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Friday, August 31, 2012

Video and Transcript: Marco Rubio Full Speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention

By Susan Duclos

Marco Rubio introduced Mitt Romney on the last day of the 2012 Republican National Convention, after a crowd pleasing speech that showed clearly why Rubio is a rising star in the Republican Party.

[WATCH]



Transcript as prepared for delivery:

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.

Introducing Mitt- The Romney Biographical Tribute Aired At The 2012 Republican Convention

By Susan Duclos

It is just over 10 minutes long but it introduces Mitt Romney to those out there that are not political junkies and covers his memories of his father, to his marriage to Ann Romney, to his children and finally his career.

For those that know his name, but only have the impressions left from campaign ads for or against him, this touching biographical tribute will fill in some blanks about Mitt Romney, the man, the son, the husband and the father.

Meet Mitt:




Anti-Obama Billboards In Massachusetts Causing Controversy

By Susan Duclos

CBS Boston reports, video below:



The first sentence of the written report asks " Free speech or offensive?"

The thing about free speech is that it is free speech even if it is offensive, it is not an either or proposition.

One might find it offensive to see a child flipping the bird, then again, I am offended almost every time a far far left progressive liberal opens their trap and spews nonsense, but I will fight for their right to say it under free speech even if I am exercising my right of free speech when I call it idiotic.

Billboard signs at business in busy area of Hanson, Mass., below:





Media Disrespects An 82 Yr Old Living Legend, Clint Eastwood, For Mocking Obama- Go To Hell Media

By Susan Duclos

Clint Eastwood spoke at the 2012 Republican Convention, his speech video and transcript can be found HERE.

The media, not having a sense of humor when it comes to their love child, Barack Obama, is full of criticisms, calling his speech rambling, but the audience loved him, cheered him, treated him with the respect an 82 year old living legend deserved.

The best take down of the media's idiocy and lack of being able to handle a joke about their hero, Obama, comes from John Nolte:

All I can say in response is: Go to hell you Obama-shilling crybabies. Eastwood showed more grit and honestly in those few minutes than you water carriers have during your entire propaganda-for-the-collective careers.
What Eastwood did tonight was funnier, fresher, edgier,  and braver than anything those comedy cowards Chris Rock, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert have done in 15 years.
82 years-old, and Dirty Harry is still pissing all the right people off.
My hero.

Nolte also rightly points out that Eastwood not only had the crowd eating out of his hand, but he reminded the country of one basic fact that Liberals, Obama and Democrats and the liberal media really doesn't want America to rememer.

From the transcript of Eastwood's remarks:

Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we -- we own this country.
(APPLAUSE)
We -- we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.
(APPLAUSE)
And -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just think it is important that you realize , that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.


You don't disrespect an 82 year old just because you don't like his message. My parents always taught me to respect my elders whether I agreed with them or not. Disagree with the message but don't disrespect the man.

[Update] An additional thought- If the media, or liberals think for one second that the voters out there old enough to remember Eastwood's early career are going to appreciate for one second the tacky, classless way they are treating him, they are even more deluded than I thought. [End Update]

[Update #2] The Morning Spew has managed to capture the essence of Eastwood's brilliance:

In less than fifteen minutes, Eastwood  managed to entertainingly address many of the major failings of the Obama administration.  That alone was impressive, but more importantly was the way Clint, using a hilarious delivery combined with deadpan serious criticisms of the Obama administration, manages to address those whom I like to call the ”prodigal voters.”  Prodigal voters are  those voters who were enticed by Obama’s promises of “hope and change” and “yes, we can,” and other absurdities.  Prodigal voters are not necessarily traditional swing voters who tend vote on issues and facts, but rather those 2008 Obama  who voted based upon their heartfelt emotions.  Eastwood understands this, he masterfully seeks them out and beckons them back to the Republican fold, no matter what their party affiliation.  He  directly interacts with them in a playful, personal way and squarely hits his mark with his oratorical fatted calf – no hard feelings,  we’re just happy to have you back.

What is most humorous is that by presenting in a seemingly unscripted manner, Eastwood masterfully uses his craft to interact with all voters in a playful, personal way.  His performance caught the liberal main stream media off guard because they didn’t understand the intent of his speech, and so in their haste to destroy all things Romney, they’ve dutifully trashed Eastwood’s appearance.  What the liberal pundits do not realize (yet) is that by trashing Mr. Eastwood speech, they have simply helped to bring more attention to Eastwood’s message: Obama must go.

Well-played, Mr. Eastwood, well-played, indeed.

Clint Eastwood has won 4 Oscars. Another 126 wins and 86 nominations and has been entertaining Americans from 1955 to 2012, see IMDB history of Eastwood's career.

170 Greatest Clint Eastwood Quotes



Now I will admit there is one thing Clint Eastwood shouldn't have done in his career, no not the Chrysler thing, but he really, really shouldn't have talked to the trees!

[WATCH]



(Headline corrected)

Pat and Ted Oparowski Detail Mitt Romney's Kindness Toward Their Dying Son

By Susan Duclos

One of the most touching moments of the 2012 Republican National Convention came from an older couple who valiantly came onto the stage to tell their heartbreaking story of a dying child, their child and the kindness, the goodness and support that Mitt Romney offered not just them, but their baby boy, David.

Video below, watch



Pat Oparowski talks about the loving friendship Mitt Romney developed with her dying son David, remembering "David, knowing Mitt had gone to law school at Harvard, asked Mitt if he would help him write a will.  He had some prize possessions that he wanted to make sure were given to his closest friends and family.  The next time Mitt went to the hospital, he was equipped with his yellow legal pad and pen.  Together, they made David’s will.  That is a task that no child should ever have to do.  But it gave David peace of mind.  So after David’s death, we were able to give his skateboard, his model rockets, and his fishing gear to his best friends.  He also made it clear that his brother Peter should get his Ruger .22 rifle.  How many men do you know who would take the time out of their busy lives to visit a terminally ill 14 year old and help him settle his affairs?”

David also helped us plan his funeral. He wanted to be buried in his Boy Scout uniform.  He wanted Mitt to pronounce his eulogy, and Mitt was there to honor that request.  We will be ever grateful to Mitt for his love and concern."

 Ted Oparowski summed it up nicely when he said "You cannot measure a man’s character based on the words he utters before adoring crowds during times that are happy. The true measure of a man is revealed in his actions during times of trouble — the quiet hospital room of a dying boy, with no cameras and no reporters."

These are the life experiences and stories that Mitt Romney doesn't personally talk about, yet they are a tribute to Romney's kindness behind the scenes when there was no political gain to be had from it.

This couple did not have to come forward in front of thousands of attendees or millions of television viewers. They did not have to reopen that wound which will truly never heal.

Like the rest of America though, they have seen and heard Romney critics and opponents portray him as a heartless businessman, claiming his wealth disconnects him from people like the Oparowski's, yet a man, Romney, who walks into a dying 14 year old's hospital room with a yellow legal pad to help him write out his will, sure doesn't sound like a man disconnected.

I supported others against Romney in the GOP primaries although I always said any of those candidates would do a better job than Barack Obama.

The Republican Convention gave me the one thing I didn't have before the convention and that was a look into the man behind the politician.

After seeing the personal stories, the tributes and especially the heart and soul of Romney that these two still-grieving parents described, I do not support him just because he is the GOP candidate that won the nomination, but now I support him because in a time of tragedy, in a time of uncertainty, in a time of hopelessness, Romney is the man I would want as a friend and a neighbor.

The country already knew Mitt Romney was a businessman who understood the challenges that face America and has the capabilities to address those challenges, but now the country has been shown the heart, the soul and the empathy behind that business persona.


[Update] The Oparowski's weren't the only parents describing the heart, soul and kindness of Mitt and Ann Romney.

Watch Pam Finlayson as she shares her family's tragedy and how the Romney's were there for her as well.


Canada boots out another US Army deserter

Kimberly Rivera, an American who volunteered for the US Army in a time of war, and then decided she didn't like war, moved to Canada in 2007. She now faces deportation back to the US.

From the Toronto Sun:

TORONTO - The first female U.S. soldier to seek refuge in Canada rather than return to duty in Iraq is facing deportation, a group that advocates for her said on Thursday.
Kimberly Rivera, a 30-year-old private who served three months in Iraq and came to Canada while on leave in 2007, has been ordered out of the country, said Michelle Robidoux, spokeswoman with the War Resisters Support Campaign.

“She developed an opposition to what was going on in Iraq based on her experience in Iraq,” Robidoux said.

Rivera, who has been living in Toronto with her partner and four children, could face jail time in the United States....

I have never understood WHY you would volunteer to be a soldier in war time if you don't agree with - approve of - going to war. What did she think she would be doing? Basketweaving?
Read more on the latest claimant of the "I'm not too smart medal" here.

Army Times is also running this story here, and is worth reading for the comments if nothing else.

Video and Transcript- Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican Convention Speech

By Susan Duclos

The video has been added.

[WATCH]



Below is the transcript of Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican National Convention Acceptance Speech, as prepared for delivery:

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.

May God Bless You. May God Bless the American People. And May God Bless the United States of America.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Video- Clint Eastwood 2012 Republican National Convention Speech: 'We Own This Country'

By Susan Duclos

The video and transcript of Clint Eastwood's speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention, below.

[WATCH]


Transcript:

EASTWOOD: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Save a little for Mitt.
(APPLAUSE)
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what's a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. At least that is what people think. That is not really the case. There are a lot of  conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it.
(APPLAUSE)
So -- but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw John Voigt, a lot of people around.
(APPLAUSE)
John's here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us. So I -- so I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he's -- I was going to ask him a couple of questions. But -- you know about -- I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I was not a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles.
They were saying, I just thought, this was great.
Everybody is trying, Oprah was crying.
(LAUGHTER)
EASTWOOD: I was even crying. And then finally -- and I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million unemployed people in this country.
(APPLAUSE)
Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven't done enough, obviously -- this administration hasn't done enough to cure that. Whenever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.
(APPLAUSE)
So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle them?
I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just -- you know -- I know -- people were wondering -- you don't -- handle that OK.
Well, I know even people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo -- why close that, we spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse -- what do you mean shut up?
(LAUGHTER)
OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City.
(APPLAUSE)
I've got to to hand it to you. I have to give credit where credit is due. You did finally overrule that finally. And that's -- now we are moving onward. I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that's okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK.
You know, I mean -- you thought that was something worth doing. We didn't check with the Russians to see how did it -- they did there for 10 years.
(APPLAUSE)
But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to maybe -- I think you've  mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, "Why are you giving the date out now?
Why don't you just bring them home tomorrow morning?"
(APPLAUSE)
And I thought -- I thought, yeah -- I am not going to shut up, it is my turn.
(LAUGHTER)
So anyway, we're going to have -- we're going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises -- I wondered about when the -- what do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself.
(APPLAUSE)
You're crazy, you're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
Of course we all now Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party.
(LAUGHTER)
Kind of a grin with a body behind it.
(LAUGHTER)
But I just think that there is so much to be done, and I think that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can   come along.
See, I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to the president, anyway.
(APPLAUSE)
I think attorneys are so busy -- you know they're always taught to argue everything, and always weight everything -- weigh both sides. They are always devil's advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. You know all that stuff.
But, I think it is maybe time -- what do you think -- for maybe a businessman. How about that?
(APPLAUSE)
A stellar businessman. Quote, unquote, "a stellar businessman."
And I think it's that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane.
(APPLAUSE)
Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.
(APPLAUSE)
You are an -- an ecological man. Why would you want to drive that around?
OK, well anyway. All right, I'm sorry. I can't do that to myself either.
(APPLAUSE)
I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen.
Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we -- we own this country.
(APPLAUSE)
We -- we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.
(APPLAUSE)
And -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just think it is important that you realize , that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.
(APPLAUSE)
Okay, just remember that. And I'm speaking out for everybody out there. It doesn't hurt, we don't have to be
(AUDIENCE MEMBER): (inaudible)
(LAUGHTER)
I do not say that word anymore. Well, maybe one last time.
(LAUGHTER)
We don't have to be -- what I'm saying, we do not have to be metal (ph) masochists and vote for somebody that we don't really even want in office just because they seem to be nice guys or maybe not so nice guys, if you look at some of the recent ads going out there, I don't know.
(APPLAUSE)
But OK. You want to make my day?
(APPLAUSE)
All right. I started, you finish it. Go ahead.
AUDIENCE: Make my day!
EASTWOOD: Thank you. Thank you very much.
END


[Update] The Romney campaign issued this statement on Eastwood's speech: "Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change."

[Update] Via Fox News:

Minutes after Eastwood began his speech, someone created the @InvisibleObama account on Twitter. It already has 17,000 followers and counting.

[Update] Followup with the media's complete lack of respect for this living legend.

Pushing Back Against Obama's Attacks, Romney Highlights 'Sterling' Business Success' As A Good Thing

By Susan Duclos

After months of Barack Obama attacking Mitt Romney's successes in the private sector, Romney is starting his push back, spotlighting those successes with a new website Romney's "Sterling Business Career."

Holding them up as something to be proud of, not something to be attacked for.

The name references comments made by former President Bill Clinton when Obama starting attacking Romny's business success, when Clinton told CNN "I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work. The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."

Testimonials on the Romney's "Sterling Business Career" site include; Former Staples Executive Ed Albertian, Former Staples Executive Jim MacDonald, Steel Dynamics Co-Founder Keith Busse, Alliance Laundry Executives Bruce Rounds, Bob Baudhuin, And Scott Gaster, Former Brookstone CEO Michael Anthony, Former Wesley Jessen Employee Ray Fernandez, GoCom CEO Ric Gorman, Former GT Bicycles CEO Mike Haynes, Former Bain & Company Consulting Employees Janice Aughe And Kathy Iannaco.

(See video testimonials HERE)

From the site:

Building Businesses, Creating Jobs

Governor Romney's time at Bain Capital was spent fixing struggling businesses and giving new businesses a shot at success. From 1984, when Romney co-founded the firm, to February 1999 when he left to lead the Olympics, Romney helped save thousands of jobs at companies that were in trouble. And the businesses Romney helped start while at Bain Capital employ more than 100,000 people today.

Since Bain Capital's founding, the company has had a remarkable record of success, especially considering that it largely invests with struggling or startup enterprises. Eighty percent of Bain Capital's portfolio companies have increased revenues, and only five percent of the companies under its control have filed for bankruptcy. Romney's work not only helped to save and create jobs, it also provided returns to investors, the majority of which were pension funds for retirees, university endowments helping with financial aid, and charities serving their local communities.

This experience helped Romney fix a scandal-plagued and debt-ridden Olympics in 2002 and to fix a budget shortfall in Massachusetts. He knows how to provide strong leadership in challenging times, and he will bring that experience with him to the White House to fix America's broken economy and to create jobs for the millions of Americans who are out of work.

The Obama campaign's attacks on business and free enterprise aren't just false; they explain why we aren't creating jobs. They reveal what this President really thinks about free enterprise. This is the most anti-business President in memory, and the results are clear: 23 million Americans are struggling for work, and unemployment has been above eight percent for 42 straight months. It's time to make a change to someone who understands the private sector and can get America working again.

Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg tells The Hill in an email:

 This is a part of the story of success and renewal that the American people will see tonight at the convention, and it is a part of the success that President Obama has been falsely attacking in hopes of keeping his job.

Barack Obama failed to define Mitt Romney despite million upon millions spent attempting to do so and now it is Mitt Romney's turn to tell America who he is, what he has done, what he plans to do and how he plans to do it and why he believes he is uniquely qualified to accomplish those goals.

[Update] Pew Research finds that the top four words people use to describe Mitt Romney, in order are "honest, Business/Businessman, Rich and good."

This is after the tens of millions Obama spent to try to define him.


Chuck Todd: Democrats Wish They Had The Same Diversity Of Speakers As The GOP- Liberals Attack

By Susan Duclos

HEH

Liberal TPM writer says Chuck Todd is "one of the more knowledgable and sensible people in political journalism."

[Watch Chuck Todd]



 "By the way, Democrats wish they had the diversity of speakers and deep bench to show America. When you think about the Democrats finding — they wanted a keynote speaker that was Hispanic and they had to dig inside a red state to find an Hispanic mayor, where last night [New Mexico Gov.] Susana Martinez [spoke]. Before that, we had [Nevada Gov.] Brian Sandoval, [Florida Sen.] Marco Rubio, [Texas Senate candidate] Ted Cruz."

One thing the Republican Party has is a lot of elected officials to help deal with this issue of going against the grain on the fact that they’re mostly a white — their support base is a white, southern part of the party. The face of the Republican Party — the elected leaders — Democrats wish they had that diversity."--- Chuck Todd, in above video

Same Liberal TPM writer, on the same post, says "this has to rank as one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard anyone say."

Guess Todd is only "knowledgeable and sensible" when he is spewing Democratic talking points about how Republicans have no diversity or support from minorities and women.

Heaven help him if he actually points out how many speakers the GOP were able to produce that show diversity in comparison to what the DNC has scheduled.

Question to ponder: Since Democrats do have more minorities in Congress, why didn't and/or couldn't they manage to slate more diversity and instead are focusing on women?




Democratic Pollster Finds Romney Leads Obama With Independents By Over 15 Percentage Points

By Susan Duclos

Hot Air points to Suitably Flip and RCP , both of which list the Democratic leaning pollster, Democracy Corps, polling figures, which shows that Mitt Romney is leading Barack Obama among Independents by over 15 points with leaners and nearly 14 points without leaners.



Recently Third Way delved into voter registration in key battleground states, and their findings show just how important Independents voters are going to be in the 2012 elections.

With both parties about to head to key battleground states for their National Conventions, the time is ripe to delve into how these states—and 6 other crucial battlegrounds—have changed since the last time around. In our newest analysis of the numbers in the 8 presidential battleground states with partisan voter registration, we find:
  • Democratic registration is down 800,329, or 5.2%;
  • Republican registration is down 78,985, or 0.7%; and,
  • Independent registration is up 486,677, or 6.4%.

Keep in mind that in 2008, In 2008,  Obama won 52 percent of independent voters.

Romney has been pulling ahead of Obama among Independents for months according to different polling organizations.

In mid-April Gallup found Romney ahead of Obama with Independents by six points, 45 percent to 39 percent.

By the end of April, beginning of May,  a POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll had Romney over Obama among Independents by 10 percentage points, 48 percent to 38 percent.

As of August 9-12, 2012, Gallup found that 42 percent self identify as Independents, 29 percent as Democrats and 26 percent as Republicans.

"The Obama Independents are the real heart of the contest for 2012. If President Obama wins the bulk of the Obama Independents, he’ll be reelected; but if the Republican nominee can peel off enough votes, he’ll be number 45."---- Third Way: 2012 Showdown 





Giggle Worthy: According To Chris Matthews, Hardball Panel, Talking About 'Chicago' Is Racist!!!

By Susan Duclos

From Chris Matthews, the Liberal most obsessed with the color of Barack Obama's skin, NewsBusters has caught the latest absurd claim of racism:

Robinson sets the racial tone by saying (h/t The Right Newz):
"It's all part of this Barack Obama as 'other' sort of blanket campaign that has been waged by the Republican Party for some time now.  It may be gaining some traction now, though I wonder why now as opposed to a bit closer to election."
Matthews then demonstrates his mind-numbing ability to take an idiotic statement, amplify it, and subsequently make it exponentially more idiotic coming from his mouth, when he said this:
"Yea, well let me ask you about that gentleman.  What about now, is this constant barrage of assaults, saying the guy is basically playing an old game of demagoguery politics, where you take the money from the worker bees and give it to the poor people to buy votes.  That's basically what they're charging him with. Old big-style, big-city machine of 50 years ago."
He added, "They keep saying Chicago by the way, have you noticed?  They keep saying Chicago.  That's another thing that sends that message - this guy's helping the poor people in the bad neighborhoods, screwing us in the 'burbs."

Hielemann helpfully interpreted Matthews statement, presumably for those too challenged to understand basic words (or as we in the business refer to them - Hardball viewers), by making this jaw-dropping statement:
"There's a lot of black people in Chicago."
Yes, because referring to the city of Chicago would have nothing to do with trying to link the President to a long, storied history of corruption.  It simply has to be in reference to all of the black people living there.

By the way, Mr. Hielemann, there are a lot of black people in Chicago.  Guess what, though?  There are even more white people.

According to the Census Bureau in 2010, the percentage of African-Americans in the city of Chicago was roughly 32.9%.  The percentage of whites?  45.0%.

Read the rest, NewsBusters has the video up and examples of MSNBC, which hosts the race obsessed Matthews and company, linking corruption with Chicago themselves!

 JWF, in reaction, uses words like deranged and schmuck in reference to Matthews.

Agreed.

Robert Stacy McCain gets my vote for Quote of the Day:

What is so profoundly offensive about the unethical and dishonest behavior of Chris Matthews, Joan Walsh and other such Democrat sockpuppets is that they won’t admit who they are and what they’re doing. They are not independent journalists, they’re partisan publicists, yet they expect to be taken seriously as reporters when they can’t even be bothered to do a Google search and find out when a factory closed.

They are a disgrace to the profession to which they claim to belong. Truth matters. Truth is precious and powerful. Liars are a dime a dozen.

Come on Mr. McCain, tells us what you really think!

 Townhall catches up with Representative Allen West for his reaction to Matthews and he seems to think Chris "thrill up my leg" Matthews is "off his medications" or "off the rails," and shows the "desperation" on the other side.

I respectfully disagree with Congressman West, his answers implies that Matthews ever started his meds or was ever on the rails and that, in and of itself, is debatable.

Video- Condoleezza Rice's 2012 Republican Convention Speech

By Susan Duclos

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

[WATCH]


Reports from last night on television said she gave her whole speech without a teleprompter and just used her notes.

[Update] Transcript HERE

Liberals Completely Freak Out Over Paul Ryan's Successful Convention Speech- Reactions And More

By Susan Duclos

Paul Ryan's acceptance speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention has liberals up in arms and fact checkers playing fast and lose about what the meaning of the words "promise" and "effectively" actually mean in reference to Ryan's Janesvill GM statement within the speech..

Reactions to Ryan's speech by voters, other that the Liberal freak-fest that is, have been  assertions that he rocked the house to statements that he has won over their support.

(Video and transcript of Ryan's speech HERE)

Paul Ryan said:

President Barack Obama, came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two.  Those are very tough days.  And any fair measure of his record has to take that into account.  My own state voted for President Obama.  When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it.

Especially in Janesville where we were about to lose a major factory.  A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that G.M. plant.  Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, “I believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years.”

That’s what he said in 2008.  Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year.  It is locked up and empty to this day.....

Obama's exact quote at the Janesville plant:

This can be America’s future.  I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday, and I know how hard your Governor has fought to keep jobs in this plant.  But I also know how much progress you’ve made – how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out.  And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.  The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive.  I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President. 

Does that sound like a campaign promise from Obama, who at the time was running for President and stumping at that very Janesville, WI. GM plant?

Not according to the fact checkers, but we will get to that after seeing a few facts about exactly when the Janseville plant closed.

Janesville GM plant facts:

Local news report from April 2009 which states that production continued into 2009 on trucks. (YouTube clip of that report HERE)


JS Online, 2011:

Since they were shut down in 2009, both the Janesville and Tennessee plants have been on standby status, meaning they were not producing vehicles, but they were not completely shut down.
[.....]
The Janesville plant stopped production of SUVs in 2008 and was idled in 2009 after it completed production of medium-duty trucks.

February 2009, Gazette Extra: (H/T Hot Air)

Full-size sport utility vehicle production has ended at the local General Motors plant, but medium-duty truck production is continuing—not starting—in Janesville.

And it likely will continue into May, when the lights finally go off in the facility that has been producing vehicles since 1923.

When GM officials announced last June that SUV production would cease in Janesville, they also said that medium-duty truck production would conclude by the end of 2009, or sooner if market conditions dictate.

Does that sound like the plant was completely closed or "locked up and empty" in 2008?

PolitiFact rated Ryan's claim as false with this statement:

Ryan said Obama broke his promise to keep a Wisconsin GM plant from closing. But we don't see evidence he explicitly made such a promise -- and more importantly, the Janesville plant shut down before he took office.
Then you have Wapo's Glenn Kessler who gets out his crystal "balls" and decides that what Ryan actually meant was that Obama was responsible for the closing, as he states "Paul Ryan appeared to suggest that President Obama was responsible for the closing of a GM plant in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisc."

Really?

What Ryan said was that Obama did not keep his 2008 campaign promise to save the plant, not that he was responsible for the closing it, which was slated before Obama took office, which is why he campaigned at Janesville in the first place, to promise that he could save "that plant" and others like it, which he did not do.

I gather it all depends on what their definition of promise is.

Also according to the Janesville facts from the local news reports and followup the JS Online report from September 2011, the plant was not "locked up and empty" until months after Obama took office.

Liberals like Ezra Klein took the ball and ran with it and the Twitchy Team takes him to the woodshed:

That is not only really bad grammar, but it is also factually incorrect. The plant began to wind down operations in December 2008. It shut down in the spring of 2009. You may recall that the president at the time was Barack Obama, not George W. Bush.

Matthews linked to a New York Times article that  flatly contradicts the claim that the plant shut down in June 2008. The article, written in October 2008, said the Janesville plant “is a shadow of its former self” but still had 1,200 employees. Yes, the plant was still operational in October 2008. Which means it hadn’t yet shut down. How, then, could the plant have closed in June 2008, as Klein’s blog stated?

Rather than correct the mistake, MSNBC’s newest “fast checker” doubled down, standing by the incorrect assertion.

But Klein insists there was no error, this time linking to a PolitiFact article to prove his point. The PolitiFact article asserts that the plant was “effectively” shut down on December 23, 2008 but acknowledges that he plant did not actually close until four months later.

More from Twitchy here.

Reason's Shikha Dalmia succinctly states the real reasons Liberals have gone nuts and attempted to change history and play fast and loose with the meaning of "promise" and "effectively" vs a true shut down where the plant is actually "locked and empty".

Paul Ryan must have hit a home run last night – otherwise liberals wouldn’t be going bonkers right now. No sooner did he move his tingle-inducing chassis off the stage than the liberal blogosphere erupted in outrage, accusing him of being a maligner and a liar. 

Exactly, Ryan's speech was a home run. The crowd loved him, he often looked directly at the cameras and spoke to every individual not there but who was watching, especially conservative Democrats that have lost faith in Obama, Independents that have a choice to make by November and Moderate Republicans who are still on the fence. To top it off, he energized the Republican base.

REACTIONS

Reactions have been great so far, for example, Jennifer Morrison from Yahoo contributor network says "My favorite line was about college graduates in their 20s in their childhood bedrooms staring at faded Obama posters, wondering when their life would begin. I had my college graduate home in her childhood bedroom last year. The humor but also hopelessness of that hit home!

 "For me, Ryan embodied the hopes and dreams of young parents, wondering how they will pass along to their children a better way of life."

Lyn Brooks states " I am one of the unemployed in that line. Ryan's speech reminds me that President Obama has held 106 fundraisers and played golf during the last six months without meeting with his jobs creation council. I think I am becoming tired of "standing in line."

Freddy Sherman, Independent, writes " One part of the speech that did resonate with me was when he said, "For those who feel left out or passed, over, you have not failed. Your leaders have failed you."

 Josh McKinney "I may not yet be sold on Mitt Romney for president, but one thing is for sure: I am sold on Paul Ryan for vice president.

On Wednesday night at the
2012 Republican National Convention, Ryan was charming, witty, and downright truthful.

Ryan appealed to young voters--like myself--who are concerned whether they will find a job once they graduate college. He said, "College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life."


Ryan also showed a flare of coolness when talking about how Mitt Romney, 23 years his senior, has much different music on his iPod, citing that "my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin."


Finally, Paul Ryan made me breathe a little easier concerning Romney's religion. While I am no advocate of Mormonism, the fact that Romney is devoted to his church is a positive trait that he can take to the White House.



Thank you, Paul Ryan, for restoring my faith in the Republican Party."

D. Emile Delaney "I must admit Ryan grabbed my attention and simply refused to let go. I knew very little about him until tonight. I feel a little more clearly about his platform and what he feels Mitt Romney could potentially do if in office. As of this moment, the GOP has a strong lead with my vote."

William Ray Fullmer "His speech gave me hope that with Mitt Romney's business acumen and Ryan's determination for real government change, together they will provide the leadership we need to steer our economic future onto a course of prosperity."

Morris Armstrong "Ryan took the time to bring to our attention that it is good to be successful, that accomplishing good things is something Americans should be proud of and strive to accomplish. Unfortunately, it seems as if some people feel that being successful is cause for shame.

I thought Ryan was displaying his Irish sense of humor when he said, "College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life." But then I realized it has become a stark reality for many and their futures need to be addressed.

A Romney-Ryan ticket may take us to a better destination."

The fact that "Obama Camp Melts Down Over Ryan's Speech", is evidence of the effectiveness of Paul Ryan when he speaks.


(Spelling and grammatical corrections have been made- should know better than to write before my second cup of coffee!!)

Video and Transcript- Paul Ryan Acceptance Speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention

By Susan Duclos

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) accepts the Republican Vice Presidential nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay Times Forum.

[WATCH]



Transcript of vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan's speech as prepared for delivery at the Republican National Convention: 

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the United States.

I accept the duty to help lead our nation out of a jobs crisis and back to prosperity – and I know we can do this.

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 meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words. After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney.

I'm the newcomer to the campaign, so let me share a first impression. I have never seen opponents so silent about their record, and so desperate to keep their power.

They've run out of ideas. Their moment came and went. Fear and division are all they've got left.

With all their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money – and he's pretty experienced at that. You see, some people can't be dragged down by the usual cheap tactics, because their ability, character, and plain decency are so obvious – and ladies and gentlemen, that is Mitt Romney.

For my part, your nomination is an unexpected turn. It certainly came as news to my family, and I'd like you to meet them: My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our boys Charlie and Sam.

The kids are happy to see their grandma, who lives in Florida. There she is – my Mom, Betty.

My Dad, a small-town lawyer, was also named Paul. Until we lost him when I was 16, he was a gentle presence in my life. I like to think he'd be proud of me and my sister and brothers, because I'm sure proud of him and of where I come from, Janesville, Wisconsin.

I live on the same block where I grew up. We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place.

The people of Wisconsin have been good to me. I've tried to live up to their trust. And now I ask those hardworking men and women, and millions like them across America, to join our cause and get this country working again.

When Governor Romney asked me to join the ticket, I said, "Let's get this done" – and that is exactly, what we're going to do.

President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those were very tough days, and any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.

A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: "I believe that if our government is there to support you ... this plant will be here for another hundred years." That's what he said in 2008.

Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that's how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.
Right now, 23 million men and women are struggling to find work. Twenty-three million people, unemployed or underemployed. Nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty. Millions of young Americans have graduated from college during the Obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. Half of them can't find the work they studied for, or any work at all.

So here's the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?

The first troubling sign came with the stimulus. It was President Obama's first and best shot at fixing the economy, at a time when he got everything he wanted under one-party rule. It cost $831 billion – the largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government.

It went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs, and make-believe markets. The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal.
What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted – it was borrowed, spent, and wasted.

Maybe the greatest waste of all was time. Here we were, faced with a massive job crisis – so deep that if everyone out of work stood in single file, that unemployment line would stretch the length of the entire American continent. You would think that any president, whatever his party, would make job creation, and nothing else, his first order of economic business.

But this president didn't do that. Instead, we got a long, divisive, all-or-nothing attempt to put the federal government in charge of health care.

Obamacare comes to more than two thousand pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees, and fines that have no place in a free country.

The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over. That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare.
And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly.

You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn't have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions more. So, they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it.

In Congress, when they take out the heavy books and wall charts about Medicare, my thoughts go back to a house on Garfield Street in Janesville. My wonderful grandma, Janet, had Alzheimer's and moved in with Mom and me. Though she felt lost at times, we did all the little things that made her feel loved.

We had help from Medicare, and it was there, just like it's there for my Mom today. Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my Mom's generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours.

So our opponents can consider themselves on notice. In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the Left isn't going to work. Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it. Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate. We want this debate. We will win this debate.

Obamacare, as much as anything else, explains why a presidency that began with such anticipation now comes to such a disappointing close.

It began with a financial crisis; it ends with a job crisis.

It began with a housing crisis they alone didn't cause; it ends with a housing crisis they didn't correct.

It began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America.

It all started off with stirring speeches, Greek columns, the thrill of something new. Now all that's left is a presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at a moment that has already passed, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind.

President Obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. He said, well, "I haven't communicated enough." He said his job is to "tell a story to the American people" – as if that's the whole problem here? He needs to talk more, and we need to be better listeners?

Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What's missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration, is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago – isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?

In this generation, a defining responsibility of government is to steer our nation clear of a debt crisis while there is still time. Back in 2008, candidate Obama called a $10 trillion national debt "unpatriotic" – serious talk from what looked to be a serious reformer.

Yet by his own decisions, President Obama has added more debt than any other president before him, and more than all the troubled governments of Europe combined. One president, one term, $5 trillion in new debt.

He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.

Republicans stepped up with good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems. How did the president respond? By doing nothing – nothing except to dodge and demagogue the issue.

So here we are, $16 trillion in debt and still he does nothing. In Europe, massive debts have put entire governments at risk of collapse, and still he does nothing. And all we have heard from this president and his team are attacks on anyone who dares to point out the obvious.

They have no answer to this simple reality: We need to stop spending money we don't have.
My Dad used to say to me: "Son. You have a choice: You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution." The present administration has made its choices. And Mitt Romney and I have made ours: Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation's economic problems.

And I'm going to level with you: We don't have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this.

After four years of government trying to divide up the wealth, we will get America creating wealth again. With tax fairness and regulatory reform, we'll put government back on the side of the men and women who create jobs, and the men and women who need jobs.

My Mom started a small business, and I've seen what it takes. Mom was 50 when my Dad died. She got on a bus every weekday for years, and rode 40 miles each morning to Madison. She earned a new degree and learned new skills to start her small business. It wasn't just a new livelihood. It was a new life. And it transformed my Mom from a widow in grief to a small businesswoman whose happiness wasn't just in the past. Her work gave her hope. It made our family proud. And to this day, my Mom is my role model.

Behind every small business, there's a story worth knowing. All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salons, hardware stores – these didn't come out of nowhere. A lot of heart goes into each one. And if small businesspeople say they made it on their own, all they are saying is that nobody else worked seven days a week in their place. Nobody showed up in their place to open the door at five in the morning. Nobody did their thinking, and worrying, and sweating for them. After all that work, and in a bad economy, it sure doesn't help to hear from their president that government gets the credit. What they deserve to hear is the truth: Yes, you did build that.

We have a plan for a stronger middle class, with the goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years.

In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, or less. That is enough. The choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth, or hard limits on the size of government, and we choose to limit government.

I learned a good deal about economics, and about America, from the author of the Reagan tax reforms – the great Jack Kemp. What gave Jack that incredible enthusiasm was his belief in the possibilities of free people, in the power of free enterprise and strong communities to overcome poverty and despair. We need that same optimism right now.

And in our dealings with other nations, a Romney-Ryan administration will speak with confidence and clarity. Wherever men and women rise up for their own freedom, they will know that the American president is on their side. Instead of managing American decline, leaving allies to doubt us and adversaries to test us, we will act in the conviction that the United States is still the greatest force for peace and liberty that this world has ever known.

President Obama is the kind of politician who puts promises on the record, and then calls that the record. But we are four years into this presidency. The issue is not the economy as Barack Obama inherited it, not the economy as he envisions it, but this economy as we are living it.

College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. Everyone who feels stuck in the Obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. And I hope you understand this too, if you're feeling left out or passed by: You have not failed, your leaders have failed you.

None of us have to settle for the best this administration offers – a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us.
Listen to the way we're spoken to already, as if everyone is stuck in some class or station in life, victims of circumstances beyond our control, with government there to help us cope with our fate.

It's the exact opposite of everything I learned growing up in Wisconsin, or at college in Ohio. When I was waiting tables, washing dishes, or mowing lawns for money, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself. That's what we do in this country. That's the American Dream. That's freedom, and I'll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners.

By themselves, the failures of one administration are not a mandate for a new administration. A challenger must stand on his own merits. He must be ready and worthy to serve in the office of president.

We're a full generation apart, Governor Romney and I. And, in some ways, we're a little different. There are the songs on his iPod, which I've heard on the campaign bus and on many hotel elevators. He actually urged me to play some of these songs at campaign rallies. I said, I hope it's not a deal-breaker Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC, and ends with Zeppelin.

A generation apart. That makes us different, but not in any of the things that matter. Mitt Romney and I both grew up in the heartland, and we know what places like Wisconsin and Michigan look like when times are good, when people are working, when families are doing more than just getting by. And we both know it can be that way again.

We've had very different careers – mine mainly in public service, his mostly in the private sector. He helped start businesses and turn around failing ones. By the way, being successful in business – that's a good thing.

Mitt has not only succeeded, but succeeded where others could not. He turned around the Olympics at a time when a great institution was collapsing under the weight of bad management, overspending, and corruption – sounds familiar, doesn't it?

He was the Republican governor of a state where almost nine in ten legislators are Democrats, and yet he balanced the budget without raising taxes. Unemployment went down, household incomes went up, and Massachusetts, under Mitt Romney, saw its credit rating upgraded.

Mitt and I also go to different churches. But in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example. And I've been watching that example. The man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable. Not only a defender of marriage, he offers an example of marriage at its best. Not only a fine businessman, he's a fine man, worthy of leading this optimistic and good-hearted country.

Our different faiths come together in the same moral creed. We believe that in every life there is goodness; for every person, there is hope. Each one of us was made for a reason, bearing the image and likeness of the Lord of Life.

We have responsibilities, one to another – we do not each face the world alone. And the greatest of all responsibilities, is that of the strong to protect the weak. The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.

Each of these great moral ideas is essential to democratic government – to the rule of law, to life in a humane and decent society. They are the moral creed of our country, as powerful in our time, as on the day of America's founding. They are self-evident and unchanging, and sometimes, even presidents need reminding, that our rights come from nature and God, not from government.
The founding generation secured those rights for us, and in every generation since, the best among us have defended our freedoms. They are protecting us right now. We honor them and all our veterans, and we thank them.

The right that makes all the difference now, is the right to choose our own leaders. And you are entitled to the clearest possible choice, because the time for choosing is drawing near. So here is our pledge.

We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead.

We will not spend four years blaming others, we will take responsibility.

We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles.

The work ahead will be hard. These times demand the best of us – all of us, but we can do this. Together, we can do this.

We can get this country working again. We can get this economy growing again. We can make the safety net safe again. We can do this.

Whatever your political party, let's come together for the sake of our country. Join Mitt Romney and me. Let's give this effort everything we have. Let's see this through all the way. Let's get this done.

Thank you, and God bless.