GOP Day 2: Ryan Hits a Home Run!

Paul Ryan Last Night at the GOP Convention

Ryan hit a Home Run Last Night with his speech, a searing indictment of the Obama Administration’s failures.  However,  as one pundit observed, without anger but with regrets.  Ann Althouse summed up Ryan’s night when she observed, “Ryan did a brilliant job. It was much more than a fine speech and an excellent delivery.  He embodied that speech.  We saw a brilliant candidate.”

So what made this speech so brilliant?  For one, he took what is conventional wisdom and turned it on its head.  His defense of his Medicare policy was sheer brilliance and like a lawyer, he set up his offense by noting past accusations but added the actual action of Obama.  Obama “raided Medicare” to pay for Obamacare.  He put it very simply but in just a devastating fashion that was clearly understood, Obama is stealing from seniors and it will be left to Romney and Ryan to save it for present seniors and future seniors.  Obama is starting a generational war to steal from seniors what they have been promised to fund healthcare for the young; but in the process, Obama is not just stealing from seniors; he is destroying the safety net for all.

There were great lines throughout the speech but this one caught my ear, “College graduates should not have to spend their twenties in their childhood bedrooms, looking up at their fading Obama posters and wondering when they will be able to get going in life.”  That was not just a shattering comment but a reminder of our celebrity President.  How can we forget the Hope and change posters that were the rage along with the Obama girl, forever reminding us of an exciting future with Mr. Cool?  Alas, the Obama girl is no longer, and as Ryan noted, those posters have faded just like the opportunity and hope of our youths –  promises made, promises broken, dreams crushed.

His take on the Obama campaign included, “With all their attack ads, the President is just throwing away money.  And he’s pretty experienced at that…I have never seen opponents so silent about their record and so desperate to keep their power.  They’ve run out of ideas.  Their moment came and went.  Fear and division is all they’ve got left.”  A knife stuck in the heart of Obama and Biden, as we see an Administration that no longer defends what it has done and doesn’t to talk of what it will do.

Governor Martinez of New Mexico – Another of the non-white GOP

If Democrats are talking about the Republicans’ war on women, Ryan and the Republicans this evening had one theme, the Democratic war on success.  Ryan noted, “Behind every small business, there’s a story worth knowing.  All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salon, hardware stores — these didn’t come out of nowhere.  A lot of heart goes into each one.  And if small business people say they made it on their own, all they are saying is that nobody else worked 7 days a week in their place, nobody showed up in their place to open the door at 5 in the morning, nobody did their thinking and worrying and sweating for them.  After all that work and in a bad economy, it sure doesn’t help to hear from their President that government gets the credit.  What they deserve to hear is the truth:  Yes, you did build that!”  This summed up the case against Obama brilliantly and before that, Ryan talked of his own mother who went back to school to acquire the skills to start her own business and how proud he was of her.  Ryan made a connection to Main Street and tonight the GOP made the case that it is the Party of Middle America, the shop keepers, the entrepreneurs and it is Obama who represent the crony capitalists who go to Washington with their hands out.

Speaking of restoring the American dream, New Mexico Susana Martinez led Ann Althouse to comment, “We may be looking at the first woman President of the United States.”  Martinez talked of family values, striving for success and yes, having a 357 magnum on her first job at a security company owned by her parents.  The former prosecutor showed not just passion but a toughness that exuded confidence of a true leader.  (I must admit, I did not check to see if MSNBC broadcast her speech since they have refused to show the speeches of every Republican minority speakers up to his point.)

Tonight belongs to Mitt Romney.  Forget the polls.  Underneath the polls is a rumble and understanding that something is wrong with America.  To paraphrase Buffalo Springfield, “There is something happening here and what it is isn’t exactly clear.”  What Romney has to do is to defend who he is and the direction he is ready to lead us.  If he can be as clear as his running mate, we will be on our way to a repudiation of the Obama’s era.

Tags: current-events, GOP, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Republican convention

This entry was posted on August 30, 2012 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Elections, GOP, Republican. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.