Overheard at Republican Convention

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Republican Party Platform:
Jobs: Our vision of an opportunity society stands in stark contrast to the current Administration’s policies that expand entitlements and guarantees, create new public programs, and provide expensive government bailouts. That road has created a culture of dependency, bloated government, and massive debt. ... Excessive taxation and regulation impede economic development. Lowering taxes promotes substantial economic growth and reducing regulation encourages business formation and job creation. ... The best jobs program is economic growth. We do not offer yet another made-in-Washington package of subsidies and spending to create temporary or artificial jobs. ... The tax system must be simplified. Government spending and regulation must be reined in. American companies must be more competitive in the world market, and we must be aggressive in promoting U.S. products abroad and securing open markets for them. A federal-State-private partnership must invest in the nation’s infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, ports, and water systems, among others. Federal training programs have to be overhauled and made relevant for the workplace of the twenty-first century. Potential employers need certainty and predictability for their hiring decisions, and the team of a Republican President and Congress will create the confidence that will get Americans back to work. ... We will reform the tax code to allow businesses to generate enough capital to grow and create jobs for our families, friends and neighbors all across America. We will encourage investments in small businesses. We will create an environment where adequate financing and credit are available to spur manufacturing and expansion. We will serve as aggressive advocates for small businesses. ...

On taxes:
Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s freedom. Their proper role in a free society should be to fund services that are essential and authorized by the Constitution, such as national security, and the care of those who cannot care for themselves. We reject the use of taxation to redistribute income, fund unnecessary or ineffective programs, or foster the crony capitalism that corrupts both politicians and corporations. Our goal is a tax system that is simple, transparent, flatter, and fair. ... American businesses now face the world’s highest corporate tax rate. It reduces their worldwide competitiveness, encourages corporations to move overseas, lessens investment, cripples job creation, lowers U.S. wages, and fosters the avoidance of tax liability-without actually increasing tax revenues. To level the international playing field, and to spur job creation here at home, we call for a reduction of the corporate rate to keep U.S. corporations competitive internationally, with a permanent research and development tax credit, and a repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax. ...

Budget:
Over the last three and a half years, while cutting the defense budget, the current Administration has added an additional $5.3 trillion to the national debt-now approximately $16 trillion, the largest amount in U.S. history. In fiscal year 2011, spending reached $3.6 trillion, nearly a quarter of our gross domestic product.

We are the party of the Constitution, the solemn compact which confirms our God-given individual rights and assures that all Americans stand equal before the law. Perhaps the greatest political document ever written, it defines the purposes and limits of government and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that makes the U.S. the world’s freest, most stable, and most prosperous nation. Its Constitutional ideals have been emulated around the world, and with them has come unprecedented prosperity for billions of people.

Balancing the budget: Cutting spending is not enough; it must be accompanied by major structural reforms, increased productivity, use of technology, and long-term government downsizing that both reduce debt and deficits and ignite economic growth. We must restructure the twentieth century entitlement state so the missions of important programs can succeed in the twenty-first century. - I like this, a lot. ... - It supports passage of the balanced budget amendment.

It encourages responsibly management of the money supply.

It points to the federal govenrment as the cause of the housing crisis. - I agree fully.

It promotes infrastructure strengthening.

It has a plan for expanding trade.

It speaks to a highly trained work force and how to get there.
In the spirit of the Constitution, we consider discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, or national origin unacceptable and immoral. ... In a free society, the primary role of government is to protect the God-given, inalienable, inherent rights of its citizens, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Merit, ability, aptitude, and results should be the factors that determine advancement in our society. The Republican Party includes Americans from every faith and tradition, and our policies and positions respect the right of every American to follow his or her beliefs and underscore our reverence for the religious freedom envisioned by the Founding Fathers of our nation and of our party. - I like this ... a lot. I am not sure who would not.

On marriage: A serious threat to our country’s constitutional order, perhaps even more dangerous than presidential malfeasance, is an activist judiciary, in which some judges usurp the powers reserved to other branches of government. A blatant example has been the court-ordered redefinition of marriage in several States. It refers to the Defense of Marriage Act, affirming the right of States and the federal government not to recognize same-sex relationships licensed in other jurisdictions. - What I think is important here is that such matters need to be decided by the states, not by unelected judges. The political process needs to be allowed to work. It does not say that states cannot act to recognize same-sex marriage, but that they have the right not to do so. Further, I think the separation of man/woman marriage relationships and the civil union of same gender relationships is a good one to make legally.

A balanced budget amendment will not solve everything, but it might do what the state govenrments have to do, balance their budgets.

I like the notion of restoring federalism to our political culture, thereby taking the tenth amendment seriously by returning responsibility to the states, localities, and the people.

It affirms the electoral college. So do I.

It wants to ensure honest elections. - Who is against that?

It affirms first amendment rights to religious freedom, focusing on the threat to such freedom through federal programs related to health care services, traditional views of marriage, and abortion. - I fully agree.

It affirms first amendment rights to speech, and thus remove McCain-Feingold from the law.

It affirms the second amendment. - I like this, even though I do not own a gun.

It affirms the fourth amendment applying it aerial surveillance concerns. - Anyone disagree?

It affirms the ninth amendment, which makes it clear that the people have rights not enumerated in the constitution.

Concerning abortion: Faithful to the “self-evident” truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. - It goes on to support a human life amendment and oppose public funding of abortion. It wants to prohibit the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. - I am not sure what to disagree with here, unless you are simply for unrestricted right to abortion. Is it my age? I think respect for life and development of responsible sexual behavior is a better direction.

It encourages respect for the flag and the pledge of allegiance. - I suppose I value our culture enough to support this, understanding that symbols are important in any community.

It calls for respect of American sovereignty in the courts.

Concerning Natural Resources:
We are the party of sustainable jobs and economic growth – through American energy, agriculture, and environmental policy. We are also the party of America’s growers and producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, and all those who bring from the earth the minerals and energy that are the lifeblood of our nation’s historically strong economy. We are as well the party of traditional conservation: the wise development of resources that keeps in mind both the sacrifices of past generations to secure that bounty and our responsibility to preserve it for future generations. - Although both parties affirm "all of the above," the Republican Party means it. It supports conservation and wants to rein in the EPA. All good, in my opinion.

On reforming govenrment:
We are the party of government reform. At a time when the federal government has become bloated, antiquated and unresponsive to taxpayers, it is our intention not only to improve management and provide better services, but also to rethink and restructure government to bring it into the twenty-first century. Government reform requires constant vigilance and effort because government by its nature tends to expand in both size and scope. Our goal is not just less spending in Washington but something far more important for the future of our nation: protecting the constitutional rights of citizens, sustainable prosperity, and strengthening the American family.... For much of the last century, an opposing view has dominated public policy where we have witnessed the expansion, centralization, and bureaucracy in an entitlement society. Government has lumbered on, stifling innovation, with no incentive for fundamental change, through antiquated programs begun generations ago and now ill-suited to present needs and future requirements. As a result, today’s taxpayers – and future generations – face massive indebtedness, while Congressional Democrats and the current Administration block every attempt to turn things around. This man-made log-jam – the so-called stalemate in Washington – particularly affects the government’s three largest programs, which have become central to the lives of untold millions of Americans: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Concerning Medicare and Medicade: The first step is to move the two programs away from their current unsustainable defined-benefit entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined-contribution model. On public pension: The situation of public pension systems demands immediate remedial action. The irresponsible promises of politicians at every level of government have come back to haunt today’s taxpayers with enormous unfunded pension liabilities. Concerning Regulation: Many regulations are necessary, like those which ensure the safety of food and medicine, especially from overseas. But no peril justifies the regulatory impact of Obamacare on the practice of medicine, the Dodd-Frank Act on financial services, or the EPA’s and OSHA’s overreaching regulation agenda.

On immigration: Just as immigrant labor helped build our country in the past, today’s legal immigrants are making vital contributions in every aspect of our national life. Their industry and commitment to American values strengthens our economy, enriches our culture, and enables us to better understand and more effectively compete with the rest of the world. Illegal immigration undermines those benefits and affects U.S. workers. In an age of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified persons in this country poses grave risks to the safety and the sovereignty of the United States. Our highest priority, therefore, is to secure the rule of law both at our borders and at ports of entry. ... Based on both treaty and other law, the federal government has a unique government-to-government relationship with and trust responsibility for Indian Tribal Governments and American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Concerning Family:
We are the party of independent individuals and the institutions they create – families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods – to advance their ideals and make real their dreams. Foremost among those institutions is the American family. It is the foundation of our society and the first level of self-government. Its daily lessons-cooperation, patience, mutual respect, responsibility, self-reliance – are fundamental to the order and progress of our Republic. Government can never replace the family. That is why we insist that public policy, from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare, be formulated with attention to the needs and strengths of the family. - It favors traditional marriage, adoption, raising families above poverty, repealling Obamacare, and make their own proposals for health care reform.

American Exceptionalism:
We are the party of peace through strength. Professing American exceptionalism – the conviction that our country holds a unique place and role in human history – we proudly associate ourselves with those Americans of all political stripes who, more than three decades ago in a world as dangerous as today’s, came together to advance the cause of freedom. Repudiating the folly of an amateur foreign policy and defying a worldwide Marxist advance, they announced their strategy in the timeless slogan we repeat today: peace through strength – an enduring peace based on freedom and the will to defend it, and American democratic values and the will to promote them. While the twentieth century was undeniably an American century – with strong leadership, adherence to the principles of freedom and democracy our Founders’ enshrined in our nation’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and a continued reliance on Divine Providence – the twenty-first century will be one of American greatness as well. - It goes on to offer its prescriptions for each area of the world, as well as issues like human trafficking.


"The essence of America – that which really unites us — is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea — and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going." - Condeleezza Rice

"And on a personal note– a little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham – the most segregated big city in America - her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant – but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter – she can be President of the United States and she becomes the Secretary of State. Yes, America has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect. But of course it has never been inevitable – it has taken leadership, courage and an unwavering faith in our values." - Condeleezza Rice

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 is already past, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind. ... He said his job is to, quote, "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 is missing is leadership in the White House! - Paul Ryan

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 is all they've got left. With all their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money. And he's pretty experienced at that. - Paul Ryan

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. - Paul Ryan

"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." - Paul Ryan

President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. 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 he in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. - Within five minutes, the Media was on a mission to try to prove that Paul Ryan had lied. They got their fact-checkers up and in gear, and, lo and behold! They put out stories themselves filled with misleading data, in order to make the point that Paul Ryan lied. Obama didn't shut down that factory. Ryan was right, and even CNN's fact-checkers grudgingly admitted it at the end of the day. According to National Review, https://www.quibids.com/en/landing/index.php?c=us&mb=ss&lp=108&sub=150  The plants are on “standby,” and some would dispute whether that means the factory is “lost.” But the bottom line is that people aren’t working there (other than whatever skeleton crew is sweeping the floors and maintaining the facility), they aren’t collecting pay, and they are “locked up and empty”: “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.” As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported in September of last year — long before Ryan got added to the ticket — the Janesville plant got shut down in 2009, after being notified of their pending closure in December 2008:

General Motors Co. has committed to reopen its idled plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., and keep its shuttered assembly plant in Janesville on standby status.
The commitment to the former Saturn plant in Tennessee was part of a contract settlement reached late last week between GM and the United Auto Workers union.
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.
Remaining on standby means not much has changed in Janesville. Community leaders say they would be ready if the GM plant reopened, but no one seems to be counting on that.

None of us should 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. It's the exact opposite of everything I learned growing up in Wisconsin or at college in Ohio. 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. - Paul Ryan

"I trust Mitt Romney to know that good can triumph over evil, that justice can vanquish tyranny, that love can conquer hate, that the desire for freedom is eternal and universal, and that America is still the best hope of mankind."  - John McCain

Mitt Romney has given over 16% of his income to his church and charity, and I'd feel better about having a leader who gives more of his own money instead of mine. - Mike Huckabee

Ted and Pat OPAROWSKI: (Romney helped her and her family when her son was dying.) 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. 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.

EASTWOOD: We own this country.
CONVENTION: (cheers and applause)
EASTWOOD: We own it. And it's not you owning it and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours, and
CONVENTION: (cheers and applause)
EASTWOOD: So they're just gonna come around and beg for votes every few years. It's the same old deal. But I just think that it's important that you realize that you're the best in the world, whether you're Democrat or whether you're a Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever. You're the best, and we should not ever forget that, and when somebody does not do the job, we gotta let 'em go.
CONVENTION: (cheers and applause)

RUBIO: Our problem is not that he's a bad person. Our problem is that he's a bad president.
RUBIO: These are tired and old big government ideas that have failed every time and everywhere they've been tried. These are ideas that people come to America to get away from!
RUBIO: Now...
RUBIO: ... sadly, millions of Americans are insecure about their future. But instead of inspiring us --
RUBIO: -- by reminding us of what makes us special --
RUBIO: -- he divides us against each other.
RUBIO: He tells Americans that they're worse off because others are better off.
RUBIO: That rich people got rich by making other people poor. "Hope and change" has become "divide and conquer."
CONVENTION: (wild cheers and applause)

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're gonna be able to accomplish all the things we never could." A few years ago during a speech, I noticed the bartender behind a portable bar in the back of the ballroom. I remembered my father who 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. You see, 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. - Marco Rubio

Mitt Romney
President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans (laughter) and to heal the planet. (laughter) My promise is to help you and your family. (cheers and applause) I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began his presidency with an apology tour. America, he said, had dictated to other nations. No, Mr. President. America has freed other nations from dictators. (cheers and applause)

The soles of Neil Armstrong's boots on the moon made permanent impressions on our souls. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parents' sofa. Like all Americans, we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world. 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.