REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION: Last Night's Speeches

Compared to Tuesday, the convention center was significantly more packed as folks clearly wanted to see how Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would do in her national debut as a speaker. I was looking forward to the speeches by Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina because they are successful businesswomen, and considered moderate Republicans or at least not conservative Republicans. However, they were among the dullest speakers on the lineup. Disappointing.

When former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele came on stage, one delegate section repeatedly chanted “Michael” and other sections “Steele”, repeatedly for the GOPAC chairman. The line that I remember from Mr. Steele’s speech was in reference to promoting domestic oil production: “Drill, baby, drill. Drill now”. The sight and sound of this very whitebread crowd chanting “drill, baby, drill” in response was intriguing and had to be seen live. I wonder if Mr. Steele put that in his script, or was that put in there for him?

Mitt Romney took the stage, also to very rousing applause. He is a moderate-conservative like Sen. McCain – with even more flip-flopped positions – so I don’t understand why conservatives love him but are wary of Sen. McCain. Mr. Romney went off about Eastern elites (more specifically, the Washington Post and the New York Times). I thought: “Ain’t he an Eastern elite? After all, he is a former governor of Massachusetts." Another thing that he said jumped out at me. Mr. Romney said, “like you, there has not been a time when I was not proud of my country.” While patriotism is great, I thought, never? Mr. Romney was proud of Jim Crow? His most quotable line was “it’s time for the party of Big Ideas, not the party of Big Brother.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee argued that the mainstream media has helped unify the GOP. "The reporting of the past few days has proven tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert," he said, referencing the baby mama drama surrounding the 17-year-old daughter of Gov. Palin. That was a clearly scripted move, but I did chuckle on that one. He said that he was tired of hearing about Gov. Palin’s supposed inexperience. “She got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, than Joe Biden got running for president”, which got raucous applause.

Former New York City Rudy Giuliani took the stage, to very rousing applause. He delivered red meat to the crowd. He was in pitbull mode talking about Sen. Obama, and the convention crowd loved his speech. Mr. Giuliani called Sen. Obama a "celebrity Senator" with no record of leadership or key legislation whose rapid ascendance "could've only happened in America" (with the convention floor chanting "zero, zero"), said "nearly 130 times he was unable to make a decision yes or no. He simply voted 'present' in reference to Sen. Obama's state legislature experience. He also argued that the Democrats don't want to talk about Islamic terrorism because they're in denial. He went after Sen. Obama's key campaign themes: “Change is not destination, just like hope is not strategy”. He focused on Sen. Obama's flip-flops on public financing, wireless tapping, and the question of an undivided Jerusalem. Giuliani defended Gov. Palin against sexist attacks and touted her as a reform agent with more governing experience than Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden combined. While true, this was an intellectually dishomest claim because Gov. Palin also has more governing experience than running mate Sen. McCain.

Gov. Sarah Palin took the stage to a standing ovation and raucous applause for extended time. There were very few open seats (except for the empty section behind the stage where no one sits) when she came to the podium. As I've been saying, the GOP base loves her on the ticket. There's something about her voice that annoys me somewhat, but I can't quite figure out what it is. It sounds squeaky or something. Anyway, Gov. Palin went after Sen. Obama, and touted her bid for the vice presidency as walking through doors of opportunity in a clear play to Sen. Hillary Clinton's female supporters. In her dig at Obama, Gov. Palin said, “I guess a mayor of a small town is like a community organizer….except that you have actual responsibilities.” She brought up the bitter clingers drama with Sen. Obama some months back. She claimed that Sen. Obama has written two books, “but not one major law or piece of legislation. This is a man who can talk about wars, but never use the word victory….except when it’s about his campaign.” In all, she didn't hold any punches regarding Sen. Obama.

I expected Gov. Palin to address the situation surrounding her daughter, if not directly than at least significantly more indirectly that she did. She didn't do zip, but she's gonna have to address that head on though. Was it me, of did Bristol Palin's boyfriend's body language suggest that he didn't want to be there? I also noticed that there no fancy Palin signs, like we saw during Sen. Biden’s speech last week. This must be some purposeful tactic to look more down-home compared to the glitzy Democratic National Convention.

After Gov. Palin’s speech, Sen. John McCain appeared to very rousing applause and appeared on stage with the Palin family.