GOP Convention...a Success? Yes!!!

The conventions are over, the balloons and confetti have been swept up, the stages torn down, the lights are turned off, and the campaigns are now in full swing.

To listen to the Democrats recite their recollection of what occurred during the Republican Party convention I sometimes wonder if we were watching the same convention and if they even paid attention to their own. Here’s some of the Democrat analysis:

"Their speeches were too divisive."… I forced myself to watch some of the Democrat Party convention and I can tell you that they weren’t sitting around a campfire, holding hands and singing "Kum Ba Yah". I heard some real nasty, disparaging and divisive speeches given. But I guess, when you’re in the habit of portraying yourselves as victims, Republicans are always the bad guy and always divisive.

"Their speeches were too partisan."…Huh? Reality check...it was the Republican Party convention. Conventions are for the party loyal. They are designed to solidify the party base as much as possible. Hopefully, along the way a candidate manages to attract undecided and disgruntled voters from the other party as well. If anyone was paying attention during the Democrat convention they would have heard a lot of partisan speeches like Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and even Obama...to name just a few.

"Their speeches were just more of the same…They didn't tell us what they will do differently than the Bush administration." Once again I don’t think they were watching the same convention I was. I thought John McCain gave a great speech on Thursday and he did a pretty good job of telling us what he and Sarah Palin will do differently. He just didn’t say what the left wanted him to say. To make the left happy McCain should have said, “George Bush has been a failure as a President, he has lead horribly, and everything that’s wrong with our country today is his fault. I will do things differently and here’s how.” Since he didn’t use that language, they feel he didn’t say anything new.

Finally, "They didn't say anything about President Bush and his failed policies." …Duh!...once again...it was the Republican Party convention. They are not going to tear down their sitting President. Besides, the Democrats did more than enough of that...the Republicans didn't need to revisit the issue. Although, I do think John McCain did a great job ripping into his own party for their failures in leadership.

Even with the slow start, due in part to the cancellation of Day One, I think the Republican Party convention went very well and I look forward to seeing the poll numbers when they come out on Monday. Sarah Palin’s speech on Wednesday has nearly erased the convention bounce Obama received after the Democrat Party convention, so it will be very interesting to see where the McCain-Palin ticket stands.

What made the Republican Party convention most interesting to me was the history making aspect. Sarah Palin, the first woman to be nominated on a GOP ticket, received 37.2 million viewers for her speech on Wednesday. That was just 1.1 million less than Obama’s acceptance speech and 11 million more than Hillary Clinton’s speech the prior week. What makes her viewership numbers so surprising is that Obama’s speech was carried on ten networks, while Palin’s was only carried on six.

Some people have speculated that Palin appeared arrogant during her speech. I would argue that she appeared defiant. She and her family had been attacked relentlessly by the media over the prior week and she was sending them a message, “Bring it on. I will not run…I will not hide…I will not back down...I will stand and fight.” I found her speech so impressive and refreshing…a true leader in the making.

Sarah Palin's emmergence, and susequent explosion, onto the national political scene has been compared to that of Barack Obama's four years ago, when a little known Junior Senator from Illinois made a moving speech at the 2004 Democrat Party convention. He was touted as a rising star and the new face of the Democrat Party. I would venture to say that Sarah Palin is our rising star and the new face of the Republican Party...a new, fresh face with strong leadership ability and integrity. May she only grow stronger over the next four years...Palin in 2012.