First Official Night Speakers Knock It Out Of The Park
On Tuesday night, the speakers at the GOP National Convention, namely former Sen. Fred Thompson and Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, not only reminded America of the compelling story of Sen. John McCain, but also reminded America that Barack Obama is simply not ready to lead. To help in the matter, Obama's own comments this week show that he will grasp at any straw in order to make himself look more "presidential," and that's the key: If you have to try to build a case for experience, you really don't have any.
Fellow Loft writer Chuck Muth has put together an excellent recap of Tuesday's speeches, and I encourage you to read it.
++ Night One of the GOP Convention
Fred Thompson's speech was simply terrific. After listening to only a few minutes of it, I remembered why this man had sparked a conservative following who encouraged him to run for president. Had the Fred Thompson of Tuesday night been the Fred Thompson who campaigned for president, he might have been the guy to take on Barack Obama.
For the full text of the speeches, please look at these pages on GOPUSA:
++ Text of President Bush's remarks to GOP convention
++ Text of prepared remarks by Sen. Fred Thompson
++ Text of prepared remarks by Sen. Lieberman
Thompson's primary role in his speech was to tell the McCain story. What a perfect job for Thompson. Although those of us who follow politics know about McCain's life, Thompson's retelling was so engaging. You truly felt you were hearing the horrors of McCain's POW years for the first time. And remember, all these speeches are geared for the audience at home, and for many of them, the story is new.
Throughout the speech, Thompson also drew sharp contrasts between McCain and Obama, and his delivery was razor sharp. Check out the highlights:
* Now, being a POW certainly doesn't qualify anyone to be president.
But it does reveal character.* It's pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, "Who is this man?" and "Can we trust this man with the presidency?"
* At a point when the war in Iraq was going badly and the public lost confidence, John stood up and called for more troops. And now we are winning.
* To deal with these challenges the Democrats present a history making nominee for president. History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president. Apparently they believe that he would match up well with the history making, Democrat controlled Congress. History making because it's the least accomplished and most unpopular Congress in our nation's history.
* And we need a president who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.
Joe Lieberman then took the stage and continued the McCain/Obama contrast. I still can't imagine what Democrats must be thinking when their vice presidential nominee from eight years ago is now speaking at the GOP convention and giving a ringing endorsement of the Republican presidential candidate.
The theme of Lieberman's speech can be summed up by one of his lines, "I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party." He was clearly there to appeal to Independents and Democrats who might be thinking that Obama is just too liberal and too inexperienced. Here are some highlights:
* Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics. But only one of them has actually done it. Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people.
* Eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times.
* In the Senate he (Obama) has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.
* So tonight, I ask you whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat or a Clinton Democrat, or just a Democrat: This year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to.
As Karl Rove noted on FOX news after the speeches, the only thing that could have been better would have been to put Joe Lieberman first in the line-up. He was there to attract the undecideds who were watching on television. I just hope people were watching.
And finally, the Democrats' golden boy, Barack Obama, showed once again this week that he is not ready for the presidency. In trying to make himself appear to have experience, he's now claiming that "running for president" gives him experience to be president. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. That would basically qualify anyone who runs for president to have the necessary experience.
He was trying to draw contrast between himself and GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Gov. Sarah Palin. As noted on FOX News, in an interview Obama said:
"Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We've got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years," Obama said.
This is ridiculous on many levels. First, for Obama, who's running for president, to try to make himself look better by going after Palin, who's running for vice president, shows that Obama can't even keep his eye on the target. His opponent is McCain, and voters will be voting for either McCain or Obama.
Second, Obama tries to compare his operation to Gov. Palin's by using budget and personnel numbers when she was MAYOR. The Obama campaign seems to forget that she is governor of Alaska. As McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds notes, "It is a testament to Barack Obama's inexperience and failing qualifications that he would stoop to passing off his candidacy as comparable to Governor Sarah Palin's executive experience managing a budget of over $10 billion and more than 24,000 employees."
Obama is too liberal and too inexperienced to be president. Hopefully America will see the light. There is too much at stake.
Posted by Bobby Eberle
September 3, 2008 at 6:43 am
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