Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan wave from the stage on August 30, 2012 on the final day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). The RNC culminates today with the formal nomination of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as the GOP presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the US presidential election. (STAN HONDASTAN/AFP PHOTO)
Mitt Romney accepted the Republican presidential nomination, calling for "a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find a job." Key sentence: "President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. I promise to help you and your family." Read exerpts here.
The RNC succeeded in making Romney appear more compassionate, thanks in large part to an elderly couple who talked about how Romney helped them when they lost their son.
Clint Eastwood attracted a lot of attention for his rambling speech to an "Invisible Obama" — who, by the way, has a Twitter account.
Marco Rubio, Republican Senator from Florida, delivered an exhilarating address that, Eastwood aside, made for the best television of the evening. And Newt and Callista Gingrich delivered a joint speech that praised Ronald Reagan.
The analysis pours in. Paul Ryan's speech was well received, still his ratings were not as high as Sarah Palin's were in 2008. Robert Costa, writing for the National Review, said "at its core, Ryan’s rousing speech was a conservative rallying cry, very much in the tradition of Kemp, Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater." And, of course, he's been hammered by critics who say many of his facts are false.
If you missed any of the speeches you can watch them all here.
Looking toward next week, The Economist says Obama needs to make a more convincing case to stay in the White House.
"Were he facing a more charismatic candidate than Mitt Romney or a less extremist bunch than the Republicans, Mr Obama would already be staring at defeat. The fact that the president has had to “go negative” so early and so relentlessly shows how badly he needs the election to be about Mr Romney’s weaknesses rather than his own achievements."
If a place where more than fifty American talk radio hosts are talking at once is the worst place on earth, the worst place on earth is the Republican convention's Radio Row, where outfits big (Fox News) and small (Little Rock's FM 102.9 KARN News Radio) do their live broadcasting from little tables.
The cacophonous Radio Row setup - it's actually three rows - allows bigshots like Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, former RNC chief Michael Steele and bombthrower Ann Coulter to do lots of appearances very quickly with influential conservative talkers. Here's Coulter doing one of them on Wednesday:
When she sat down, the man to her right told her she had immediately "raised the standard of this radio station." Which calls into question the standard of that radio station. As does the station's banner, which was sponsored by a company called Horton's Orthotics and Prosthetics.
Radio Row was created in the 1990s, "when talk radio became very powerful in the political equation," syndicated conservative host Rodger Hedgecock said Wednesday. It allows the hosts to get rare and valuable face time with prominent people they usually talk to only on the phone.
"So the next time I have them on the phone, it's a lot more familiar," Hedgecock said.
Here's Hedgecock, standing at right, and one of the rows:
If you're not a fan of former American Idol'er Taylor Hicks, who performs tonight at the Republican National Convention, all that was really left to get excited about was, well, Mitt Romney's big speech and the identity of the so-called "mystery speaker" sandwiched between Hicks and the Republican presidential nominee.
On Wednesday we discussed reports actor-director and Romney endorser Clint Eastowood was on his way to Tampa to make an address. U.S. news takes us one step closer to confirmation.
"It's him," Romney's former Arizona state chair and family confidante Paul Gilbert told the Washington Whispers blog. "I can confirm that, 100 per cent."
Recent Comments