REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION NIGHT 3
Tonight was night three of the Republican National Convention. There were 4 major speeches tonight, but let's be honest....It was Gov. Sarah Palin's night!
Mitt Romney kicked off the night with his speech. He made a lot of great points, but his delivery was a bit off. The quotes from his speech that stuck out to me were, "The American people have always been the source of our nation's strength and they always will be" and "It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother." He was serving up the so-called "red meat" (I hate that term) but seemed to be trying too hard to deliver a good speech.
Next up was Mike Huckabee. He delivered his speech with his usual casualness and humor. Some of the quotes from his speech that stuck out to me were, "Barack Obama's excellent adventure to Europe took his campaign for change to hundreds of thousands of people who don't even vote or pay taxes here" and "I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich, but because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me." But I thought the best part of his speech was his story about a teacher's lesson to her students. The story went as follows:
On the first day of school in 2005, Martha Cothren, a teacher at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, was determined that her students would not take their education or their privilege as Americans for granted. With the principal's permission, she removed all the desks from her classroom. The students entered the empty room and asked, "Mrs. Cothren, where are our desks?"
"You get a desk when you tell me how you earn it," she replied.
"Making good grades?" asked one student.
"I guess we have to behave," offered another.
"You WILL behave in my class," Mrs. Cothren retorted, "but that won't get you a desk either."
No one in first period guessed right. Same for second period.
By lunch, the buzz was all over campus... Mrs. Cothren had flipped out ....wouldn't let her students have a desk. Kids had used their cell phones and called their parents.
By early afternoon, all 4 of the local network TV affiliates had camera crews at the school to report on the teacher who wouldn't let her students have a desk unless they could tell her how they earned it. By the final period, no one had guessed correctly.
As the students filed in, Martha Cothren said, "Well, I didn't think you would figure it out, so I'll have to tell you."
Martha opened the door of her classroom. In walked 27 veterans, some wearing uniforms from years gone by, but each one carrying a school desk.
As they carefully and quietly arranged the desks in neat rows, Martha said, "You don't have to earn your desks...these guys already did. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have. No one charged you for your desk. But it wasn't really free. These guys bought it for you. And I hope you never forget it."
Rudy Giuliani was next giving the keynote speech. It was full of humor and seriousness as well. He spoke of the contrast between John McCain's record and ability to make decisions and the inablity of Barack Obama to do the same. He took jabs at Harry Reid as well saying, "The Democratic leader in the Senate said so: "America has lost. Well, if America lost, who won? Al Qaida? Bin Laden? In the single biggest policy decision of this election, John McCain got it right and Barack Obama got it wrong." He spoke of Obama's blunders when the events of Russia vs. Georgia were erupting. He made clear that Obama is not the guy you want in the White House taking that 3:00 a.m. call. He joked that even Hillary was right this one time. He then sang the praises of Gov. Sarah Palin. He scolded the left and the media for questioning whether or not she could be a take care of her family and run for vice-president...rightly pointing out that when has a man ever been asked that question?
Immediately follwing Giuliani, Gov. Sarah Palin took to the stage. CAN YOU SAY HOME RUN? Nevermind homerun! GRANDSLAM!!! She hit it out of the park with her speech tonight. She showed her tender side pledging that she would be a friend to those families of children with special needs. She showcased her experience as mayor and especially as governor. She recounted the story of how when she became governor, she thought that the luxurious private jet a former administration had bought for use by the governor was wasteful spending. So she sold it on Ebay and the state actually made a profit! She got rid of the personal chef for the governor as another wasteful expenditure, joking that maybe her kids didn't like that so much. She told of her fight against corruption including in her own party and she came out victorious. She took on the good ol' boy network that was entrenched in the area, even going up against some of the corporations that were wrong. She showed she could take on the opponent delivering some poignant jabs at the Democrat candidates. One example, "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." Another quote was:
"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? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
She was charming and funny and a pleasure to listen to. She was humble. Her timing was perfect. This was the first time she had ever given a speech of this magnitude and to this many people and she remained calm cool and collected.
The response of those in attendence and I suspect, based on my own response, of those at home proves that this a woman who is ready for this job. We are not only confident of that, but excited that she is there. She is the future and the future is bright. Conservatism is back in the Republican Party.
