This year's Republican National Convention (RNC) has come to a close. The convention featured many speakers, all who tried to make the case for Mitt Romney. The event had been scaled down from the original plans of four days full of speakers, to just three full days, due to the outburst of Hurricane Isaac, which threatened to hit Tampa, the site of this year's Republican Convention. Isaac caused cuts to many speakers, including Donald Trump, who announced his support for Romney earlier this year. The Republican Convention was opened for ten minutes on Monday, just enough time for RNC Chairman, Reince Preibus to call the convention to order, and start the National Debt Clock. The convention came to a close on Thursday, after speeches from Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Paul Ryan, and many other notable figures. The main speeches can be boiled down into about four categories, weird, wonderful, underwhelming, and wrong.
The Weird:
Famed Director Clint Eastwood's speech was, by all definitions of the word, weird. Eastwood is a longtime conservative and one time mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and up until the day of his speech, he was a surprise speaker. Eastwood's bizarre speech supporting Romney featured him repeatedly telling an empty stool that was supposedly Barack Obama to "shut up". Eastwood's absurd speech countered, and some say even overshadowed, Mitt Romney's acceptance speech in it's memorability.
The Wonderful
Ann Romney's speech to the GOP Convention was a wonderful part of convention, taking the focus off politics, and putting it on Mitt Romney personally. Ann Romney's speech served as a way to humanize Mitt Romney, into a loving parent of 5 boys, rather than a robotic, elitist politician, which many political ads portray him as. Ann Romney's speech also served as a way to connect to female voters, who have been more hostile towards Mitt Romney than men. Ann Romney tried to court women by sharing the image of motherhood, and even stated "I love women". While an obvious attempt to court voters, Ann Romney's speech was a refreshing break from the politics, and rhetoric surrounding the convention.
The Wrong
Paul Ryan delivered a powerful speech, in which he ruthlessly attacked President Obama. The only problem was that at times, it was a little less than factual. Ryan attacked Obama for coming to his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, and promising that under a good government a local business like the car factory Ryan was talking about, would be around for 100 years. Ryan said that the plant closed before the year was over. Although technically this is true, Paul Ryan leaves out one crucial part: the plant closed under Bush, not Obama. He went onto attack Obama for not listening to a bi-partisan group created to reduce the national debt. The only problem here, Paul Ryan also supported throwing out the groups proposal! Next Ryan went on to say that President Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare. Again true, but Ryan leaves out more critical information: his plan also sought to cut $716 billion from Medicare. Paul Ryan's speech gave fact checkers a field day, and the Obama Team scrambling to spread the facts.
The Weird:
Famed Director Clint Eastwood's speech was, by all definitions of the word, weird. Eastwood is a longtime conservative and one time mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and up until the day of his speech, he was a surprise speaker. Eastwood's bizarre speech supporting Romney featured him repeatedly telling an empty stool that was supposedly Barack Obama to "shut up". Eastwood's absurd speech countered, and some say even overshadowed, Mitt Romney's acceptance speech in it's memorability.
The Wonderful
Ann Romney's speech to the GOP Convention was a wonderful part of convention, taking the focus off politics, and putting it on Mitt Romney personally. Ann Romney's speech served as a way to humanize Mitt Romney, into a loving parent of 5 boys, rather than a robotic, elitist politician, which many political ads portray him as. Ann Romney's speech also served as a way to connect to female voters, who have been more hostile towards Mitt Romney than men. Ann Romney tried to court women by sharing the image of motherhood, and even stated "I love women". While an obvious attempt to court voters, Ann Romney's speech was a refreshing break from the politics, and rhetoric surrounding the convention.
The Underwhelming
Mitt Romney took the stage at the Republican Convention in Tampa, the moment the entire convention hall had been waiting to hear. His speech criticized Obama, but didn't give his views on anything. While his speech tried to frame himself as a good person, and roused the GOP delegates in the arena, it didn't do very much for the American people. In a poll on CNN's Facebook page, just 40% of repondents said that the speech made them more supportive of Romney, while 60% of respondents said that the speech made them less supportive, or didn't make a difference.
The Wrong
Paul Ryan delivered a powerful speech, in which he ruthlessly attacked President Obama. The only problem was that at times, it was a little less than factual. Ryan attacked Obama for coming to his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, and promising that under a good government a local business like the car factory Ryan was talking about, would be around for 100 years. Ryan said that the plant closed before the year was over. Although technically this is true, Paul Ryan leaves out one crucial part: the plant closed under Bush, not Obama. He went onto attack Obama for not listening to a bi-partisan group created to reduce the national debt. The only problem here, Paul Ryan also supported throwing out the groups proposal! Next Ryan went on to say that President Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare. Again true, but Ryan leaves out more critical information: his plan also sought to cut $716 billion from Medicare. Paul Ryan's speech gave fact checkers a field day, and the Obama Team scrambling to spread the facts.
