the rnc is not screwing around.

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Whoa.  The Republican National Committee is serious.  They booked an amazing line-up of speakers for the Republican National Convention last night.  Seriously, they were on fire!  I thought Fred Thompson’s speech on Tuesday was pretty great, but last night, the speakers came out swinging.  These are the speakers in the order in which they appeared:

• Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney
• Former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani
• Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle
• (Obviously, VP Candidate Sarah Palin spoke too, but she gets her own post sometime in the very near future…)

What I’d really love to do is host a little politics party and have everyone watch the speeches together.  But that option is off the table because I haven’t yet perfected the art of time travel.  Oh, and because no one would come.  And that is a good hostess’ worst nightmare.    So… I’ll settle for giving you an exhaustive list of last night’s comments that made me want to pump my fist in the air and shout affirmations at the person on the TV screen.  How’s that for compromise?

Mitt Romney
Former Governor, Massachusetts
(complete text of his speech here)

“The American people have always been the source of our nation’s strength and they always will be.  We strengthen our people and our economy when we preserve and promote opportunity. Opportunity is what lets hope become reality.  Opportunity expands when there is excellence and choice in education, when taxes are lowered, when every citizen has affordable, portable health insurance, and when constitutional freedoms are preserved.  Opportunity rises when children are raised in homes and schools that are free from pornography, promiscuity and drugs; in homes that are blessed with family values and the presence of a father and a mother.  America cannot long lead the family of nations if we fail the family here at home.

“Liberals would replace opportunity with dependency on government largesse. They grow government and raise taxes to put more people on Medicaid, to take work requirements out of welfare, and to grow the ranks of those who pay no taxes at all.  Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. It is time to stop the spread of government dependency to fight it like the poison it is.  It’s time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother.

“The right course is the one championed by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, and by John McCain today. It is to rein in government spending and to lower taxes, for taking a weed whacker to excessive regulation and mandates, for putting a stop to tort windfalls, and to stand up to the tyrannosaurus appetite of government unions.  It is to pursue every source of energy security, from new efficiencies to renewables, from clean coal to non-CO2 producing nuclear, and the immediate drilling for more oil off of our shores. And I have one more recommendation for energy conservation – let’s keep Al Gore’s private jet on the ground!

Republicans, led by John McCain and Sarah Palin, will fight to preserve the values that have preserved the nation. We will strengthen our economy and keep us from being held hostage by Putin, Chavez and Ahmadinejad.  And we will never allow America to retreat in the face of evil extremism… We inherited the greatest nation in the history of the earth.  It is our burden and privilege to preserve it, to renew its spirit so that its noble past is prologue to its glorious future.  To this we are all dedicated…

President McCain and Vice President Palin will keep America as it has always been – the hope of the world.”

~~~~~~~

Rudy Giuliani
Former Mayor, New York, NY
(complete text of his speech here)

“Every — every four years, we’re told that this presidential election is the most important in our lifetime. This year, with what’s at stake, 2008 is the most important election in our lifetime. And we’d better get it right…

“To those Americans who still feel torn in this election, I’d like to suggest one way to think about this to help make a choice in 2008.

Think about it this way. You’re hiring someone to do a job, an important job, a job that relates to the safety of yourself and your family. Imagine that you have two job applications in your hand with the name and the party affiliations blocked out.  They’re both good and patriotic men with very different life experiences that have led them to this moment of shared history. You’ve got to make this decision, and you’ve got to make it right. And you have to desire — you’ve got to decide, who am I going to hire?

On the one hand, you’ve got a man who’s dedicated his life to the service of the United States. He’s been tested time and again by crisis. He has passed every test…  As a young man, he joined the military…  He was tortured in a POW camp…  He came home a national hero. He had earned a life of peace and quiet, but he was called to public service again, running for Congress, and then the United States Senate…  His principled independence never wavered. He stood up to special interests. He fought for fiscal discipline and ethics reform and a strong national defense.

“On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer…  He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.  Then he ran… for the state legislature and he got elected.  And nearly 130 times, he couldn’t make a decision. He couldn’t figure out whether to vote “yes” or “no”… he voted “present.”… For President of the United States, it’s not good enough to be present.  You have to make a decision. A few years later he ran for the U.S. Senate.  He spent most of his time as a celebrity senator: no leadership, no legislation to really speak of…  But he’s never run a city. He’s never run a state.  He’s never run a business.  He’s never run a military unit.  He’s never had to lead people in crisis.  He is the least experienced candidate for president of the United States in at least the last 100 years.

“…the choice in this election comes down to substance over style.  John McCain has been tested; Barack Obama has not.  Tough times require strong leadership, and this is no time for on-the-job training.

“…no one can look at John McCain and say that he’s not ready to be commander-in-chief. He is. He’s ready.  And we can trust him to deal with anything, anything that nature throws our way, anything that terrorists do to us. This man has been tested over and over again, and we will be safe in his hands, and our children will be safe in his hands, and our country will be safe in the hands of John McCain. No doubt.

“[However] our opponents want to re-frame the debate.  They would have you believe that this election is about change versus more of the same, but that’s really a false choice, because there’s good change and bad change.  Because change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.

“John McCain will bring about the change that will create jobs and prosperity. Let’s talk briefly about specifics.  John McCain will lower taxes so our economy can grow.  He’ll reduce government to strengthen our dollar.  He’ll expand free trade so we can be more competitive.  And he will lead us to energy independence so we can be free of foreign oil.  And he’ll do it with an all-of-the-above approach, including nuclear power, and, yes, off-shore oil drilling  …this and a lot more is the kind of change that will create growth, jobs, and prosperity, not what they want to do, tax us more, increase the size of government, increase tariffs, hurt jobs, send jobs elsewhere.

“We need John McCain to save our economy and make sure it grows, but we need him for a more important purpose. There’s one purpose that John McCain understands, Republicans understand, that overrides everything else: John McCain will keep us on offense against terrorism at home and abroad….  John McCain can face the enemy. He can win, and he can bring victory for this country.

“Our hero, our candidate, John McCain said, “I’d rather lose an election than a war.” Why? Because that’s John McCain.

“In choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has chosen for the future…  Gov. Palin represents a new generation. She’s already one of the most successful governors in America and the most popular.  She’s got an 80 percent approval rating…  And she’s already had more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined…  She’s reduced taxes. She’s reduced government spending. She’s encouraged more energy exploration.  She’s been one of the most active governors and Alaska can be proud of having one of the best governors in the country.    This is a woman who has no fear. This is a woman who stands up for what’s right.

…we’re at our best when we are expanding freedom. We’re the party that has expanded freedom from the very beginning, from ending slavery to making certain that people have freedom here and abroad.  We’re the party that believes in giving workers the right to work.  We’re the party that believes that parents should choose where their children go to school.  And we’re the party that unapologetically believes in America’s success, a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom that inspires the world. That’s what our party is dedicated to.”

~~~~~~~

Linda Lingle
Governor, Hawaii
(complete text of her speech here)

“It is my distinct pleasure and honor to speak with you tonight about Senator McCain’s outstanding choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as our party’s Vice Presidential nominee!

“[Sarah] is a terrific individual…and an outstanding governor. Sarah is a person with proven leadership skills, and strong moral character….  She is genuine and comfortable in her own skin, truly authentic.  She will not be trying to reinvent herself during this campaign. She is who she is.  Sarah has integrity and strong values. She is smart and she is a unique combination of toughness and grace.

‘All of these qualities contribute to make Governor Palin a great leader.  In fact, she is a gifted leader. It comes naturally to her… She engenders trust in people, and she lives up to that trust!

“[As Governor of Alaska] she has cut excessive spending from the multi-billion-dollar state budget she oversees.  She has taken on the Establishment, challenged a corrupt political system, and enacted a strong ethics reform law.  She took on the sitting Republican Governor with whom she disagreed…and she won.  In the general election, she took on a former two-term, Democratic Governor. And she won. Put simply, Sarah is a leader and a winner!

“Like all governors, she is dealing with many issues that members of Congress have talked about, a lot, through the years, including health care, education, economic development, energy and the environment. But, mere words, no matter how eloquently delivered, will never replace the decisive actions of a governor that produces real results.  While Congress passes lots of laws, it is the governors who have to deal with their consequences.

“Sarah is also the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. I share that same Commander in Chief role with my fellow governors. As the governor of a tightly-knit state, I know that seeing off troops before an overseas deployment is not a perfunctory exercise, but an intense, personal experience.  These are our friends and our neighbors, our family and colleagues, people we know.

“Before serving as Governor, Sarah was the mayor of Wasilla for two-terms…again, defeating the incumbent. Some have tried to diminish this experience by pointing out that Wasilla only has a population of nearly 10,000 people. This is the size of many cities all across our country. The size where everyone knows everyone, and where as mayor you are held personally accountable for your decisions.

“I find it especially amusing that the other party says Governor Palin lacks experience when their own candidates for president and vice president have NO executive experience… ZERO! Neither Senator Obama nor Senator Biden has ever managed a multi-billion-dollar budget, or been a chief executive of any city or state of any size…or of anything for that matter.

“The other side has made the point that Alaska is a small state, but the last time I checked, it had the same number of electoral votes as Delaware. And, you can fit more than 250 states the size of Delaware within Alaska’s border.

“Sarah has broad appeal within our Party because she is a strong social conservative, an adherent to free market principals, and a fiscal hawk.  And because she has the ability to expand our numbers by reaching out to independents, young people, and women!

“His decision to choose Sarah tells us a lot about Senator John McCain. It is a clear reminder that he truly is a maverick, and that he will always do the right thing for the people of America. It underscores that Senator McCain understands what Americans have known for quite some time – Washington is broken.  And Senator McCain showed his commitment to ending politics as usual in Washington by picking an Outsider – a proven reformer, an experienced woman governor.  This choice is bold, historic and courageous…  Sarah Palin is going to be a great Vice President.”

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