FMJRA 2.0: Over The Mountain

STARKE, Florida
This town is infamously the location of Florida State Prison, but don’t worry, I’m not on a chain gang. Spent the night at a Best Western motel here beside Highway 301 and — wow! — I’m impressed with the reader response to my post about the problems with the 2004 KIA Optima. The car’s got 194,000 miles on it, and if it will just get us home . . .

Well, best not to get into contingencies. What happens, happens, and everything happens for a reason, so I won’t worry about “if.”

“If” is the biggest two-letter word in the English language.

A lot of people talk about “stepping out on faith,” but few of them ever actually do it. There is an ad on TV which humorously plays on the role of the mom as having to say “no” to all her children’s requests. Toward the end of the commercial, the woman’s husband asks, “Can I quit my job and start a blog?”

My wife always laughs at that. Yeah.

Anyway . . .

News — I’m supposed to be reporting it, or at least aggregating it. Did you know that Michelle Fields got 86’d at the Daily Caller?

You may remember Michelle as the reporter who got trapped amid the frothing mob of Occupiers when the hippie scum tried to storm the AFP Summit last November.

Why would Tucker Carlson fire her? I dunno. What happens, happens. Jammie Wearing Fools has a great headline today:

Seven Dead From Isaac; Also
Known as a Slow Night in Chicago

Speaking of Chicago — which is, of course, now classified as a racist dog-whistle word, according to Chris Matthews — here’s a story by Elizabeth Harrington of CNS News:

As part of her anti-obesity Let’s Move campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is now presenting a brief online course: “Supermarket Shopping 101.”The course, which now appears on the letsmove.gov website, provides novice shoppers with tips such as “steer clear of the cookie, snack and soda aisle.”
“Supermarket Shopping 101: Read This Before You Hit the Grocery Store,” written by Lisa Cericola, was first published among the materials the first lady presented online last week when she was a “guest editor” at iVillage.com. Now, it has been republished on the Let’s Move blog.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, iVillage.com, which featured Mrs. Obama as a guest editor, also features graphic sex tips, including from prostitutes.

Otherwise known as “a slow night in Chicago.” And speaking of “graphic sex tips . . . from prostitutes” . . .

Forgive me for not knowing the source of that artwork. Somebody “shared” it on Facebook with Ali Akbar, and it was funny: The contrast between GOP congressional candidate Mia Love and Sandra Fluke is rather illuminating, yes?

Well, checkout time at the Best Western is 11 a.m., and we’re already running late, so there is no time to thank everyone individually, but know that you have my gratitude for your contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund. And if you can’t afford to give, your prayers are equally appreciated. This grand experiment in reader-supported journalism requires both money and prayer, and we ought not doubt the power of the latter, because what happens, happens.

Fear and Loathing in a 2004 KIA Optima

Posted on | August 31, 2012 | 25 Comments

The National Affairs Desk, McDonald’s in Ocala, 10 p.m., Friday, Aug. 31, 2012

OCALA, Florida
Ah, the ups and downs of life. Last night I was enjoying the hospitality in a skybox suite at the Republican National Convention. Tonight I’m wondering how I’ll make it home.

Ali and I left Tampa about 6 p.m., and everything seemed fine until the car started making a horrible noise and losing power. We stopped and had a mechanic look at it, but the garage was about to close — 7 p.m. on the Friday before Labor Day — and there was no time for a repair. The mechanic diagnosed a problem either with the timing belt or the valves.

Can we drive it 900 miles with this problem? The mechanic shrugged. Sometimes, it’s OK. Sometimes, it’s not.

Ali said, “Let’s go. We can make it.”

Misery. Horror. Stress. Driving a car that’s obviously if need of expensive repairs, hundreds of miles from home, bone-tired after five days of convention coverage — and yeah, the bank balance isn’t looking too good, either.

I called my wife, cussing about this unexpected misfortune.

Mrs. Other McCain suggested I stop cussing and start praying.

Good advice. I called Smitty. He was boarding a plane, preparing to travel to Germany with his wife and the World’s Youngest Blogger for a visit with his German in-laws. While we drove north up I-75, I called Zilla of the Resistance, and she was kind enough to put up a post asking for prayers and, of course, the Five Most Important Words in the English Language: Hit the freaking tip jar.

We’ve so far made it about 100 miles, but the psychological strain on top of the exhaustion — as I said to Ali, “Woodward and Bernstein didn’t have to deal with this kind of crap.” Neither, for that matter, do my close personal friends Brett Baier and Megyn Kelly, but never mind . . .

We’ll drive another hundred miles or so tonight and then find a motel. Your prayers are most earnestly requested. And your contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund are most sincerely appreciated.

UPDATE: Ali describes his GOP convention experience.

UPDATE II: Now linked by Da Tech Guy, William Hoge, Evil Blogger Lady, Bill Quick at Daily Pundit and Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints.

Thank You, Everybody! (And Thank God)

PREVIOUSLY:

Aug. 24:Tampa, Here I Come
Aug. 24: Todd Akin Rapes Missouri GOP
Aug. 25: Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Fear, Loathing and Deficient Hygiene
Aug. 25: Monday GOP Convention Schedule Postponed Due to Anticipated BlogBash Hangovers and Approaching Hurricane …
Aug. 26: First Arrest of RNC Protesters Reported
Aug. 26: Ybor City Scenes
Aug. 27: Journalism as Masochism
Aug. 27: Health Care Expert: ObamaCare Will Kill Estimated 40,000 Seniors Every Year
Aug. 28: RNC DAY 1.5: Baseless Speculation UPDATE: Romney Officially Nominated as Republican Presidential Candidate
Aug. 28: COMPLETE TEXT: ANN ROMNEY SPEECH TO GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 28: COMPLETE TEXT: CHRIS CHRISTIE SPEECH TO GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 29: RNC Rule 5 With Ann Romney and Other Smokin’ Hot Republican Party Babes
Aug. 29: @DavidChalian Got Breitbarted UPDATE: Video Interview With ‘Hating Breitbart’ Director Andrew Marcus
Aug. 29: COMPLETE TEXT: ROB PORTMAN’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 29: COMPLETE TEXT: PAUL RYAN’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 30: DNC Executive Director Begs for $3 Donations to Fight GOP ‘False Attack’
Aug. 30: ‘No, Really. I Mean That.’
Aug. 30: When It Comes to ‘Brazen Lies,’ Nobody Excels Joan Walsh
Aug. 30: VIDEO: Paul Ryan’s Convention Speech That Inspired Democrat Media Panic
Aug. 30: Gee, Chris Matthews Hates Paul Ryan
Aug. 30: Pictures, or It Didn’t Happen
Aug. 30: While You Wait for Mitt Romney, Say Hello to ‘The Scott Brown of Connecticut’
Aug. 30: COMPLETE TEXT: MARCO RUBIO’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 30: COMPLETE TEXT: MITT ROMNEY’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 31: RNC Hangover: You Gotta Believe
Aug. 31: How Awesome Was Clint Eastwood?

Category: Fear and Loathing at the Republican National Convention

How Awesome Was Clint Eastwood?

Posted on | August 31, 2012 | 60 Comments

TAMPA, Florida
Evil Blogger Lady quotes Clint’s best line:

“Of course we know Biden is the intellectual of the Democratic Party…” That alone was worth the price of admission!

Members of what Andrew Breitbart liked to call the Democrat-Media Complex are all over the ‘Net today going on about Eastwood’s “Bizarre, Rambling Speech to Empty Chair,” as Benjy Sarlin of Talking Points Memo describes it. But these are liberals: People who think a crude buffoon like Bill Maher is hilarious, and who think of Janeane Garofalo as a brilliant comedienne. Are we going to let people like that tell us what is or is not funny?

The best analysis of Eastwood’s routine was Romney adviser Eric Ferhnstrom’s quote to Byron York: “It’s improv” — and the important thing is, it worked, both as a comedic performance and in terms of its political purpose in the closing-night schedule at the Republican National Committee. It was a low-key, offbeat, humorous moment that provided a sort of relaxing breather before the emotional excitement of Marco Rubio’s speech and the big drama of Mitt’s acceptance speech. Here’s the video:

Description at the video:

Rachel Maddow was at a loss for words on Thursday after Clint Eastwood finished what was largely considered a bizarre and awkward GOP convention appearance.
“I don’t — I don’t — I don’t know what was going on there,” Maddow said, seemingly tongue-tied. “Clint Eastwood is 82 years old and I think that — I don’t know if that’s what was going on there.”

Maddow “at a loss for words”? Winning!

UPDATE: John Nolte: “Newsflash: Obama can’t take a joke. But we already knew that.”

Category: Celebrities, Fear and Loathing at the Republican National Convention, humor

RNC Hangover: You Gotta Believe

Posted on | August 31, 2012 | 21 Comments

Last guy in the Press Filing Center, 1 a.m., Friday, Aug. 31, 2012

“There was never enough time. Every deadline was a crisis. All around me were experienced professional journalists meeting deadlines far more frequent than mine, but I was never able to learn from their example.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72

TAMPA, Florida
Garrett Quinn of the Boston Globe walked over to the empty row where I was still working on my column and said, “I knew that was you, banging away. I’d recognize that sound anywhere.”

Ask anyone who’s ever shared a workspace with me — and this now includes hundreds of reporters who came to Tampa for the Republican National Convention — I hammer the hell out of a keyboard. That’s why I always carry an external keyboard, because otherwise I’d destroy the laptop keyboard in a matter of months, and the thing would be useless in those emergencies when I actually need it.

People ask me if I learned to type on a manual typewriter, which of course I did, but there are other old guys who’ve learned to tap lightly on the keys, while I continue my brutal keyboard-destroying methods and go through the $9.99 things at the pace of one or two a year.

Hard-hitting journalism. Literally.

So Quinn took the picture of me as the last holdout in the Press Filing Center, struggling to complete today’s column for The American Spectator, which was kind of emotional:

The polls showed a dead heat as Mitt Romney took the stage Thursday night to accept the Republican Party nomination, but the polls could not begin to capture the wild chances of improbability in what is sure to be a hard-fought campaign this fall. And the man who introduced the GOP presidential nominee Thursday night was the surest testament to how miracles happen in America.
Marco Rubio wasn’t supposed to be there. In May 2009, more than 15 months before the 2010 Republican primary in Florida, the GOP establishment endorsed Rubio’s opponent, then-Gov. Charlie Crist, believing him to be the “safe” choice as their party’s Senate nominee. Crist had statewide name recognition and a strong fundraising base, and so he was endorsed not only by the state party chairman, but also by the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. One poll showed Crist leading Rubio by 37 points.
Crist had every tangible advantage, but what he did not have was the support of the conservative grassroots, which were just then coalescing into the Tea Party. Crist had embraced President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” plan, and his endorsements from the GOP Establishment proved to be the kiss of death, rallying a nationwide movement behind Rubio. And so the young senator who introduced Mitt Romney on the closing night of the Republican National Convention was a living embodiment of the miraculous power of the American dream.
Rubio spoke of that dream, describing how as a nine-year-old boy in 1980 he watched the GOP convention with his grandfather, a refugee from Cuba’s communist dictatorship. “As a boy, I would sit on our porch and listen to his stories about history, politics and baseball while he puffed on one of his three daily Padron cigars,” Rubio told the thousands of Republican delegates gathered inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum. “I don’t recall everything we talked about, but the one thing I remember, is the one thing he wanted me to never forget. The dreams he had when he was young became impossible to achieve, but there was no limit to how far I could go, because I was an American.”
The crowd went positively wild with cheers and applause, and when they calmed down, Rubio continued: “For those of us who were born and raised in this country, it’s easy to forget how special America is. But my grandfather understood how different America is from the rest of the world, because he knew what life was like outside America.”
What Rubio was describing was a doctrine known to political philosophers as “American exceptionalism,” and the 41-year-old senator went on to describe its foundation in religious belief, that America is “special because we’ve been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We’re bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have.… Our national motto is ‘In God we Trust,’ reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all.”
Words can scarcely describe the enthusiasm that swept through the auditorium at that moment. In a skybox suite five floors above the stage, where I was a guest of the Republican State Leadership Committee, I found myself wiping tears from my eyes. They were neutral, objective tears, because I remembered when Marco Rubio was 37 points down in the polls, and here in Tampa I was watching an honest-to-God miracle. If it had been up to the party leadership, Charlie Crist would have been up there on stage. Instead, Crist is now disgraced and discredited, an unpopular loser who will speak at next week’s Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. . . .

Please read the whole thing. Man, I need to go back to bed.

PREVIOUSLY:

Aug. 24:Tampa, Here I Come
Aug. 24: Todd Akin Rapes Missouri GOP
Aug. 25: Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Fear, Loathing and Deficient Hygiene
Aug. 25: Monday GOP Convention Schedule Postponed Due to Anticipated BlogBash Hangovers and Approaching Hurricane …
Aug. 26: First Arrest of RNC Protesters Reported
Aug. 26: Ybor City Scenes
Aug. 27: Journalism as Masochism
Aug. 27: Health Care Expert: ObamaCare Will Kill Estimated 40,000 Seniors Every Year
Aug. 28: RNC DAY 1.5: Baseless Speculation UPDATE: Romney Officially Nominated as Republican Presidential Candidate
Aug. 28: COMPLETE TEXT: ANN ROMNEY SPEECH TO GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 28: COMPLETE TEXT: CHRIS CHRISTIE SPEECH TO GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 29: RNC Rule 5 With Ann Romney and Other Smokin’ Hot Republican Party Babes
Aug. 29: @DavidChalian Got Breitbarted UPDATE: Video Interview With ‘Hating Breitbart’ Director Andrew Marcus
Aug. 29: COMPLETE TEXT: ROB PORTMAN’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 29: COMPLETE TEXT: PAUL RYAN’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 30: DNC Executive Director Begs for $3 Donations to Fight GOP ‘False Attack’
Aug. 30: ‘No, Really. I Mean That.’
Aug. 30: When It Comes to ‘Brazen Lies,’ Nobody Excels Joan Walsh
Aug. 30: VIDEO: Paul Ryan’s Convention Speech That Inspired Democrat Media Panic
Aug. 30: Gee, Chris Matthews Hates Paul Ryan
Aug. 30: Pictures, or It Didn’t Happen
Aug. 30: While You Wait for Mitt Romney, Say Hello to ‘The Scott Brown of Connecticut’
Aug. 30: COMPLETE TEXT: MARCO RUBIO’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION
Aug. 30: COMPLETE TEXT: MITT ROMNEY’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing at the Republican National Convention, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.31.12

Posted on | August 31, 2012 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
“WHAT AMERICA NEEDS IS JOBS”

Mitt Romney pressing the flesh before his speech

“America has been patient. Americans have supported this president in good faith. But today, the time has come to turn the page.”

Slow-Moving Isaac Dumps More Rain On Flooded Louisiana
Third day of rain

Israeli Strike Wouldn’t Stop Iranian Nuke Program
General Dempsey shies away from complicity in possible Israeli attack

POLITICS
Sudden Impact: Clint Eastwood Speaks At RNC

“When somebody does not do the job, we’ve got to let them go.”

“There are 23 million unemployed people in this country. And that is something to cry for…It’s a national disgrace and this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that.”

LAPD Captain Loses Command Over Abused Nurse

Gingrich: We Need Real Leadership In The White House

Rubio: Obama Isn’t A Bad Person, Just A Bad President

DOJ Closes CIA Torture Probe Without Charges

MN Senate Race Takes Feisty Turn At State Fair

Three-Judge Panel Strikes Down Texas Voter ID Law

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Brent Edges Up Ahead Of Bernanke Speech, Set For Second Monthly Gain; NYMEX $94.63, Brent $112.71
Treasuries Trim August Loss On Bernanke Speculation
Retail Sales Jump On back-to-School Shopping
US Jobless Claims Unchanged Last Week At One-Month High
India’s Economy Grows 5.5% In Second Quarter, Beating Expectations
Bundesbank Chief’s Resignation Threat Turns Up The Heat On ECB’s Draghi
Pandora Revenue Soars 51%, Stock Jumps
Tokyo Court Dismisses Apples Suit, Finds Samsung Didn’t Infringe Patents
Kindle Fire Sold Out: New One On The Way?
Apple Rejects Drone Strike Tracking App
Google Joins Birthday Nagging Game
US Air Force Seeks Offensive Cyberweapons
Western Digital Introduces Fastest External Hard Drive Ever

SPORTS
Kennedy Pitches 2-Hitter As Snakes Blank Slumping Dodgers 2-0

Snakes' starter Ian Kennedy

Win ends Arizona’s six-game skid

Greinke Outduels Lester As Angels Complete Sweep Of Red Sox

Former Armstrong Teammate Makes New Doping Accusations

NFL Players Approve Change To Injured Reserve Rule, Trade Deadline

Villanueva Leads Blue Jays Past Slumping Rays 2-0

Sandoval, Pence Power Giants Past Astros 8-4

Royals Clip Tigers, Complete Sweep

Jackson Silences Former Teammates’ Bats In 8-1 Nats Victory Over Cards

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
LeAnn Rimes Enters Treatment For Anxiety, Stress

LeAnn Rimes

But NOT in rehab

Lohan Denies Trashing Priceless Liz Taylor Trailer

Hip-Hop Manager Shoots Himself Outside Brooklyn Apartment

Jennie Garth, Luke Perry Not Dating

Tori Spelling: It’s A Boy!

Sage Stallone Died Of Heart Attack, Not Drugs

Holly Madison’s Baby Daddy Could Face Jail Time

MTV Pulls Plug On “Jersey Shore”

CBS Eyes David Kelley Workplace Comedy Starring Robin Williams

Wills & Kate’s Pacific Diamond Jubilee Tour Itinerary Announced

Russell Brand, Geri Halliwell Sober In Love

FOREIGNERS
Survivor Of London’s 7/7 Terror Attack Competes Proudly In Paralympic Games
Egypt’s Morsi Stands Up To Iran
Russian Police Says Murder Suspect Used “Free Pussy Riot” Sign As Decoy
Ecuador’s President Demands UK, Sweden Agree Not To Extradite Assange
France, Britain Says Syria Intervention On The Table
London Met U’s Future At Stake As 2500 Foreign Students Face Deportation
Turkey Appeals To UN For Syrian Safe Zone
South African Miners Charged In Deaths Of Comrades Shot By Police
Mexican Court Nixes Election Appeal, Upholds Vote
Pacific Islands Forum Softens Stance On Fiji

BLOGS & STUFF
Caught Him With a Corndog: Ladies, Look No Further!
Looking Spoon: Best Of Paul Ryan’s RNC Speech
Scared Monkeys: Romney Pulls Even With Obama In Ipsos Poll At 43%
Da Tech Guy: Demoralized As Hell, Michael Moore Edition
Riehl World News: WaPo’s Kessler – We Don’t Need No Steenking Speech
Beltway Confidential: A defense Of Paul Ryan’s Speech
Weasel Zippers: Super Racist Paul Ryan’s Black College Sweetheart Revealed
Conservatives 4 Palin: Ratings Down For RNC During Ryan’s Speech From 2008
Newsbusters: Chris Matthews Claims To Live In “Majority Black” DC, Actually Lives In Lily-White Maryland Village
Marc Theissen: Top Ten Obama Foreign Policy Failures
Althouse: Democrat Sends Out Mailer Saying Crime Is Up 50% In “Our Negrohood”
Via Meadia: Something Is Rotten In The State Of New York
Jim Geraghty: Obama – When I’m Re-Elected, The Blisters Will Pop!

Category: Live at Five

COMPLETE TEXT: MITT ROMNEY’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION

Posted on | August 30, 2012 | 15 Comments

TAMPA, Florida:
Text provided by the Romney campaign:

Mr. Chairman, delegates. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.
I do so with humility, deeply moved by the trust you have placed in me. It is a great honor. It is an even greater responsibility.
Tonight I am asking you to join me to walk together to a better future. By my side, I have chosen a man with a big heart from a small town. He represents the best of America, a man who will always make us proud – my friend and America’s next Vice President, Paul Ryan.
In the days ahead, you will get to know Paul and Janna better. But last night America got to see what I saw in Paul Ryan – a strong and caring leader who is down to earth and confident in the challenge this moment demands.
I love the way he lights up around his kids and how he’s not embarrassed to show the world how much he loves his mom.
But Paul, I still like the playlist on my iPod better than yours.
Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president. That president was not the choice of our party but Americans always come together after elections. We are a good and generous people who are united by so much more than what divides us.
When that hard fought election was over, when the yard signs came down and the television commercials finally came off the air, Americans were eager to go back to work, to live our lives the way Americans always have – optimistic and positive and confident in the future.
That very optimism is uniquely American.
It is what brought us to America. We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life, the driven ones, the ones who woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life in that place called America could be better.
They came not just in pursuit of the riches of this world but for the richness of this life.
Freedom.
Freedom of religion.
Freedom to speak their mind.
Freedom to build a life.
And yes, freedom to build a business. With their own hands.
This is the essence of the American experience.
We Americans have always felt a special kinship with the future.
When every new wave of immigrants looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty, or knelt down and kissed the shores of freedom just ninety miles from Castro’s tyranny, these new Americans surely had many questions. But none doubted that here in America they could build a better life, that in America their children would be more blessed than they.
But today, four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future.
It is not what we were promised.
Every family in America wanted this to be a time when they could get ahead a little more, put aside a little more for college, do more for their elderly mom who’s living alone now or give a little more to their church or charity.
Every small business wanted these to be their best years ever, when they could hire more, do more for those who had stuck with them through the hard times, open a new store or sponsor that Little League team.
Every new college graduate thought they’d have a good job by now, a place of their own, and that they could start paying back some of their loans and build for the future.
This is when our nation was supposed to start paying down the national debt and rolling back those massive deficits.
This was the hope and change America voted for.
It’s not just what we wanted. It’s not just what we expected.
It’s what Americans deserved.
You deserved it because during these years, you worked harder than ever before. You deserved it because when it cost more to fill up your car, you cut out movie nights and put in longer hours. Or when you lost that job that paid $22.50 an hour with benefits, you took two jobs at 9 bucks an hour and fewer benefits. You did it because your family depended on you. You did it because you’re an American and you don’t quit. You did it because it was what you had to do.
But driving home late from that second job, or standing there watching the gas pump hit 50 dollars and still going, when the realtor told you that to sell your house you’d have to take a big loss, in those moments you knew that this just wasn’t right.
But what could you do? Except work harder, do with less, try to stay optimistic. Hug your kids a little longer; maybe spend a little more time praying that tomorrow would be a better day.
I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. This isn’t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we CAN do something. With your help we will do something.
Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, “I’m an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better. My country deserves better!”
So here we stand. Americans have a choice. A decision.
To make that choice, you need to know more about me and about where I will lead our country.
I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic baby boomer. It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn’t whether we’d get there, it was only when we’d get there.
The soles of Neil Armstrong’s boots on the moon made permanent impressions on OUR souls and in our national psyche. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parent’s sofa. Like all Americans we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world.
God bless Neil Armstrong.
Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us: that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.
That’s how I was brought up.
My dad had been born in Mexico and his family had to leave during the Mexican revolution. I grew up with stories of his family being fed by the US Government as war refugees. My dad never made it through college and apprenticed as a lath and plaster carpenter. And he had big dreams. He convinced my mom, a beautiful young actress, to give up Hollywood to marry him. He moved to Detroit, led a great automobile company and became Governor of the Great State of Michigan.
We were Mormons and growing up in Michigan; that might have seemed unusual or out of place but I really don’t remember it that way. My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to.
My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would BE, and much less about what we would DO.
Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family – and God’s love — this world would be a far more gentle and better place.
Mom and Dad were married 64 years. And if you wondered what their secret was, you could have asked the local florist – because every day Dad gave Mom a rose, which he put on her bedside table. That’s how she found out what happened on the day my father died – she went looking for him because that morning, there was no rose.
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.
As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. Governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.
I grew up in Detroit in love with cars and wanted to be a car guy, like my dad. But by the time I was out of school, I realized that I had to go out on my own, that if I stayed around Michigan in the same business, I’d never really know if I was getting a break because of my dad. I wanted to go someplace new and prove myself.
Those weren’t the easiest of days – too many long hours and weekends working, five young sons who seemed to have this need to re-enact a different world war every night. But if you ask Ann and I what we’d give, to break up just one more fight between the boys, or wake up in the morning and discover a pile of kids asleep in our room. Well, every mom and dad knows the answer to that.
Those days were toughest on Ann, of course. She was heroic. Five boys, with our families a long way away. I had to travel a lot for my job then and I’d call and try to offer support. But every mom knows that doesn’t help get the homework done or the kids out the door to school.
I knew that her job as a mom was harder than mine. And I knew without question, that her job as a mom was a lot more important than mine. And as America saw Tuesday night, Ann would have succeeded at anything she wanted to.
Like a lot of families in a new place with no family, we found kinship with a wide circle of friends through our church. When we were new to the community it was welcoming and as the years went by, it was a joy to help others who had just moved to town or just joined our church. We had remarkably vibrant and diverse congregants from all walks of life and many who were new to America. We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways.
And that’s how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad. It is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives. The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths.
That is the bedrock of what makes America, America. In our best days, we can feel the vibrancy of America’s communities, large and small.
It’s when we see that new business opening up downtown. It’s when we go to work in the morning and see everybody else on our block doing the same.
It’s when our son or daughter calls from college to talk about which job offer they should take….and you try not to choke up when you hear that the one they like is not far from home.
It’s that good feeling when you have more time to volunteer to coach your kid’s soccer team, or help out on school trips.
But for too many Americans, these good days are harder to come by. 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.
The President hasn’t disappointed you because he wanted to. The President has disappointed America because he hasn’t led America in the right direction. He took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have and one that was essential to his task. He had almost no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about government.
I learned the real lessons about how America works from experience.
When I was 37, I helped start a small company. My partners and I had been working for a company that was in the business of helping other businesses.
So some of us had this idea that if we really believed our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies. We should bet on ourselves and on our advice.
So we started a new business called Bain Capital. The only problem was, while WE believed in ourselves, nobody else did. We were young and had never done this before and we almost didn’t get off the ground. In those days, sometimes I wondered if I had made a really big mistake. I had thought about asking my church’s pension fund to invest, but I didn’t. I figured it was bad enough that I might lose my investors’ money, but I didn’t want to go to hell too. Shows what I know. Another of my partners got the Episcopal Church pension fund to invest. Today there are a lot of happy retired priests who should thank him.
That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know. An office supply company called Staples – where I’m pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons. We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised. At a time when nobody thought we’d ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana. Today Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.
These are American success stories. And yet the centerpiece of the President’s entire re-election campaign is attacking success. Is it any wonder that someone who attacks success has led the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression? In America, we celebrate success, we don’t apologize for it.
We weren’t always successful at Bain. But no one ever is in the real world of business.
That’s what this President doesn’t seem to understand. Business and growing jobs is about taking risk, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always striving. It is about dreams. Usually, it doesn’t work out exactly as you might have imagined. Steve Jobs was fired at Apple. He came back and changed the world.
It’s the genius of the American free enterprise system – to harness the extraordinary creativity and talent and industry of the American people with a system that is dedicated to creating tomorrow’s prosperity rather than trying to redistribute today’s.
That is why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction: “you are better off today than you were four years ago.”
Except Jimmy Carter. And except this president.
This president can ask us to be patient.
This president can tell us it was someone else’s fault.
This president can tell us that the next four years he’ll get it right.
But this president cannot tell us that YOU are better off today than when he took office.
America has been patient. Americans have supported this president in good faith.
But today, the time has come to turn the page.
Today the time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us.
To put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations.
To forget about what might have been and to look ahead to what can be.
Now is the time to restore the Promise of America. Many Americans have given up on this president but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America.
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.
In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher, food prices are higher, utility bills are higher, and gasoline prices have doubled. Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before. Nearly one out of six Americans is living in poverty. Look around you. These are not strangers. These are our brothers and sisters, our fellow Americans.
His policies have not helped create jobs, they have depressed them. And this I can tell you about where President Obama would take America:
His plan to raise taxes on small business won’t add jobs, it will eliminate them;
His assault on coal and gas and oil will send energy and manufacturing jobs to China;
His trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk;
His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today’s seniors, and depress innovation – and jobs – in medicine.
And his trillion-dollar deficits will slow our economy, restrain employment, and cause wages to stall.
To the majority of Americans who now believe that the future will not be better than the past, I can guarantee you this: if Barack Obama is re-elected, you will be right.
I am running for president to help create a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find one. Where no senior fears for the security of their retirement. An America where every parent knows that their child will get an education that leads them to a good job and a bright horizon.
And unlike the President, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. It has 5 steps.
First, by 2020, North America will be energy independent by taking full advantage of our oil and coal and gas and nuclear and renewables.
Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow. When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.
Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements. And when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences.
Fourth, to assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget.
And fifth, we will champion SMALL businesses, America’s engine of job growth. That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them. It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small business the most. And it means that we must rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare by repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Today, women are more likely than men to start a business. They need a president who respects and understands what they do.
And let me make this very clear – unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class.
As president, I will protect the sanctity of life. I will honor the institution of marriage. And I will guarantee America’s first liberty: the freedom of religion.
President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise…is to help you and your family.
I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour. America, he said, had dictated to other nations. No Mr. President, America has freed other nations from dictators.
Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order, and Seal Team Six took out Osama bin Laden. But on another front, every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran’s nuclear threat.
In his first TV interview as president, he said we should talk to Iran. We’re still talking, and Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning.
President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus, even as he has relaxed sanctions on Castro’s Cuba. He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments, but is eager to give Russia’s President Putin the flexibility he desires, after the election. Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.
We will honor America’s democratic ideals because a free world is a more peaceful world. This is the bipartisan foreign policy legacy of Truman and Reagan. And under my presidency we will return to it once again.
You might have asked yourself if these last years are really the America we want, the America won for us by the greatest generation.
Does the America we want borrow a trillion dollars from China? No.
Does it fail to find the jobs that are needed for 23 million people and for half the kids graduating from college? No.
Are its schools lagging behind the rest of the developed world? No.
And does the America we want succumb to resentment and division? We know the answer.
The America we all know has been a story of the many becoming one, uniting to preserve liberty, uniting to build the greatest economy in the world, uniting to save the world from unspeakable darkness.
Everywhere I go in America, there are monuments that list those who have given their lives for America. There is no mention of their race, their party affiliation, or what they did for a living. They lived and died under a single flag, fighting for a single purpose. They pledged allegiance to the UNITED States of America.
That America, that united America, can unleash an economy that will put Americans back to work, that will once again lead the world with innovation and productivity, and that will restore every father and mother’s confidence that their children’s future is brighter even than the past.
That America, that united America, will preserve a military that is so strong, no nation would ever dare to test it.
That America, that united America, will uphold the constellation of rights that were endowed by our Creator, and codified in our Constitution.
That united America will care for the poor and the sick, will honor and respect the elderly, and will give a helping hand to those in need.
That America is the best within each of us. That America we want for our children.
If I am elected President of these United States, I will work with all my energy and soul to restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it, our nation depends upon it, the peace and freedom of the world require it. And with your help we will deliver it. Let us begin that future together tonight.

– –

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing at the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney

COMPLETE TEXT: MARCO RUBIO’S SPEECH TO THE GOP CONVENTION

Posted on | August 30, 2012 | 6 Comments

TAMPA, Florida
Text provided by the Republican National Convention:

In 1980, I watched my first Republican convention with my grandfather.
He was born to a farming family in rural Cuba. Childhood polio left him permanently disabled.
Because he couldn’t work the farm, his family sent him to school, and he became the only one in the family who could read.
As a boy, I would sit on our porch and listen to his stories about history, politics and baseball while he puffed on one of his three daily Padron cigars.
I don’t recall everything we talked about, but the one thing I remember, is the one thing he wanted me to never forget. The dreams he had when he was young became impossible to achieve.
But there was no limit to how far I could go, because I was an American.
For those of us who were born and raised in this country, it’s easy to forget how special America is. But my grandfather understood how different America is from the rest of the world, because he knew what life was like outside America.
Tonight, you’ll hear from another man who understands what makes America exceptional.
Mitt Romney knows America’s prosperity didn’t happen because our government simply spent more. It happened because our people used their own money to open a business. And when they succeed, they hire more people, who then invest or spend their money in the economy, helping others start a business and create jobs.
Mitt Romney’s success in business is well known. But he’s more than that.
He’s a devoted husband, father and grandfather. A generous member of his community and church.
Everywhere he’s been, he’s volunteered his time and talent to make things better for those around him.
We are blessed that soon, he will be the president of the United States.
Our problem with President Obama isn’t that he’s a bad person. By all accounts, he too is a good husband, and a good father — and thanks to lots of practice, a pretty good golfer.
Our problem is he’s a bad president.
The new slogan for the president’s campaign is “Forward.”
A government that spends $1 trillion more than it takes in.
An $800 billion stimulus that created more debt than jobs.
A government intervention into health care paid for with higher taxes and cuts to Medicare.
Scores of new rules and regulations.
These ideas don’t move us “Forward,” they take us “Backwards.”
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.
Under Barack Obama, the only “Change” is that “Hope” has been hard to find.
Now millions of Americans are insecure about their future. But instead of inspiring us by reminding us of what makes us special, he divides us against each other.
He tells Americans they’re worse off because others are better off. That people got rich by making others poor.
Hope and Change has become Divide and Conquer.
No matter how you feel about President Obama, this election is about your future, not his. And it’s not simply a choice between a Democrat and a Republican.
It’s a choice about what kind of country we want America to be.
As we prepare to make this choice, we should remember what made us special. For most of history almost everyone was poor. Power and wealth belonged to only a few.
Your rights were whatever your rulers allowed you to have. Your future was determined by your past.
If your parents were poor, so would you be. If you were born without opportunities, so were your children.
But America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights. That power belongs to the people. That government exists to protect our rights and serve our interests.
That we shouldn’t be trapped in the circumstances of our birth. That we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.
We are special because we’ve been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We’re bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have.
Special, because we’ve never made the mistake of believing that we are so smart that we can rely solely on our leaders or our government.
Our national motto is “In God we Trust,” reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most important American value of all.
And special because we’ve always understood the scriptural admonition that “for everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required.”
We are a blessed people. And we have honored those blessings with the enduring example of an exceptional America.
I know that for so many of you, these last few years have tested your faith in the promise of America.
Maybe you are at an age when you thought you would be entering retirement. But now, because your savings and investments are wiped out, your future is uncertain.
Maybe, after years of hard work, this was the time you expected to be your prime earning years. But instead, you’ve been laid off, and your house is worth less than your mortgage.
Maybe you did everything you were told you needed to do to get ahead. You studied hard and finished school. But now, you owe thousands of dollars in student loans. You can’t find a job in your field. And you’ve moved back in with your parents.
You want to believe we’re still that place where anything is possible. But things just don’t seem to be getting better. And you are starting to wonder if things will ever be the same again.
Yes, we live in a troubled time. But the story of those who came before us reminds us that America has always been about new beginnings.
And Mitt Romney is running for president because he knows that if we are willing to do for our children what our parents did for us, life in America can be better than it has ever been.
My mother was one of seven girls whose parents went to bed hungry so their children wouldn’t. My father lost his mother when he was nine. He left school and went to work for the next 70 years.
They emigrated to America with little more than the hope of a better life.
My dad was a bartender. My mom was a cashier, a maid and a stock clerk at K-Mart. They never made it big. They were never rich. And yet they were successful. Because just a few decades removed from hopelessness, they made possible for us all the things that had been impossible for them.
Many nights I heard my father’s keys jingling at the door as he came home after another 16-hour day. Many mornings, I woke up just as my mother got home from the overnight shift at K-Mart
When you’re young, the meaning of moments like these escapes you. But now, as my own children get older, I understand it better.
My Dad used to tell us: “En este pais, ustedes van a poder lograr todas las cosas que nosotros no pudimos” “In this country, you will be able to accomplish all the things we never could.”
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.
We’re special because dreams that are impossible anywhere else, come true here.
That’s not just my story. That’s your story. That’s our story.
It’s the story of your mother who struggled to give you what she never had.
It’s the story of your father who worked two jobs so doors closed for him would open for you.
The story of that teacher or that coach who taught you the lessons that shaped who you are today.
And it’s the story of a man who was born into an uncertain future in a foreign country. His family came to America to escape revolution.
They struggled through poverty and the great depression. And yet he rose to be an admired businessman, and public servant.
And in November, his son, Mitt Romney, will be elected President of the United States.
We are all just a generation or two removed from someone who made our future the purpose of their lives.
America is the story of everyday people who did extraordinary things. A story woven deep into the fabric of our society.
Their stories may never be famous, but in the lives they lived, you find the living essence of America’s greatness. To make sure America is still a place where tomorrow is always better than yesterday, that is what our politics should be about.
And that is what we are deciding in this election.
Do we want our children to inherit our hopes and dreams, or do we want them to inherit our problems?
Mitt Romney believes that if we succeed in changing the direction of our country, our children and grandchildren will be the most prosperous generation ever, and their achievements will astonish the world.
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.

Category: Fear and Loathing at the Republican National Convention, Marco Rubio

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