The RNC Convention is Over, and WOW!

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. And to heal the planet. My promises to help you and your family.” — Mitt Romney, Acceptance Speech, RNC Convention, August 30, 2012.

What a difference a speech makes. As Ari Fleischer noted on CNN, the same media that was cool with the shallow vapidity of hope and change in 2008 is now demanding specifics from Mitt Romney. Last night in Tampa, he gave the one set of specifics he needed to give — a course correction.

The Democrats are screaming that it is a return to the 1950′s, when unemployment was less than it is now. That is a talking point. Mitt Romney made a very simple case for himself last night: the President promised the oceans and the earth. He’s just promising to help Americans. It was a modest plan with bold implications.

The speech was the best speech Mitt Romney has ever given. The material might not have been the greatest, but Romney himself delivered it with more substance than the text. The story of the rose will resonate. The desire for parents to have their kids piled up back on the bed will resonate. Mitt Romney will resonate.

Last night on MSNBC, viewers were treated to a spectacle akin to animals flinging poo in a zoo. They were unhinged. It was like Baghdad Bob had taken over. That the left is in such a meltdown is a very good sign for the GOP.

Speaking of MSNBC and CNN I would like to make this observation before continuing. I watched the last night of the RNC convention, on the Fox News Channel, with my daughter at her house. When the convention concluded and the balloons and confetti began descending on the crowd the talking heads appeared. First there was Brett Bair and Megyn Kelly with some very positive remarks. Then Chris Wallace cam on camera and began his thoughtful analysis. As Chris began speaking you could hear the strains on America the Beautiful being sung in the background. Mr. Wallace immediately interrupted his commentary and said he would continue when the song was finished. The Camera then switched to a Black male vocalist singing out “For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain! America! America!”

I asked my daughter to quickly switch to CNN and MSNBC, which she did. On MSNBC the talking heads were babbling with their opinions over the song and on CNN they held a shot of the falling balloons while the commentators were bloviating about something or other. We then went back to FNC to hear the remainder of the song and eventually watch Chris Wallace.

Chris Wallace has Class (with a capital “C”). Whether you always agree with his analysis or not the man was respectful enough to allow the viewers to hear this beautiful song. On the other hand, the left-wing jerks on CNN and MSNBC could not wait to begin spouting their meaningless opinions. After all they believe themselves to be masterminds and no dammed patriotic song will get in their way. I looked at my daughter and she smirked a smile and said’ “I get it now.”

One of the left’s favorite attacks on the Republican Party is that it is the party of old white people, devoid of diversity and probably racist

If you were watching MSNBC’s coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday night, you might believe those assertions, since missing from the coverage was nearly every ethnic minority that spoke during Tuesday’s festivities.

In lieu of airing speeches from former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah; and Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, MSNBC opted to show commentary anchored by Rachel Maddow from Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt. So much for the free flow of information from Obama’s network.

Now to my thoughts on the Convention.

My first thought is governors, governors, women, women, and minority women in elected power. If the Republican Party has a war on women according to what I saw they sure are losing it. Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Mia Love, Condi Rice, and Lucé Vela, First Lady of Puerto Rico. All minorities. And then there were more women including:

• Marsha Blackburn, United States Representative for Tennessee's 7th congressional district.

• Janine Turner, actress and Tea Party activist.

• Cathy McMorris Rodgers, United States Representative for Washington's 5th congressional district.

• Kelly Ayotte, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire

• Mary Fallin, Governor of Oklahoma.

• Pam Bondi, Attorney General of Florida

• Kerry Healey, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts

• Sher Valenzuela, candidate for Lt. Governor of Delaware

• Jackie Walorski, former Republican member of the Indiana House of Representatives for the 21st district and Republican candidate for US Representative for Indiana's 2nd congressional district

• Barbara Comstock, member of the Virginia House of Delegates for the 34th district

• Rae Lynn Chornenky, president of the National Federation of Republican Women

• Lisa Stickan, Chairperson of the Young Republicans

• And, of course Ann Romney

For a complete list of all the speakers at the RNC Convention please click here.

As you can see the GOP has been thoroughly infiltrated by attractive, powerful, and smart elected officials at every level of government. Too me this along with the high percentage of young people, especially women, shown on the convention floor was one of the highlights. Conservatism is alive and growing.

Elise Cooper quotes Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (my former Representative until redistricting) in a recent article in American thinker entitled “The Women of the RNC:”

“Congresswoman Bono Mack summarized it best: "I will tell you what women's issues are -- the same as men's. They want a prosperous and safe country. They want government to get out of the way to allow our economy to become prosperous again so they can have the economic opportunities to make choices. They want their children to have a better tomorrow than they have today." This will show female voters that Republicans are the party of the future, not the party of the past.”

Now a word on Clint Eastwood.

It was entertaining, but it was weird. Many Democrats are scratching their heads wondering what the heck that was. I’ll tell you what it was. It was the unscripted conversation of an independent voter coming to terms with the end of the Obama love affair.

That speech may not resonate inside the beltway, but it resonates in Ohio and Florida and Wisconsin and other swing states. Clint Eastwood made people comfortable laughing at the President and Joe Biden, the great intellect of the Democratic Party, a smile with a body behind it.

I thought it was bizarre. Lots of politically astute people thought Carly Fiorina’s now infamous demon sheep ad was bizarre and it turned out to resonate with people because the bizarreness and unfamiliarity with what they were seeing made them pay attention.

I thought Eastwood was funny, I laughed, more than that I laughed at Obama. I bet a lot of independents had the same reaction, I did and if you are comfortable laughing at Obama — you'll be ok not voting for him. I am not surprised, that the liberal democrats in the national media don't have a sense of humor.

Clint Eastwood did that and it worked.

But let’s be honest. By the time Marco Rubio was a quarter of the way through his speech, Eastwood didn’t matter too much. Rubio hit it out of the park. It was the perfect set up to Mitt Romney.

Here is what Doug Schoen, a Democrat pollster, had to say about Romney’s speech, words I totally agree with:

“Accepting his party's nomination for president Thursday night in Tampa Mitt Romney delivered a solid speech. It succeeded in beginning the process of humanizing the former Massachusetts governor. It demonstrated his commitment to women and his view of government. It gave us more insight into him personally, into his family and it made him more empathetic.

The high point of the speech came when Romney made it clear that after nearly four years in office President Obama has failed. He explained to America that we are not better off than we were 4 years ago. And his message was delivered in a compelling way.

Romney also succeeded in making it clear that it is all right for Obama voters to swing over to his team this time around. He gave those voters permission to admit that the candidate they chose in 2008 didn't succeed. In other words he told his audience that four years later it's okay to have buyer's remorse.

Another high point came when Romney talked about believing in America and American exceptionalism. That was a theme he hit particular strongly.

Where Romney wasn't as strong was on the issues: his plan to create energy independence and 12 million new jobs if he becomes the next president was not as strong as the overall thematics in the speech.

There's no doubt that in Tampa Romney took a giant step forward with his speech to the convention. He did not, in my judgment, close the deal. But he has now begun the process of turning around a favorable rating that is currently moribund.

Clint Eastwood ultimately doesn't matter; Mitt Romney ultimately does.

Tonight, Mitt Romney took a giant step in the right direction.”

I wonder who this Democrat and dormer supporter of Hillary Clinton will vote for — I don’t think it will be Obama.

Another conservative columnist Rich Lowery had this to say about Romney:

“On the biggest night of his political life, Mitt Romney delivered.

“His address accepting the Republican nomination won't be long-remembered. It was a workmanlike speech. It didn't soar, and wasn't intended to.

After the savaging he's taken from President Obama's re-election campaign, and with the public impression of him still foggy, Romney set out to deliver a simple message: "I'm okay. You can trust me. I can do a job, and I want to put America back to work."

The speech mostly lacked ideology. If you missed the opening bit where he hailed Paul Ryan, you might not have guessed that he had selected the House budget committee chairman as his running-mate in a choice emphasizing deep philosophical and policy differences with the president.

Instead, the speech ran on biography and can-do optimism. It pleased the crowd in the arena, but was pitched to the TV audience beyond its walls, and especially to voters disappointed with President Obama but not outraged by him.

Much of the first part of the speech was spent explaining Romney's family background, often affectingly. He was clearly moved when he explained how his dad used to leave a rose for his mom on her bedside table, and how she found out something had happened to him the day he died when there was no rose. Romney obviously felt it deeply, too, when he described raising his five boys. He said he and Ann would give anything "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."

It would take a heart of stone, or an implacable opposition to Romney, not to be impressed by his sincere devotion to his family.

In another passage, he talked of his work at Bain Capital, casting it as risky endeavor, shot through with uncertainty at the beginning. He mentioned sympathetic companies like Staples and a successful steel concern as its fruits. And he leavened it all with some humor, saying he didn't get the Mormon Church to invest with Bain at the outset, worried he might lose its money and "go to hell."

It was the best defense of Bain of the campaign. This discussion gave way to a familiar attack on President Obama for denigrating success. But Romney always spoke of the president's failures more in sorrow than in anger.

"I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed," Romney said. He credited him with good intentions: "The President hasn’t disappointed you because he wanted to." He invoked the thrill of the president's election and the subsequent letdown: "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."

He deflated the president rather than excoriated him. In one of the signature lines of the night, he quoted a famous bit of Obama overpromising to sustained laughter: "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet." Then, he pointedly contrasted that with his more down-to-Earth goal: "My promise...is to help you and your family."

Romney criticized Obama's policies from the right, but set out a pragmatic mission in very prosaic terms: "What America needs is jobs. Lots of jobs."

His policy agenda was presented only in a sketchy outline. The main thrust of his argument was more thematic: to take the change, hope, and unity that Obama evoked so powerfully in 2008, and leverage them to the end of reversing an Obama agenda that has only brought economic stagnation and political division.

At the end of the night, Romney had done the job he set out to do. After this speech, you might not fervently believe in him, but you might hire him. And that's enough.”

Perhaps Mr. Lowery will not remember the speech, but I will. Romney’s focus on family values and the American Dream are values that will resonate with enough voters to kick Obama out of his job — it worked for Reagan. Positive always outranks negative.

In contrast President Obama campaigning at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio last week stated:

“The question of where one should turn for help in pursuing one's happiness. The answer: government, "applause"; family, "booo."

Making a pitch for greater government control of student loans, Obama cited himself as an example of the value of education, saying, "I got an education and it worked out pretty good.

You can read more on this family vs. government issue in Daren Jonesco’s article in American Thinker.

If Romney and Ryan can stay on message of helping rather than changing and family rather than government we will as Michael Moore stated; “Get used to calling him President Romney”

Jeff Lipkes writes in American Thinker that it was Mitt’s Night.

“Don't expect the campaign to stray from the economy. Jack Cashill speculated here a few days ago about Romney confronting O during a debate about the President's shadowy past. Mitt is not going anywhere near the subject.

Solyndra will be mentioned, but not Fast and Furious. You're not going to hear much about the Constitution, and there will be no mention of abortion, gay marriage, illegal immigration, or Islamic fundamentalism. The policy of the federal government that probably claims the most victims, Affirmative Action, is completely off the table.

Romney will even tread lightly about ObamaCare. The President will be rapped for robbing seniors, taking $713 billion from Medicare to fund O-Care, and for imposing what the Chief Justice has declared to be a massive new tax. ObamaCare will be represented as something that harms small businesses, tout court.

There will be a relentless focus on the economy. Expect to hear over and over about our 42 weeks of over 8% unemployment, and the 23 million unemployed.

Obama will essentially be indicted as a bad manager who needs to be replaced

Let's hope this is right formula, and that Republicans will be able to get their message across to an electorate schooled by the media, the film industry, and the public schools to loathe the rich and to believe that wealth comes from exploitation of the poor.”

Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s speech to the RNC Wednesday night was addressed in no small part to the segment of the population that supported President Obama in 2008, but who were turned off enough by the last four years to consider an alternative in the upcoming election.

One of the most vivid lines in Ryan’s speech – and one which conveyed that message very effectively – was the following:

“We are four years into this presidency. The issue is not the economy that Barack Obama inherited, not the economy as he envisions, but this economy that we are living. 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.”

That was an excellent extended hand to those young voters who entered the political world on a wave of belief in the Hope and Change that one man could provide, and it has spawned an excellent – and equally vivid – ad from Crossroads Generation.

Now it’s on to Charlotte and the DNC’s version of the Vagina Monologues.