Republican Convention Night 2: VP Nominee Paul Ryan (Live Updates)
Welcome to night two of the Republican Convention! Tonight's featured speakers are Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan. We'll keep you up to date with some of the top soundbites from the featured speakers. (Note: quotes are quick transcriptions)
11:05PM - Paul Ryan gave the speech of the night, and clearly of the convention so far. I won't even try to pick out the good quotes, because I'd be quoting the whole thing.
So, read it here. It was sobering, funny, and direct. Conservatives should be quite pleased by the Ryan VP pick tonight...
10:15PM - After a rousing speech by Rice, the nation's first Hispanic female governor, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, takes the stage. She talks about how her parents started a security business with no money and her first job was guarding Bingo night at a Catholic Church. "My dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smithson Weston 357 Magnum... My parents took a risk. They stood up, and you better believe they built it." Martinez says she was A Democrat and then was invited by two Republicans to have lunch. She knew they were looking for a party switch but she wasn't going to have it... They never asked for a party switched but they discussed issues. After the lunch, she turned to her husband, noting that they agreed on most everything and said: "I'll be damned, we're Republicans." More: "If Obama can take credit for government building small businesses, he can take credit for adding $5 trillion to the national debt.
Because he did build that..."
10:00PM - Dr. Condoleezza Rice kicks off primetime with what is clearly the biggest welcoming of the night. She hits the Obama administration for disappearing on the world stage and neglecting the promotion and expansion of free and fair trade markets. She notes almost all of the trade treaties signed by Obama were negotiated under Bush. "It does not matter where you came from. It matters where you are going... We have never believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well... Ours has been a belief in opportunity and it has been a constant struggle to extend the benefits of the American dream to all... We are a compassionate nation of immigrants... We need great teachers, not poor ones, and not mediocre ones... Self esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise.... We need to give [poor] children educational choice... This is the civil rights issue of our day..."
9:50 - Mike Huckabee gives the best-delivered speech of the night so far and criticizes Biden for giving 2/10 of 1% of his income to charity while lecturing other about sacrifice. (He also notes Romney has given more than 16% of his income to church and charity, many millions of dollars in all). Huckabee also says that there should be no worry among Evangelicals over the fact that Romney is a Mormon. After all, the only evangelical of the four candidates is Barack Obama who supports gay marriage and supports all forms of abortion. Ryan and Biden are both Catholic.
9:30PM - After Rob Portman, Tim Pawlenty took the stage to finish the sweep of the two guys who were supposed to be Mitt Romney's VP nominee. It turned into the Tim Pawlenty comedy hour and he told Obama that everything will be okay because a lot of people fail at their first job. Zing!
9:00PM - Sorry, I fell asleep. I kid, I kid. Tonight has jokingly been called "RINO night" at the RNC, and it's been a bit of a snoozer so far. Rob Portman was "supposed" to be the VP nominee and he is speaking now. Let's just say, Paul Ryan is an excellent, excellent choice.
8:00PM - Sen. John McCain takes the stage and suddenly every conservative voter is thrilled that Mitt Romney is the nominee this year. McCain was brutally outspent by Obama four years earlier, a mistake not being made by the Romney team.
7:45PM - Pretty touching video featuring former President's Bush and Bush, and wives Barbara and Laura. Whatever your opinion of George W. Bush (for conservatives, compromising principles too often), it's hard to deny the man is all class.
7:30PM - US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) takes the stage to give an unapologetically pro-constitution and libertarian message. He knocks Obamacare as being unconstitutional, unless of course USSC Justices Scalia and Thomas have changed their minds on the matter. He hits spending and, yes, even military spending, saying that Republicans have to come to grips with the fact that not all military spending is wise spending. Oh, and in case you missed all the speeches from last night, guess what "you did build that."
11:05PM - Paul Ryan gave the speech of the night, and clearly of the convention so far. I won't even try to pick out the good quotes, because I'd be quoting the whole thing.
So, read it here. It was sobering, funny, and direct. Conservatives should be quite pleased by the Ryan VP pick tonight...
10:15PM - After a rousing speech by Rice, the nation's first Hispanic female governor, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, takes the stage. She talks about how her parents started a security business with no money and her first job was guarding Bingo night at a Catholic Church. "My dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smithson Weston 357 Magnum... My parents took a risk. They stood up, and you better believe they built it." Martinez says she was A Democrat and then was invited by two Republicans to have lunch. She knew they were looking for a party switch but she wasn't going to have it... They never asked for a party switched but they discussed issues. After the lunch, she turned to her husband, noting that they agreed on most everything and said: "I'll be damned, we're Republicans." More: "If Obama can take credit for government building small businesses, he can take credit for adding $5 trillion to the national debt.
Because he did build that..."
10:00PM - Dr. Condoleezza Rice kicks off primetime with what is clearly the biggest welcoming of the night. She hits the Obama administration for disappearing on the world stage and neglecting the promotion and expansion of free and fair trade markets. She notes almost all of the trade treaties signed by Obama were negotiated under Bush. "It does not matter where you came from. It matters where you are going... We have never believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well... Ours has been a belief in opportunity and it has been a constant struggle to extend the benefits of the American dream to all... We are a compassionate nation of immigrants... We need great teachers, not poor ones, and not mediocre ones... Self esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise.... We need to give [poor] children educational choice... This is the civil rights issue of our day..."
9:50 - Mike Huckabee gives the best-delivered speech of the night so far and criticizes Biden for giving 2/10 of 1% of his income to charity while lecturing other about sacrifice. (He also notes Romney has given more than 16% of his income to church and charity, many millions of dollars in all). Huckabee also says that there should be no worry among Evangelicals over the fact that Romney is a Mormon. After all, the only evangelical of the four candidates is Barack Obama who supports gay marriage and supports all forms of abortion. Ryan and Biden are both Catholic.
9:30PM - After Rob Portman, Tim Pawlenty took the stage to finish the sweep of the two guys who were supposed to be Mitt Romney's VP nominee. It turned into the Tim Pawlenty comedy hour and he told Obama that everything will be okay because a lot of people fail at their first job. Zing!
9:00PM - Sorry, I fell asleep. I kid, I kid. Tonight has jokingly been called "RINO night" at the RNC, and it's been a bit of a snoozer so far. Rob Portman was "supposed" to be the VP nominee and he is speaking now. Let's just say, Paul Ryan is an excellent, excellent choice.
8:00PM - Sen. John McCain takes the stage and suddenly every conservative voter is thrilled that Mitt Romney is the nominee this year. McCain was brutally outspent by Obama four years earlier, a mistake not being made by the Romney team.
7:45PM - Pretty touching video featuring former President's Bush and Bush, and wives Barbara and Laura. Whatever your opinion of George W. Bush (for conservatives, compromising principles too often), it's hard to deny the man is all class.
7:30PM - US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) takes the stage to give an unapologetically pro-constitution and libertarian message. He knocks Obamacare as being unconstitutional, unless of course USSC Justices Scalia and Thomas have changed their minds on the matter. He hits spending and, yes, even military spending, saying that Republicans have to come to grips with the fact that not all military spending is wise spending. Oh, and in case you missed all the speeches from last night, guess what "you did build that."
