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Mystery Speaker Slated for GOP Convention Tonight: Is it Palin, Eastwood, or someone else?

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The Republican National Convention is abuzz with speculation over the identity of a mystery speaker who’s supposed to appear Thursday night.

Convention officials have refused to reveal who will fill the “To Be Announced” slot on the closing-night schedule, but the list of possibilities being generated by convention delegates and observers stretches from Hollywood (Clint Eastwood) to hologram (Ronald Reagan) to a handful of conservative favorites who fall somewhere in between.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus refused to give even the smallest hint Wednesday.

“Everyone’s going to have to tune in on Thursday night and check it out,” he told Fox News.

Rumors were flying on the convention floor Wednesday afternoon that Hollywood icon Eastwood is the surprise guest, the speculation fueled by reports of the actor and director’s travel plans.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ryan’s speech “electrifies” Tampa GOP attendees (+video)

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By Russell Berman and Erik Wasson. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday night electrified the Republican Party with a speech that combined lacerating attacks on President Obama with homespun values and a tribute to GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

In a 35-minute address that drew thunderous applause from Republican delegates, Ryan condemned the Obama presidency and presented an optimistic vision of the future under Romney’s leadership.

The core theme of the speech amounted to four words: “We can do this.”

Ryan said the Romney-Ryan team would fix the nation’s problems, not blame others. “Our nominee is sure ready,” the vice-presidential nominee said. “His whole life has prepared him for this moment — to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words. After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Gov. Mitt Romney.”

The seven-term lawmaker focused much of his address on Obama, mentioning the president’s name 16 times and Romney on a dozen occasions. He said Obama promised to deliver change, but had failed after four years. Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s a video excerpt of his speech:

Clint Eastwood makes Mitt’s Day (+video)-Page 2

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Transcript of Clint Eastwood’s Speech – Page 2 [see the video of his speech HERE]

OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City.

I’ve got to to hand it to you. I have to give credit where credit is due. You did finally overrule that finally. Now we are moving onward. I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that’s okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. You know, I mean — you thought that was something worth doing. We didn’t check with the Russians to see how they did it — they did there for 10 years.

But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to maybe — I think you’ve mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, “Why are you giving the date out now? Why don’t you just bring them home tomorrow morning?”

And I thought, I thought, yeah, I am not going to shut up, it is my turn.

So anyway, we’re going to have, we’re going to have to have a little chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises; I wondered about when the, what do you want me to tell Romney? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself.

You’re crazy, you’re absolutely crazy. You’re getting as bad as Biden.

Of course we all now Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party.

Kind of a grin with a body behind it.

But I just think that there is so much to be done, and I think that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are two guys that can come along. See, I never thought it was a good idea for attorneys to the president, anyway.

I think attorneys are so busy, you know they’re always taught to argue everything, and always weight everything, weigh both sides. They are always devil’s advocating this and bifurcating this and bifurcating that. You know all that stuff. But, I think it is maybe time – what do you think – for maybe a businessman. How about that?

A stellar businessman. Quote, unquote, “a stellar businessman.”

And I think it’s that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane.

Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.

You are an — an ecological man. Why would you want to drive that around?

OK, well anyway. All right, I’m sorry. I can’t do that to myself either.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we, we own this country. We, we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

And, so, they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years. It is the same old deal. But I just think it is important that you realize , that you’re the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when we, when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

OK, OK, OK just remember that. And I’m speaking out for everybody out there. It doesn’t hurt, we don’t have to be

[Audience member: “Make my day”]

I do not say that word anymore. Well, maybe one last time.

We don’t have to be — what I’m saying, we do not have to be meta-masochists and vote for somebody that we don’t really even want in office just because they seem to be nice guys or maybe not so nice guys, if you look at some of the recent ads going out there, I don’t know.

But OK. You want to make my day?

All right. I started, you finish it. Go ahead.

[Audience: “Make my day!”]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

See the video of Clint Eastwood’s speech HERE.

Obama’s Black Law School Classmate, Former Dem Congressman Artur Davis, Fires up GOP in Tampa (+video)

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By The Root. Next to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the most widely touted African-American speaker at this week’s Republican National Convention is a man best known on the national stage for his passionate support of President Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

What a different four years can make.

In 2008, then-congressman and former Obama law-school classmate Artur Davis was one of a handful of black Democratic rising stars, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, California elected official Kamala Harris and others, credited with ushering in an Obama-era of post civil rights generation political leaders. Since then Davis had his rise up the political ladder abruptly halted by a bruising primary loss in the Alabama governor’s race.

His announcement earlier this year that he had officially left the party he had once represented in Congress and become a registered Republican was met with cheers in conservative circles and skepticism among Democrats who have branded him a “sore loser.” The DNC has even used him as fodder for a campaign ad. Tuesday evening, Davis is slated to address the Republican National Convention. “The Romney campaign engaged me in conversations midsummer about doing activities for them as a surrogate in Virginia and other states, and at some of those conversations they brought up the idea of me speaking at the convention, and I decided to do it,” Davis told The Root. Read more at Root HERE.

Here’s his speech in Tampa last night:

Black GOP Congressional Candidate Speaks at Tampa, Aims to Make History

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African-American support for the Republican Party has fallen so far that a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Mitt Romney capturing 0.0% of the black vote.

Enter Mia Love, the 36-year-old daughter of Haitian immigrants and a Republican congressional candidate in Utah. Should she win, she would be the first-ever black Republican woman to win a seat in Congress.

In a speech that drew sustained applause at the GOP convention Tuesday night, Ms. Love recounted her parents’ journey to the U.S., saying they arrived with only $10 in their pockets.

“The America I grew up knowing was centered in self-reliance and filled with the possibilities of living the American dream,” said Ms. Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Read more from this story HERE.

Seeds of Dissent & Discord: A Response to Keyes

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Photo credit: WEBN-TV

Alan Keyes’ August 25th article entitled “Is Romney to Lead Conservatives to Self-Extinction?” is poorly timed, ill-advised, and definitely not what America needs at this time.

As far as I can remember, I have voted in every election since 1968. I have never had the opportunity to vote for a perfect candidate. Nor have I ever seen or heard of a perfect candidate. (Perfectionists who demand the perfect candidate are, as far as I can tell, about 2000 years too late.) Candidates do not run for Sainthood, they run for public office – human public office. We do not get to vote for perfection, we only get to vote for the least number of warts. And if we are smart, once we have made our selection, we get behind that person 100%; that is, if we expect our candidate to have any hope of winning.

That’s why I was shocked by Mr. Keyes’ article. If it had been written months ago when there were still several Republican candidates in the race, it would have been helpful and appropriate. But publishing it now only serves to divide and disorient both the conservative base and many independents, potentially causing many to stay away from the polls on election day.

Is this Mr. Keyes’ intent? Probably not, but intentions count for little, including the intent given by those who choose to pass along this article because it represents a minority, but significant view among conservatives. So what? Those who do hold that view are, again, those “perfectionists” who are never and will never be satisfied by any candidate; the ones who always see the glass half empty; the naysayers whose talent is always to find even the smallest point with which they cannot agree. Their condition is regrettable, but they are better left alone, not handed articles like this that only serves to provide more fodder for their doubts.

Conservatives have enough enemies. There are literally thousands of liberal columnists, bloggers, pundits and so-called “neutral” media personnel who stand against us. They will do a fine job of flogging and flaying our flesh. They don’t need our help. But I’m sure they smirk behind their hands every time they see one of us sowing seeds of dissent and discord in our own ranks.

So Romney isn’t perfect. What else is new? Electing him will not solve all our problems or end our national crisis. Agreed. But if we let Obama have four more years, where will we be then? Will not our present crisis, bad as it may be, seem four years from now like the good old days?

We had better get behind Romney now and support him 100%. If we don’t . . .

Video: Obama Campaign Caught Lying Again

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A recent campaign ad supposedly featuring “Republican women for Obama” has been proven false. At least two of the women are Democrats who previously voted for Obama. Moreover, one of the main messages of the video, that Obama stands for “small government,” is a complete fabrication. Watch it if you can stand it here:

Storm spells problems for ‘bump’ GOP expected from Tampa convention

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Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

By Jim Rutenberg and Michael Shear. With the Tropical Storm Isaac now forecast to roar northwest past Tampa on Monday and Tuesday, officials scrambled to reconfigure what had been a four-night schedule into three and to make contingency plans for further changes.

But even if the storm largely bypasses this region, it holds the risk of creating an uncomfortable split-screen image, especially if it continues barreling toward New Orleans. The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama declared states of emergency in anticipation of the storm.

Republicans were wary of the optics of television coverage split between the revelry and partisanship surrounding Mr. Romney’s nomination and the threat of the storm making landfall in Louisiana or Mississippi seven years to the week after Hurricane Katrina left an American city in ruins.

At the very least, Mr. Romney’s image makers were coming to terms with sharing the news spotlight with the storm just as they were hoping their gathering would give their candidate the exposure he needs to surge ahead of President Obama.

Instead of focusing on the convention and on Republicans descending on the swing state of Florida, local news outlets were giving constant and increasingly urgent updates on the storm’s path. Network correspondents here were girding to be reassigned from convention coverage to hurricane coverage, heavy rain gear and all. Fox News Channel said it was diverting a marquee anchor, Shepard Smith, to New Orleans from here. Read more from this story HERE.

Due to state of emergency, Gov. Bobby Jindal decides to stay in Louisiana rather than attend the Tampa GOP convention

By Adam Levy. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is staying in his home state for now as Tropical Storm Isaac heads towards New Orleans.

The two-term governor was to arrive in Tampa on Tuesday to address the delegates of Republican National Convention that evening. Instead of preparing for his high-profile speech, he declared a state of emergency Sunday and asked for voluntary evacuations in 15 low-lying parishes on or near the Gulf Coast.

“My priority is the safety of our people. And certainly as this storm threatens the public safety here in Louisiana, I’m not going anywhere,” Jindal said at a news conference. “As long as we’re in harms way, I need to be right here doing my job and that’s what I’m going to be doing.”

Under the RNC’s new revised schedule, Jindal is expected to speak Wednesday night should he attend the convention.
Jindal isn’t the only member of the Louisiana delegation not attending the convention. Jefferson Parish President John Young canceled his plans due to the potential impact Isaac could have on his constituents. State Rep, Lenar Whitney and New Orleans public service commission member Eric Skrmetta are currently driving back to Louisiana as well.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced Saturday night that all programs for Monday, the first day of the convention, were canceled. Read more from this story HERE.

Palin: “Party fighting for power and not doing the will of the people” may lead to 3rd Party (+video)

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Sarah Palin, who has a history of confronting corrupt party bosses, probably shocked the establishment again this weekend with her suggestion that “fighting for power” and “not doing the will of the people” may lead to the formation of a viable third party. She used the Republican Party’s replacement of the Whigs in the 19th century as such an example.

Here’s how Fox News reported her comments:

When asked if she would consider creating a third party if neither Gov. Romney nor President Obama would budge from their current positions on a variety of issues, Palin left open the door.

“Look what happened in the mid 1800’s. The Whig party went away and the Republican Party surfaced. Because the electorate got sick and tired of the party fighting for power and not doing the will of the people.”

Palin went on to say history could repeat itself.

“If history is an indication it is a possibility,” she said. “If the Republicans don’t remember what the planks in the platform represent … that is opportunity to prosper and thrive in the most exceptional nation in the world. We do that through a free market. If the Republicans become like the liberal left and democrats, I wouldn’t be surprised if history didn’t repeat itself.”

These comments are consistent with Palin’s comments from last year:

And here’s what she said in 2010:

GOP plank hammers Obama’s ‘social experimentation’ in military

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Photo credit: basykes

Mitt Romney does not bring up President Obama’s social revolution inside the armed forces, but the Republican Party platform, by calling an end to “social experimentation” in the ranks, does.

The platform also backs the current ban on women serving in direct ground combat units, as the Obama administration is moving toward a decision to remove the prohibition before the November election.

The Republican National Committee on Resolutions, meeting last week in Tampa, Fla., approved a plank that states: “We support the advancement of women in the military, which has not only opened doors of opportunity for individuals but has made possible the devoted, and often heroic, services of additional members of every branch of the Armed Forces.”

Elaine Donnelly, who directs the Center for Military Readiness and attended the platform markup, said the language sends a strong signal to those who would sacrifice military preparedness to advance social policies.

“We reject the use of the military as a platform for social experimentation and will not accept attempts to undermine military priorities and mission readiness,” the platform states.

Read more from this story HERE.