Official Republican National Convention 2012 Discussion Thread

[J. J.]

I just watched the Romney and Christie speeches.  Ann was good, but Christie did something great, he was forward looking.  If Mittens can articulate a forward looking vision, he succeeds.  

[J. J.]

I didn't bother watching last night's stuff. However, I find it amusing that the consensus on this board seems to be that Christie did a great job and that Ann Romney was bad and/or nothing special.

Why? Because the consensus pretty much everywhere else is the exact opposite.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80362.html?hp=t1_3
http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/29/about-last-night-chris-christie-on-a-no-red-meat-diet/
http://riehlworldview.com/2012/08/chris-wallace-calls-chris-christies-speech-off-key-and-self-promoting.html

I think everyone here agrees he did a good job, however, it is laughable when some call it one of the greatest speeches in modern political history. It wasn't even close to that,

It was not the best every, but it sets up Romney and Ryan to be forward looking.

[J. J.]

Huckabee might have some crazy views but he's a great speaker.

Agreed.  He's making a play for any Evangelicals that are wavering about a Mormon.  Not to mention Bono fans.  

It thought both Portman and Pawlenty did well in the red meat department.  They are revving up the crowd.

[J. J.]

Both Christie and Rice are both referencing the future, and doing it well.  I suspect Romney will outline a some sort of vision for the future type of thing.

[J. J.]

Somebody yelled "U.S.A.!" near the end of Martinez's speech when she gave some lines in Spanish!

They are yelling "USA" because she so exemplifies America.

[J. J.]

Ryan is hitting all the right notes exposing the horrible truth about the Obama mismanagement of the economy and healthcare.

Financial crisis to job crisis.

Housing crisis to housing crisis not corrected.

Triple A credit rating which still exists.

An administration adrift on yesterday's wind.

These past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House.  

What is missing is leadership in the White House.

Perfect, absolutely perfect.

Only problem is that this not new information.  Everybody has heard this before, especially people involved enough to watch the GOP Convention.

Paul "Ideas" Ryan hasn't said a single idea the Romney/Ryan administration would do.

Spending at no more than 20% of GDP.  Don't expect charts and graphs at this point.  

Ryan is knocking it out of the park.

He cited a GM plant that closed in 2008, under Bush. He's been called out on it before.

Closed in 2009.

[J. J.]

I really dont like the 'our rights come from nature and god and not from government'....not only is it insulting to the non-religious, it is clearly not accurate. Our rights come from the constitution, the founding document of the government

Jefferson, a Democrat, does not agree.  

[J. J.]

He cited a GM plant that closed in 2008, under Bush. He's been called out on it before.

Did Obama really promise it would be open for another 100 years if he was elected? If so, I think it is a legitimate critique not of "Obama being responsible for causing it", but instead "Obama failing to meet his promises to turn the situation around. Which does sum up the GOP argument concerning Obama's economic record.

I mean, he spoke those words in February 2008. The most likely explanation is that he didn't realize how bad things were going to get a year later. "The situation" wasn't fully known at the time. It's basically criticizing him for failing to predict how badly things would get in Bush's final year.

Yes, but 100 years referring to a specific plant? That is just asking for trouble based on the previous decades' experience, alone. 

Wiki says it closed, finally, in June of 2009, and the decision was made in December 2008.  Of course the plant still sits idle.  Well, if a week is an eternity in politics, Obama was right.

[J. J.]

The entire Republican convention so far just screams desperation.

Well, they are representative of America then.

[J. J.]

I really dont like the 'our rights come from nature and god and not from government'....not only is it insulting to the non-religious, it is clearly not accurate. Our rights come from the constitution, the founding document of the government

Jefferson, a Democrat, does not agree.  

Jefferson was a Republican.

Ah, he's considered the founder of the Democratic Party, to the point that the Democratic fundraising dinners are called Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinners.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson-Jackson_Day

[J. J.]

[

But in any case Jefferson called himself a Republican.

Actually, I don't think he ever did.  The Party was called Democratic-Republicans.

In some cases, both Jackson and Jefferson had instances of a strong federal government, the nullification crisis and McCulloch v. Maryland, respectively.

[J. J.]

The GOP of today is closer to the Democratic-Republican party that Jefferson was part of. Why don't the Dems have Wilson-Roosevelt dinners and  the GOP can have Coolidge and Reagan day dinners.

I don't consider Abe a Republican. He was the National Union Party

In the 1860 election, Lincoln was a Republican.

[J. J.]

1864 he was national union. Thus we're both right.

Agreed, which is why I cited the date.  The Party temporarily became the National Union. 

[J. J.]

As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. Governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.

At least Romney's pandering to women by saying things he's done, rather than Obama's pandering to women by saying things the other side would do.

And, honestly, 'pandering' is just 'campaigning' with a negative connotation.

Romney's is pandering on stuff that is irrelevant to women.

No one cares if you hired women in your businesses or put women in positions in your admin, since Obama has done that as well.

Women like to have a paycheck just as much as men.

[J. J.]

People are clapping at all the Mormon things. Even if Romney doesn't win, this is a huge step forward for Mormons everywhere.

They sure don't look or sound like a cult. 

[J. J.]

Well see at least a slight bounce from this.

Romney comes off as a nice guy, and modest.

Ryan is the boy next door.  

Obama is, at best, your sociology professor.

Biden is you crazy step uncle.

[J. J.]

Very humanizing.  He will be more likable.

I think he needed to be more visionary.

The problem for Obama is, he has a record.