for so many of the bills that I disagree with him on. To a Democrat, that is certainly a good thing. To a conservative, it wasn't such a good thing. He managed to make a few good points, but overall, I could have done without Lieberman speaking. I ws curious to hear what the pundits would say afterward. Most of them hailed this speech. I don't get it. It really did nothing for me.
Tomorrow night is a HUGE night. Gov. Sarah Palin, the Vice Presidential nominee, will make her speech. That is the speech I am looking forward to!
