Republican Convention
August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate, my initial take viewed Ryan as a “sub-optimal” choice. Time will tell whether this assessment proves correct. Thankfully, events to date suggest that I was wrong. The most notable such event, of course, was tonight’s brilliant speech to the convention, one of the best I can recall. I’ve long believed that the most persuasive arguments — be it in a
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August 29, 2012 — John Hinderaker
It was a great night for the Republican Party and the cause of freedom. All the speakers were good: Tim Pawlenty, Susana Martinez, John Thune and others. But the headliners, of course, were Condoleezza Rice and Paul Ryan. They were both sensational. Condoleezza Rice is a cerebral woman and a life-long Republican, but conservatives have sometimes wondered whether she is really one of us. She eliminated that doubt tonight. Her
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
I confess to wondering about the decision to give the New Mexico governor a plum speaking time on a big convention night, just in front of Paul Ryan. But then I had never really seen Susana Martinez in action. Now that I have, I wonder no more. The sky could be the limit for this rising star.
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The stated question raised by former Secretary of State Rice’s speech tonight was: Where does America stand? But the real question was: Why should a moderate, including a moderate African-American, vote for the Romney-Ryan ticket? Rice answered the question thoughtfully, in the understated manner that we have come to expect from her. By the end, I believe she had knocked it out of the park.
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Mike Huckabee is a political natural. I first became aware of this when my daughter, no social conservative, told me that of all the candidates who visited Dartmouth during the 2008 New Hampshire primary season, she was most impressed by Huckabee (no, she didn’t vote for him). Tonight, Huckabee got off to a weak start when he explained his support for his 2008 rival, Mitt Romney, by referring to their
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Rob Portman reportedly was near the top of the VP short list. But for his important involvement in the Bush administration, he might have received the nod. Portman is known as a cerebral guy. But tonight he is demonstrating strong qualities on the stump as well. Portman has hammered home perhaps the single most telling indictment of President Obama — the fact that his budget failed to gain a single
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
He’s hammering Barack Obama on foreign policy. It may not advance the political ball, but needs to be done anyway. Plus McCain still appeals to some independents who may not be fans of Mitt Romney. McCain savaged Romney in 2008, so it’s helpful for him to stress, as he is doing repeatedly, that he trusts Romney to lead on foreign policy, an area in which the candidate has virtually no
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Paul Ryan will address the Republican Convention and the nation tonight. Here are excerpts from his prepared remarks: I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old – and I know that we are ready. Our nominee is sure ready. His whole life has prepared him for this moment – to
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August 29, 2012 — John Hinderaker
I have been marveling at the level of hysteria, loathing and fear manifested in the Democratic Party’s fundraising emails, of which I get several every day. (I can only imagine how many actual Democrats receive.) To say that their tone is both low-class and panic-stricken would be an understatement. This one, received today from Adam Broder, Research Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is a classic: John — The
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August 29, 2012 — John Hinderaker
If you want to chat with fellow conservatives and share your observations while you watch the GOP convention tonight, log on to Power Line Live. You can either follow this link or click the “Live” button on the masthead. Sign in on the lower right-hand corner, using either Facebook or Twitter. Last night a good time was had by all; tonight should be the same, or even more so with
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August 29, 2012 — Steven Hayward
A very thoughtful Power Line reader, Marco V. Fabbri, writes from Rome with this reaction to my post this morning on political rhetoric at the GOP convention: I am an Italian reader of PowerLine blog, which I appreciate very much. I am a conservative and a Roman Catholic, and I am very interested in US politics. I wish to share some thoughts with Steven Hayward, so that you can freely use
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August 29, 2012 — Steven Hayward
I think it was the 1984 American Political Science Association (APSA) annual convention (Woodstock for political science geeks, one of whom I am which) where a straw poll found that of the attending academic political scientists, over 90 percent were going to vote for Walter Mondale. Most of the remaining 10 percent were going to vote for someone further left; Reagan was only drawing about 2 percent. This comes to
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, David Chalian, then the Washington bureau chief of Yahoo News, stated of the Republicans, “They’re not concerned at all [about Hurricane Issac]; they’re happy to have a party with black people drowning.” Such statements by leftists, including some in the MSM, aren’t rare. Living in the Washington D.C. area, I’ve heard them made by people answering to these descriptions. In fact, I heard them following Hurricane Katrina. Nor should
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
In the post below, I discussed the diversity of the deep Republican bench on display at last night’s convention. Unfortunately, MSNBC chose to air brush nearly all of that diversity out of its picture. From what I understand, MSNBC declined to air the speeches of Mia Love, Ted Cruz, and Artur Davis. Showing these speeches and the warm reception they received would, of course, have undercut the network’s ridiculous “dog-whistle
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August 29, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
One purpose of last night’s Republican convention was to introduce the public (or that portion of it interested enough to watch) to rising stars of the Party, and to highlight the female members of that vanguard. Mission accomplished. Female speakers from the Republican bench included Mia Love, Sher Valenzuela (both before prime time), Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Kelly Ayotte, Mary Fallin, and Nikki Haley, nearly all of whom were excellent. Note
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August 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
That’s really all I have to say. I am not watching the TV commentary, but I understand Chris Wallace is dissing Christie. Inexplicable. Rachel Maddow, of course, thought his speech was awful. Enough said. The only question is, how many people were watching. UPDATE: Video here.
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August 28, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Those who saw it will, I think, understand why I spoke so highly of her earlier today. Ann Romney is a political natural — far, far more so than her husband. The first part of her speech was a bit too “female chauvinist” for me. But then, it wasn’t addressed to me. I speculated earlier that Ann Romney’s speech might move the needle. Now that she has delivered it, I
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