Florida Democracy 2012 » RNC 2012

Brent Batten: Odds And Ends At Conventions’ End

nmcalvanah — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:47:28 +0000

Odds and ends from two weeks of conventioneering:

At their convention in Tampa, Republicans hypothesized that President Obama couldn’t run on his record. But run on his record is exactly what he set about doing last week in Charlotte. Democrats made health care reform, the bailout of the auto industry gay marriage, gays serving in the military, student financial aid, the economy, the death of Osama bil Laden and the end of the war in Iraq the centerpieces of their convention. Of course they spun them all, some to the point of making observers dizzy, but they didn’t hide from the Obama record.
In a speech peppered with good lines, Bill Clinton delivered one of his better ones when he explained his success at producing a balanced budget. “I always give a one-word answer: Arithmetic,” he said. He failed to mention that during the first two years of his presidency his focus was on issues like national health care reform and gays in the military. The national debt grew.
It was after his party took a beating in the 1994 elections that he began to embrace the concepts of a balanced budget and welfare reform, leading to smaller deficits and eventually a surplus. Part of Clinton’s success can be traced to his ability to gauge the sentiment of voters and shift course accordingly. Perhaps the one-word answer to the balanced budget question ought to be “Newt.”
Clinton also said that Republican administrations had quadrupled the national debt before he took office and that Republican George W. Bush doubled it after Clinton left office. As incredible as those numbers sound, they’re accurate. The national debt went from roughly $1 trillion when Ronald Reagan took office in 1980 to about $4.5 trillion when Clinton came in in 1992. When Clinton left office the number was $5.6 trillion and it shot to $10.7 trillion during the eight years of the Bush administration.
Left unsaid is that while it took 16 years for the deficit to grow $6 trillion, from $4 trillion to $10 trillion, it has taken less than four years under Obama for it to grow $6 trillion, from $10 trillion to the present $16 trillion. Clinton made a far better case for himself than he did for the man he was nominating.
You can add to the list African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American and so forth the newly minted LGBT-American, the shorthand for a gay person used by the Democrats.
For the longest time, Democrats bristled when the health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, was referred to as Obamacare. At their convention, they formally embraced the term, usually adding words to the effect, “Because Obama cares.”
Republicans had a field day with the president’s “You’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,” quote. They played it over and over, never including the preceding line which made it clear the president was talking about infrastructure, not the business itself. If they had, they could have argued that businesses do contribute heavily to building and maintaining infrastructure and that the existence of roads, bridges etc. doesn’t equate to success. But that point takes longer to make and lacks the emotional impact, so …
Did anyone else notice that at the end of his otherwise stirring speech, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida flubbed a key line? He was supposed to say, “We chose more freedom instead of more government,” but he transposed “freedom” and “government.” Oops.
As near as I could observe, two speakers at the Republican National Convention declined to use the teleprompter. One, Condoleezza Rice, gave perhaps the best speech of the convention. The other, Clint Eastwood, gave decidedly the worst.
No less astute an observer than Naples’ Chuck Mohlke, a member of the Democratic National Committee, remarked on the eve of the Republican National Convention that the name Isaac means laughter in Hebrew. Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac caused the Republicans to cancel the first day of their convention and remnants of the storm contributed to the unsettled weather that prompted Democrats to move President Obama’s acceptance speech indoors on the last day of theirs. It seems Isaac had a laugh at the expense of both parties.

–Brent Batten, Naples Daily News

President Obama To Campaign In Florida After Convention

nmcalvanah — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:42:54 +0000

Following the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, President Obama will head to Florida this weekend for campaign events.

The president is expected to visit the state on Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Sarasota County announced on Monday that Mitt Romney will travel to Sarasota later this month for a fundraiser.

According to an announcement, Romney will be in Sarasota on Sept. 20 for an “intimate” gathering. Tickets for the fundraiser start at $2,500-per-person.

Poll Finds No Convention Bump For Romney In Florida

PPP’s newest Florida poll, conducted after the Republican convention in Tampa, finds no bump for Romney in the state. According to the poll, Obama leads Romney 48 to 47 percent in Florida—the same numbers from the firm’s poll five weeks earlier.

The poll found that 33% of voters say the Tampa confab made them more likely to vote for Republicans, 33% said it made them less likely to vote for Republicans, and 34% said it didn’t make a difference to them either way.

Romney did see a slight bump in his favorability numbers. 49% of voters have a positive opinion of him to 47% with a negative one. That +2 spread is up a net 5 points from late July when his breakdown was 46/49.

Bush, Rubio On Tap For Tonight

nmcalvanah — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:49:25 +0000

The schedule for the final night for the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) is heavy on Florida speakers:

7 p.m.

Rep. Connie Mack

Newt and Callista Gingrich

Craig Romney, son of GOP nominee

8 p.m.

Former FL Gov. Jeb Bush

Staples Inc. co-founder Tom Stemberg

9 p.m.

Former MA Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey

Jane Edmonds, former MA Secretary of Workforce

Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode

10 p.m.

Sen. Marco Rubio

Mitt Romney

Ann Romney’s Speech Gets Rave Reviews

nmcalvanah — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:50:54 +0000

The Republican National Convention kicked off last night in prime-time with big speeches from Ann Romney and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Romney’s address to the GOP convention was well received in the media for humanizing her husband, while the New Jersey governor’s speech was criticized for not mentioning Mitt Romney enough.

Tampa Bay Times: Ann Romney “projected confidence and warmth.”

New York Times: Ann Romney “gave a tribute that was loving and generous and revealed just how much Mr. Romney owes his talented and determined spouse.”

Boston Globe: Ann Romney “far exceeded” expectations. “It’s safe to say that hers was the best convention speech by any candidate’s spouse — and certainly the most important.”

Huffington Post: Ann Romney “stole the show with her speech at the Republican National Convention.”

Washington Post: Christie’s “speech was as much about Christie and what he has done in New Jersey as it was about Romney, his record.”

New York Post: Christie mentioned Romney “only seven times in his 2,638-word speech.”

Politico: Christie’s speech was “light on references to the Mitt Romney and instead focused on the New Jersey governor’s tenure in office.”

Rich Campbell: Florida delegation doesn’t get home-team treatment

llemmon — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:22:22 +0000

The home team is using the visitors’ locker room.

Make no mistake: It’s a nice locker room. The 1,000-acre Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort in Palm Harbor is first class. But it’s not the place to be when you are the Florida Republican delegation and the Republican National Convention is in downtown Tampa — 30 miles away.

I made the journey from my hotel near Tampa International Airport to Innisbrook Tuesday morning for the “Fresh From Florida Victory Breakfast,” which featured U.S.Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as keynote speaker. My hotel is 25 minutes west of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the convention is being held. It took me 40 minutes — traveling west, then north — to reach Innisbrook.

The Florida delegates, who are being bused from the resort to the forum, have been told to expect a two-hour trip.

You’d think the Florida delegation would have some clout. This is, after all, the delegation’s home state. You’d think the home team would have been given first choice of hotels.

Well, you’d be wrong.

When the Florida Legislature decided to have the state’s presidential primary Jan. 31, it strained relations between the national party and Florida lawmakers and delegates. The national party stripped Florida of some delegates and banished the convention-goers to Innisbrook.

And that’s only the half of it.

“There are only a few delegates in each building; we are spread out over 1,000 acres,” said Bill Paterson, chairman of the St. Lucie County Republican Executive Committee.

The logistics have made it difficult for delegates to gather informally. It also has created a disconnect between the Florida delegation and conventioneers from other states — with one exception: South Carolina. That state also moved up its presidential primary.

The South Carolina delegation is just down the road in Innisbrook.

Coincidence? I think not.

While some Florida delegates are miffed about their banishment to Innisbrook, spend some time with them and you get the impression the experience has become one big joke.

At Tuesday’s breakfast, Florida Secretary of Agriculture Adam Putnam, the emcee for the event, went through an elaborate introduction of Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno. When it was time for Fortuno to walk on stage — and Fortuno didn’t appear — Putnam laughed and said, “The jokes about Innisbrook just keep on coming. He’s in Innisbrook, just not in this building.”

Here’s the rub with the Florida delegation’s banishment to the hinterlands: The Florida Republican Party didn’t make the decision to move the primary election; the Florida Legislature did.

So keep that sense of humor, you mistreated but jocular Florida delegates. You’re going to need it. The convention began Tuesday and you still have several two-hour commutes in front of you.

—————————————

Rich Campbell is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects his opinion. Contact him at 772-221-4207 or rich.campbell@scripps.com.

RNC Speech Highlights

nmcalvanah — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 03:15:25 +0000

Speech highlights:

Ted Cruz– Texas Candidate for U.S. Senate:

“I want to tell you a love story. It’s the story of all of us, a love story of freedom.”

“It’s the story of each and every one of you. We are all sons and daughters of those who risked everything for freedom, and we have the duty to pass that same opportunity to the generations to follow.”

“Unfortunately, President Obama’s campaign is going to try to divide America. They’re going to try to separate us into little groups, and try to scare everybody.”

“It’s sad, how far we’ve come from hope and change.”

“Government is not the answer. You are not doing anyone a favor by creating dependency, destroying individual responsibility.”

“And here I want to say something especially to the Democrats who are listening tonight. You can send a wake-up message to your party-the party that was once proud to be the party of working people. Obama’s policies have failed.”

“Each of you comprises the fabric of our nation. Together, we must revive our many-century love story with liberty and restore that shining City on a Hill that is America.

The Alabama Hon. Artur Davis– Former U.S. Representative:

“Some of you may know, the last time I spoke at a convention, it turned out I was in the wrong place.”

“Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with plywood Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don’t end well.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, there are Americans who are listening to this speech tonight who haven’t always been with you, and I want you to let me talk — just to them – for a moment.”

“There are Americans who voted for the president, but who are searching right now, because they know that their votes didn’t build the country they wanted.”

“Bill Clinton took on his base and made welfare a thing you had to work for; this current crowd guts the welfare work requirement in the dead of night.”

“My fellow Americans, when great athletes falter, their coaches sometimes whisper to them ‘remember who you are.’ It’s a call to their greatness at a moment when their bodies and spirit are too sapped to remember their strength.”

“This is no dark hour; this is the dawn before we remember who we are. May it be said of this time in our history: 2008 to 2011: lesson learned.”

Mrs. Ann Romney:

“It’s the moms of this nation — single, married, widowed — who really hold this country together. We’re the mothers, we’re the wives, we’re the grandmothers, we’re the big sisters, we’re the little sisters, we’re the daughters.”

”But as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success. He built it.”

“Mitt doesn’t like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. And we’re no different than the millions of Americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. They don’t do it so that others will think more of them.”

Santorum Speech

nmcalvanah — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 01:42:08 +0000

The Hon. Rick Santorum
Former U.S. Senator – Pennsylvania
August 28, 2012

It’s an honor to be here tonight with the love of my life, Karen, my 93-year-old mother and some of our kids.

You think it’s crowded in here, good thing I didn’t bring all my kids.

I am a first-generation American.

At age seven, my dad came to Johnstown, Pennsylvania from the mountains of northern Italy, on a ship named Providence.

How providential that one day his son would announce for President just down the road from the deep mines where his father — my grandfather — mined coal ’til he was 72 years old.

When my grandfather died, I remember as a kid kneeling at his casket and not being able to take my eyes off his thick strong hands — hands that dug his path in life — and gave his family a chance — at living the American Dream.

Working the mines may not have been the dream he dreamed – I never dared to ask him – but I think his answer would have been that America gave him more than he had ever hoped.

America believed in him, that’s why he believed in America.

My grandfather, like millions of other immigrants, didn’t come here for some government guarantee of income equality or government benefits to take care of his family.

In 1923 there were no government benefits for immigrants except one: Freedom!

Under President Obama, the dream of freedom and opportunity has become a nightmare of dependency with almost half of America receiving some government benefit.

It is no surprise fewer and fewer Americans are achieving their dreams and more and more parents are concerned their children won’t realize theirs.

President Obama spent four years and borrowed five trillion dollars, trying to convince you that he could make things better for you —- to put your trust in him and the government to take care of every problem.

The result — massive debt, anemic growth and millions more unemployed. The President’s plan didn’t work for America, because that’s not how America works.

In America we believe in freedom and the responsibility that comes with it to work hard to make that dream of reaching our God-given potential come true.

We believe it because it still works.

Even today.

Graduate from high school, work hard, and get married before you have children and the chance you will ever be in poverty is just two percent.

Yet if you don’t do these three things you’re 38 times more likely to end up in poverty!

We understand many Americans don’t succeed because the family that should be there to guide them, and serve as the first rung on the ladder of success, isn’t there or is badly broken.

The fact is that marriage is disappearing in places where government dependency is highest. Most single mothers do heroic work and an amazing job raising their children, but if America is going to succeed, we must stop the assault on marriage and the family.

From lowering taxes to reforming social programs, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are dedicated to restoring the home where married moms and dads are pillars of strong communities raising good citizens.

A solid education should be the second rung on the ladder to success, but the system is failing.

President Obama’s solution has been to deny parents choice, attack private schools and nationalize curriculum and student loans.

Mitt Romney believes that parents and the local community must be put in charge — not the Department of Education.

We all know there is one key to success that has helped people overcome even the greatest of obstacles – hard work. That’s why work was the centerpiece of the bipartisan welfare reform law.

Requiring work as a condition for receiving welfare succeeded — and not just because the welfare rolls were cut in half — but because employment went way up, poverty went down and dreams were realized.

It’s a sturdy ladder to success that is built with healthy families, education and hard work.

But President Obama’s policies undermine the traditional family, weaken the education system.

And this summer he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare.

I helped write welfare reform; we made the law crystal clear – no president can waive the work requirement. But as with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, President Obama rules like he is above the law.

America take heed, when a president can simply give a speech or write a memo and change the law to do what the law says he can’t, we weaken our republic.

Yet as my family and I crisscrossed America, something became so obvious to us.

America is still the greatest country in the world – and with God’s help and good leadership we can restore the American Dream.

Why?

I held its hand. I shook the hand of the American Dream. And it has a strong grip.

I shook hands of farmers and ranchers who made America the bread basket of the world. Hands weathered and worn. And proud of it.

I grasped dirty hands with scars that come from years of labor in the oil and gas fields, mines and mills. Hands that power and build America and are stewards of the abundant resources that God has given us.

I gripped hands that work in restaurants and hotels, in hospitals, banks, and grocery stores. Hands that serve and care for all of us.

I clasped hands of men and women in uniform and their families. Hands that sacrifice and risk all to protect and keep us free. And hands that pray for their safe return home.

I held hands that are in want. Hands looking for the dignity of a good job, hands growing weary of not finding one but refusing to give up hope.

And finally, I cradled the little, broken hands of the disabled. Hands that struggle and bring pain, hands that ennoble us and bring great joy.

They came to see us – oh did they come — when they found out Karen and I are blessed with caring for someone very special too, our Bella.

Four and a half years ago I stood over a hospital isolette staring at the tiny hands of our newborn daughter who we hoped was perfectly healthy. But Bella’s hands were just a little different – and I knew different wasn’t good news.

The doctors later told us Bella was incompatible with life and to prepare to let go. They said, even if she did survive, her disabilities would be so severe that Bella would not have a life worth living.

We didn’t let go and today Bella is full of life and she has made our lives and countless others much more worth living.

I thank God that America still has one party that reaches out their hands in love to lift up all of God’s children – born and unborn – and says that each of us has dignity and all of us have the right to live the American Dream.

And without you America is not keeping faith with that dream.

We are stewards of a great inheritance. In November we have a chance to vote for life and liberty, not dependency. A vote for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will put our country back in the hands of leaders who understand what America can and, for the sake of our children, must be to keep the dream alive.

###

On Tap For The RNC

nmcalvanah — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:57:42 +0000

HAPPENING NOW: The roll call is set to wrap up before 6:40 p.m. ET.

7 p.m. – Former Sen. Rick Santorum is expected to talk about the importance of family and the “dignity of work.”

8 p.m. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in his first major national speech since the recall, the governor will talk about the “the experience in Wisconsin.”

9 p.m — Former Rep. Artur Davis, the former Democrat who represented Alabama will talk why he’s supporting Romney

10 p.m– Ann Romney will talk about her husband in the 10 p.m. ET. hour.

RNC In Memoriam

nmcalvanah — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:40:40 +0000

The first day of the Republican National Convention will include a moment
to remember and honor some of the Republican leaders who died since the 2008 Republican convention in Minneapolis. The names of many of the deceased will scroll on a convention video screen.

Among those who will be remembered and whose names will be read are:

Paul Harvey Aurandt (AZ)
Hattie Bickmore (ME)
Dave Bitner (FL)
Andrew Breitbart (CA)
William Perry Clements, Jr. (TX)
Edward Derwinski (IL)
Kenneth Guinn (NV)
Alexander Haig, Jr. (PA)
Mark Hatfield (OR)
Harold Guy Hunt (AL)
William Janklow (SD)
Jack Kemp (NY)
Robert Mosbacher, Sr. (TX)
Charles Percy (IL)
William Bart Saxbe (OH)
Ted Stevens (AK)
Peter Terpeluk, Jr. (PA)
Malcolm Wallop (WY)

Convention Kicks Off Today

nmcalvanah — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:18:08 +0000

The Republican National Convention will have its first full day of events and speakers on Tuesday.

After canceling Monday’s events over fears that Isaac would be disruptive and potentially dangerous for its delegates – indeed heavy rain pelted the area around the convention hall for long stretches on Monday – convention organizers planned to have two major speakers on Tuesday night.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was expected to speak about how Romney would be a tough president.

“His message will be, it’s time to shake things up, it’s time to get things done, you’re going to have to take some tough medicine,” said Chuck Todd, the NBC News White House correspondent.

Then, Ann Romney will take the stage in an effort to present a “human side” to the former Massachusetts governor.

“If Romney coming out of this convention is seen as a little bit softer and more three dimensional, personally then they will have had a successful convention on that part of things,” said Todd.

Analysts also say Romney has an uphill battle on that front.

“Closing the empathy gap. You can’t beat the president on some of these likeability and empathy characteristics but he can close the gap,” said Todd.

Both speakers are expected to take the stage sometime during the late hours of primetime television.