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Subscribe to RSSSusan Page declares: “It is Paul Ryan's party now.” He “signaled the emergence of a more conservative, more combative generation of leaders who are reshaping the Republican Party.”
Ron Brownstein: “Paul Ryan’s forceful but prosaic acceptance speech on Wednesday continued one of the campaign’s most surprising strategic twists: the Republican effort to take the offensive on Medicare. Although polls show that Ryan’s proposal to transform Medicare into a premium-support, or voucher, system still faces enormous public skepticism, he aggressively insisted that President Obama’s health care plan represents the real threat to the giant program for the elderly.”
Molly Ball: “At the Republican convention Wednesday night, there was indeed a lofty, high-minded speech, one that managed to forcefully articulate a conservative world view without cheap partisan attacks or facts stretched to the breaking point. But it wasn't Ryan's -- it was delivered by Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state. Rice's address had a sophistication, ease, and grace almost never found in modern political speeches. It was a speechwriter's speech, the kind you could imagine reading in a history book. She spoke with a diplomat's formality and the teleprompter turned off, glancing only occasionally at her notes on the podium.”
National Journal fact-checks some of the GOP speakers yesterday.
“Tuning in to the Republican National Convention this week, viewers could be forgiven for thinking they had switched on the Democratic convention of yesteryear, what with all the up-and-coming women and minority politicians taking the stage,” National Journal writes. “It’s a contrast with Democrats, who will trot out a bunch of timeworn white guys next week in Charlotte to help make the party’s case to the nation.”
Let’s be fair, though: The Democrats’ keynote speaker is Hispanic and the president of the United States is black.
Leave a Comment:
Let's be even more fair in response to the National Journal article:
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (African-American), Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (African-American) are all scheduled to speak along with Sandra Fluke, Elizabeth Warren, and Cecile Richards (President of Planned Parenthood).
I guess, like Newsweek, they don't need fact checkers at their magazine either.
Condoleezza Rice was absolutely awesome last night ! No teleprompter was needed by this former Secretary of State. The brilliance of her mind was revealed in a classic address that showed what real statesmanship is supposed to be about. She talked about American exceptionalism and our country's role in the world as a leader. She talked about our troops and the sacrifices they make in the name of freedom. She covered so much ground eloquently and forcefully that her message was spellbinding.
Along the way, she indirectly alluded to the weak and inconsistent foreign policy of the Obama administration. She talked about the slaughters occurring in Syria and Iran while the U.S. has been on the sidelines. She emphasized our country must deal from strength and not from weakness. We can not "lead" from behind.
She endorsed the Romney/Ryan ticket in clear and uncertain terms. With her experience, she is capable of seeing the difference in new leaders who are willing to make the tough decisions versus those in the present administration who must check the polls to see which way the political winds are blowing before they do anything.
Under Obama, our strength in the world will continue to diminish and our way of life will be forever in jeopardy. With Romney and Ryan, we will control our own destiny as they work to re-establish the economic strength of our economy.
Dr. Rice is, indeed, a smart lady. It is too bad she got mixed up with the Bush crime family and was part of the most corrupt and incompetent Administration in US history or she might have had a brilliant political career along with her academic one.
I didn't watch Condolezza Rice's speech last night, but I can well imagine she impressed you with her intelligence and knowledge. The woman is highly educated and no slouch at public speaking.
However, please name one success Condolezza Rice achieved as Secretary of State. And looking sharp doesn't count. Hillary Clinton has already scored dozens of diplomatic wins for us. Clinton has worked tirelessly on our behalf, and she has repaired our relations with allies, helped depose Qaddafy without sending in troops, turned the wikileaks scandals to our benefit (a highly under reported story), and facilitated the release of the blind activist from China. I have it on good authorityu that morale at the state department is way up since Clinton replaced Rice, and American diplomacy is once more a respected force, internationally.
Colin Powell is a man of high integrity!
No doubt, he found it impossible to continue as SOS when Dubya won his second term!
Condi had no problem.....pushing the lies.....
Amy B. Portland, ME
Now there's one deluded liberal. lol How's our Pakistani allies doing? China gave us a blind dissident to get Hillary's horse face out of China. Hillary helped depose Qaddafy? lol Did she show him her fat ass? Good lord, lady, put down the koolaid.
I'll pay attention to Condi as soon as she explains where the WMD went to in Iraq. In the meantime, she's just another politician-liar like George "Wrong Way" Bush and Dick "The Sneer" Cheney.
SteveR....
So let me get this straight....as a lefty, you all say you are so caring and compassionate...so there were no WMD in Iraq....their dictator had been killing hundreds of thousands of his own citizens using chemical weapons...I'm glad they got him out of power...where is the compassion for the people Saddam was murdering left and right? We shouldn't help them?
Give me a break....WMD or not, we did the right thing by removing him from power.
You democrats can spin anything, its unreal.
Ah, so what, there were no WMD....
Forget about that lie that propelled the invasion of a sovereign country,
forget about that lie that caused the deaths of over 5,400 US service members,
forget about that lie that caused the lives of over 40,000 US service members to be forever changed,
forget about that lie that caused the deaths of over 100,000 innocent Iraqis,
forget about that lie that added at least 1 trillion to the deficit.
......Forget about it?....I think NOT!
We are trying to show compassion where it belongs - at home.
We are not the worlds police force. If we are, we need to be paid.
Why are you not concerned about atrocities in Africa? Should we be invading that continent as well?
Chilled...
You're right, we should have just looked the other way while Saddam shot chemical weapons at innocent citizens of Iraq. If a dictator was willing to do that to his own people, what do you think he would do to those he declared mortal enemies? Give them candy?
So its ok that we help millions of illegals and we can be compassionate to them, but not to those that are being brutally murdered...wow...the compassion and caring from the left is amazing....
Blearyeyed....I never said dont help African's...way to spin that. We give millions if support to African nations and have stepped in numerous times when atrocities occurred there.
I get it...they can't vote for democrats here in the states so lets not help them.
While I don't question that Saddam was a brutal dictator, the "reason" we went to war was because of the claims of WMDs. This was inspite of offical reports from UN Inspectors that the WMDs did not exist.
We did NOT got to war because of Saddam's butchery on his own people. If that was the case we'd have been involved in Iraq much earlier. We did look the other way when it happened. We did not take significant action at that time.
To use "we removed him because he was a bad man" is a belated spin on a war built on a lie. It's a deflection that doesn't address the lie itself but rather tries to find another excuse.
We'll find the Iraqi WMD's in Syria. In addition to real humanitarian concerns, those WMD's are another reason why we must lead. Obama has given Russia the leadership role in this situation. Under Russian leadership, expect the WMD's to land in the hands of Hezbollah for use on Israel when the Israelis finally take action on Iran.
It's a pretty tangled web in the middle east, but Obama's failure to lead is making it more messy.
common- how do you figure that when the UN (2002 - 2003) verified 90 to 95% WMDs destroyed with the remaining 5% stockpiles destroyed prior to inspection and no nuclear program?
I understand the conspiracy theory but remember that Syria and Iraq had strained relationships at best. In fact, Syria joined the fight to oust Iraq from Kuwait. That said, Syria did stand with all the other Arab nations to protest the US actions.
How about that Chris Mathews? Is there no end to what he will attempt to do to shore up the sinking Obama presidency and empty campaign? Mathews, once again, was the one attempting to inject racism into the campaign by his usual tactic of race baiting and fear mongering. While shouting down those that seek to give reasoned responses to his drivel. This is a very typical ploy by the far left to try and steer the discussion away from the issues and truth. The public knows better and sees through sycophants like Chris Mathews. It is a shame that Mathews has decided to give up what little journalistic integrity he had to become a partisan hack shill for a failed presidency. A presidency that is based on an ideological outlook that has never produced a viable system to go along with the freedoms and values Americans cherish.
But , alas, Mr. Mathews knows that his arguments are not winning the day, as is evident by the abysmal ratings his show, and the others on the MSNBC nightly lineup, receives week after week and month after month. Of which, I am sure, Mr. Mathews is painfully aware, but can not help.. Most likely he is , indeed, singing his swan's song before he is put out to pasture by the powers that be at NBC. .But, of course, that will not deter Mr. Mathews from continuing to ratchet up the fear mongering, race baiting and divisive rhetoric as the nation turns away from a president that has very little to offer, in terms of concrete viable actions, to follow up on his empty rhetoric. Mr. Mathews is a mirror image of everything that has been wrong with the Obama presidency and the American people are not buying it anymore.Too bad many of his fellow 'journalist" are all to willing to stand by and allow Mr. Mathews, and his ilk, to drag the discourse in this country into the gutter, at a time when the nation should be having a serious discussion, based upon reality, instead of the trash coming out of Mr. Mathews mouth with increasing frequency.
Chris Matthews fighting Rush Limbaugh before Limbaugh gets his fat little jaws on it.
Chris Matthews sounds more & more like the old Bill O'Reilly, and you guys hate him.
Chilled...
You're right, we should have just looked the other way while Saddam shot chemical weapons at innocent citizens of Iraq. If a dictator was willing to do that to his own people, what do you think he would do to those he declared mortal enemies? Give them candy?
So its ok that we help millions of illegals and we can be compassionate to them, but not to those that are being brutally murdered...wow...the compassion and caring from the left is amazing....
Blearyeyed....I never said dont help African's...way to spin that. We give millions if support to African nations and have stepped in numerous times when atrocities occurred there.
I get it...they can't vote for democrats here in the states so lets not help them.
E. Deboo,
You are aware that Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of the neocon crowd, gave amnesty to millions of illegal aliens aren't you? Obviously not or it was okay as long as demigod Reagan did it. So don't complain about the current situation. There have been more people sent South during the Obama Administration than any of the past 4 Administrations.
Of couse we care about people in countries where there are dictators but it is a soverign nation and we have no business without invitation to invade them. In the first gulf war, Poppy Bush ordered air strikes over Iraq because Saddam Hussein was trying to invade Kuwait, another soverign nation. Kuait called for help from the United Nations and a coelition of forces led by the US went in and pushed Saddam and his army back into Iraq. That was the mission and it was accomplished. Then along came junior who heard the two bit dictator say he was wanting to kill Poppy. So even before he was elected Georgie decided to war with Saddam no matter what the cost and he got his wish. Through a pack of lies convinced the Congress and the American public, many of them, to allow war in Iraq and to take out Saddam Hussein.
Hussein's days were numbered anyway, a coup was in the works (early stages) that would have ousted him in a civil war where only Iraqis would be killed and not Americans. Unfortunately that would mean we would have less control over the oil that Iraq has so that just wouldn't do. We had to control the war. We also did it off the books as Cheney said "Deficits don't matter".
History is history, try and rewrite it all you want but it happened. We can't reverse it but we can work together to fix it. We may have to sacrifice some profit and we may have a slow recovery from the recession that resulted from unfunded war, we may have to spend more money as we did during the New Deal era but working together we can do it. Unfortunately people in Washington, on both sides, aren't willing to compromise. They have the "my way or the highway" attitude.
You do realize that the chemical weapons use against the Kurds was in 1988, don't you? During the Iraq/Iran war. And the reports said 5000-not 100's of thousands.
I guess it is easier to re-write history than to actually research before you post.
So republicans were so concerned with Saddam Hussein's killing Kurds with chemical weapons that Saint Reagan did nothing about it, Bush Sr. did nothing about it--even though at the time we actually were fighting against him for invading Kuwait. It was so important that it took 15 years to do something about it?
The republicans b!tch about how President Obama handled things in Egypt saying that he allowed the Muslim brotherhood to take over (Don't the Egyptians have the right to self govern without US involvement-but I digress) But have no problem with the killing of Saddam Hussein which allowed Iran to move forward on their nuclear plans. Saddam Hussein had been keeping them in check, with him gone it was like opening the flood gates.
I guess it is not just Mitt Romney that is a flip flopper, it seems to be the entire republican party.
Turn Out the Lights the Party is over... Say good buy to the DEMO America Party. I woke up, my friends are wakeing up, we made the MISTAKE of voting for obama, never again. I apologize America for voting for him, HUGE MISTAKE.
Doesn't it feel Great, it's like FRESH AIR is beeing let back into the room. Voting for obama was such a MISTAKE. It feels good to be an AMERICAN again. What amazes me is all my friends are waking up, the obama nightmare is almost OVER.
E.Deboo sanctamoniously pens: "You're right, we should have just looked the other way while Saddam shot chemical weapons at innocent citizens of Iraq.". Let me remind your tiny mind that he already had done that!
You apparantly have no memory of Halabja, a Kurdish village where Saddam gassed 3-5,000. The date of that attack was March 18, 1988.
Who was president on 3-18-88? "Saint" Ronald Regan.
So, E.Deboo, who "looked the other way" while Saddam used gas on innocent people? A Republican administration, led by Ronald Regan who, in turn, was aided and abetted by George H. W. Bush!
I await your response...........
Sane in Wisconsin, I guess you must be one of the last holdouts, Didn't you guys DESTROY your own Capital Bldg. How did that work for you. It's OK you can change, I did. It's very refreshing to be an American again . Just say NO to the DEMO America Party.
I have to apologize to this group. I guess I sound like an ex-smoker, preaching about the harm smoking does.