They say that there is no such thing as objective journalism anymore. The voices of Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity and Jonathan Capehart have taken over the television and radio waves to drown out anyone who may have an objective point of view.
I guess you can group me into that category as I consider myself a soft liberal or a moderate Democrat. Whatever label one wants to place on me, I take it knowing that my viewpoints may be viewed as biased.
So with that bias I watched the RNC knowing that I will disagree with much of the rhetoric falling off the lips of Paul Ryan and Mike Huckabee.
On Tuesday night, the Republican brass basically conceded the 2012 election by making their party’s nominee an afterthought.
Mitt Romney was barely mentioned by the likes of Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell. His wife was his prop and she did a great of job of keeping his name afloat.
Wednesday night’s tone was different, the message was the same: See you in 2016, America.
Paul Ryan was the keynote and gave a speech soaked in heavy Republican rhetoric about the failures of the Obama administration. He talked job creation, Medicare, the economy and repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act.
With all of that, Ryan’s speech seemed to fire up the convention hall and the party’s conservative base, but did nothing to add a new quality to the Republican ticket.
Now, if Republicans truly wanted to add an element of eloquence to the ticket, they should have turned to former Secretary of State of Condoleeza Rice.
She came before Ryan and gave a speech of intelligence.
Secretary Rice’s words were smooth, smart, serious and indirectly pointed. She never mentioned Obama by name but used her words to describe her thoughts of him.
“My fellow Americans, we do not have a choice. We cannot be reluctant to lead and you cannot lead from behind.”
I do not agree with Rice’s politics or her ability to obliterate her role in creating a financial calamity for the United States.
But she seems to operate in smart politics.
I have yet to read or hear Mitt Romney’s convention speech but I can all but guarantee that it will lack the spirit and acumen of Rice’s text.
For the Republican Party, I will not give advice nor hint at a possible direction for the party. I will simply state that as a biased observer, this convention has provided little spark, small bang and a healthy lack of originality.
Paul Ryan’s youth and political acuity may look good on television, but it pales in comparison to the savant who graced the podium before him.
-JH
Ms. Rice did not explain why her boss went to war in such stupid fashion, but she argued for huge defense budgets as “leading”. In fact, spending money was her definition of leading. The fact that she is part of a Party which does not wnat to pay teachers made her appeals for education silly. I thought Ryan was better – if totally dishonest.
For that crowd, I thought she did well. She never mentioned Obama’s name and used eloquence as power.
Ryan just flat out lied.