Rubio and Romney

The story last night was about Rubio and Romney. Not Clint Eastwood and Invisible Obama. That was just bizarre. A Reagan hologram would have worked better.  But it wasn't important.

Senator Marco Rubio was eloquent. He was passionate and he spoke truth.

These are tired and old big government ideas. Ideas that people come to America to get away from. Ideas that threaten to make America more like the rest of the world, instead of helping the world become more like America...

A few years ago during a speech, I noticed a bartender behind a portable bar at the back of the ballroom. I remembered my father who had worked for many years as a banquet bartender.

He was grateful for the work he had, but that's not the life he wanted for us.

He stood behind a bar in the back of the room all those years, so one day I could stand behind a podium in the front of a room.

That journey, from behind that bar to behind this podium, goes to the essence of the American miracle — that we're exceptional not because we have more rich people here...

 And in conclusion:

The story of our time will be written by Americans who haven't yet been born.

Let's make sure they write that we did our part. That in the early years of this new century, we lived in an uncertain time. But we did not allow fear to cause us to abandon what made us special.

We chose more freedom instead of more government.

We chose the principles of our founding to solve the challenges of our time.

We chose a special man to lead us in a special time.

We chose Mitt Romney to lead our nation.

And because we did, the American Miracle lived on for another generation to inherit.

Romney delivered maybe the best speech of his life. He was likable, and earnest, and powerful, and everything he usually does not portray himself to be. And the video tribute beforehand was one of the best I've seen. It humanized him, and showed him at his best: leading at work and being with his family. Too bad Eastwood came afterwards, but I digress.

In his speech, he heralded women:

My mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example. When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, “Why should women have any less say than men, about the great decisions facing our nation?”
I wish she could have been here at the convention and heard leaders like Governor Mary Fallin, Governor Nikki Haley, Governor Susana Martinez, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

 Truth:

How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America?  Many of you felt that way on Election Day four years ago. Hope and Change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I’d ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama? You know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.

And the bottom line:

What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs.
What America needs is jobs.
Lots of jobs.

Onward to November!

 

Michigan for Romney?

Recent polls show the race to be a dead heat in Michigan. And with Michigan's history as Reagan Democrat country, maybe there's a chance that the state will vote for its hometown son this election year? Marc Thiessen sees several reasons why MI may go for the GOP this year beyond just the economy:

But the Romney campaign has also been highlighting two other issues that have particular resonance in Michigan. One is the administration’s contraception and abortifacient mandate, which hurts the president with the socially conservative Reagan Democrats in such places as Macomb County. There are 2.4 million Catholic voters in Michigan, and Obama’s assault on religious liberty has alienated many of them. In May, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed suit against the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services mandate — and Catholic priests will be preaching against it in parishes across the state between now and Election Day. Look for Romney to underscore his opposition to the HHS mandate — and his endorsement by Lech Walesa — with these Catholic voters, many of whom are of Polish and Ukrainian descent.
The second issue is welfare reform. Welfare fraud is fresh on people’s minds here, thanks to the news of a Detroit area woman who was recently caught continuing to collect benefits despite winning a $1 million state lottery prize. Michiganders have a strong work ethic and remain justly proud of their state’s role as a pioneer of welfare reform in the 1990s. The charge that Obama is gutting welfare reform hits a nerve here.

I would love, love to see Michigan go Romney. When I was there in June, some of the lawyers suggested that possibility.  Hopefully it can become a reality.

Paul Ryan

We were pretty happy, after a fun night out at a favorite restaurant, to hear the news that Romney was going to pick Paul Ryan to be his running mate. I've speculated about his selection, and I admit I was not so sure it would happen. I remember Paul Ryan speaking in DC at least a dozen years ago, when I was 24 or 25ish, at Heritage. He was young, good looking, and stridently conservative. And he was the best selection that Romney could make.

He will stomp all over Joe Biden in the debate, and he will help ideas be debated. Not just attack, not just cliched statements about being wealthy and out of touch. He is Catholic and pro-life. He is a reformer. He is the first nominee from Generation X. He is one of the few who invoke Ryan.

I predict that Ryan will end up in the Oval Office at some point. Sure, he will make mistakes. But this is the next generation of leadership, and it is long past time that we turn forward.  And his opening salvo: perfect. Wonderful way to introduce yourself to the American public.

Veepstakes?

Speculation on who Romney's running mate will be is growing, and I'm with the author of this Real Clear Politics piece that Rob Portman does have the edge. And the Post also profiled him. I also recall that there is a close Romney advisor who is close to Portman, which might also give him an additional advantage.

So what if he's boring? He's competent, by all accounts a good person, a family man, and from the swing state of Ohio. And that would lend some interesting Michigan/Ohio correlation on the ticket, right?

There are certainly other compelling candidates...Paul Ryan, whom I like a lot; Chris Christie; Marco Rubio; a mystery woman (not Sarah Palin, but maybe Nikki Haley--eh; and an also ran like Rick Santorum. But I'd like to see someone experienced, competent, someone who knows economics...I'd be very pleased if it were Portman. Dare I say even a bit excited.

Bullying Bogus

The Post has written a horrid story painting Romney as anti-homosexual bully.  Because actions fifty years ago are THAT relevant in the campaign!

I've written of my experience being bullied, and no, I don't think all of this is so easily forgiven and forgotten.  But this is all very one-sided, based on ancient history, and involves teenage boys, who probably are not terribly mature. 

And more signficantly: what is the greater character flaw? Cutting some kid's hair, or doing cocaine? I'm waiting for the interview of Obama's high school friends? Or were they all too drugged up to remember their high school years?  Relevant, much?