Condi's Speech

Of course, I've been watching the GOP convention, and by far the most buzzed about speech was Condi's address last night. Jay Nordlinger summarizes many of the salient points, and he ends with an observation about her tenure as Secretary of State was "so flat." Yes, that. She was an ideological wimp in that role, and it meant that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney often had to exert the American exceptionalism needed in leadership.

Yet her speech last night reflected the VP buzz that was generated after her summer speeches. It was eloquent, emotional, delivered with conviction and thrust, and she spoke without the dreaded teleprompter. With her, Susana Martinez, Nikki Haley, and other talented GOP women on the front lines, who is to say we're losing this "war on women?"

Notable quotes:

"Now, to be sure, the burdens of leadership have been heavy. I know, as you do, the sacrifice of Americans, especially the sacrifice of many of our bravest in the ultimate sacrifice, but our armed forces are the surest shield and foundation of liberty, and we are so fortunate that we have men and women in uniform who volunteer, they volunteer to defend us at the front lines of freedom, and we owe them our eternal gratitude."

"I know that it feels as if we have carried these burdens long enough.  But we can only know that there is no choice, because one of two things will happen if we don't lead. Either no one will lead and there will be chaos, or someone will fill the vacuum who does not share our values."

"My fellow Americans, ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement.  We have never believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well...No, no, ours has been a belief in opportunity.  And it has been a constant struggle, long and hard, up and down, to try to
extend the benefits of the American dream to all.  But that American ideal is indeed in danger today. There is no country, no, not even a rising China that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we do not do the hard work before us here at home."

"America has a way of making the impossible seemed inevitable in retrospect, but we know it was
never inevitable. It took leadership.  And it took courage.  And it's a belief that our values.  Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have the integrity and the experience and the vision to lead us. They know who we are.  They know who we want to be.  They know who we are in the world and what we offer. That is why -- that is why this is a moment and an election of consequence.  Because it just has to be that the freest most compassionate country on the face of the earth will continue to be the most powerful and the beacon for prosperity and the party across the world."