Clint Eastwood and the chair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n“We Believe In America”,<\/strong>\u00a0the signage all-around\u00a0the convention center read, obviously\u00a0it is this evening’s theme. The stage had been modified\u00a0for Mitt\u00a0Romney’s acceptance speech. There wasn’t an empty seat on the floor, nor was it easy to find a seat in the balcony. Tonight\u00a0the delegates from Florida were truly excited as they\u00a0will get to\u00a0hear their own U.S. Rep. Connie Mack\u00a0who is running for the Senate and the former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, who was thought to be in the running for the\u00a0Vice President’s spot on the ticket.<\/p>\nSpeaker John Bonner called the final session to order and\u00a0the U.S. Central Command Joint Forces Color Guard presented the colors. The Florida delegation did not have to wait along\u00a0as Connie Mack\u00a0was the first speaker. He was followed by another one of those standing ovation videos, this one featured President Ronald Reagan. It was obvious that he is still the most favored President of the party. Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista spoke before just before Jeb Bush who received a long, warm, standing ovation from the delegates. His prepared remarks centered around education. But he went off script surprising everyone as he forcefully told Obama, “Stop blaming others.”<\/p>\n
This night was dedicated to learning who and what Mitt Romney was all about. It would be filled with personal testimonials and emotional stories about Mitt Romney’s Influence on their lives, all coming\u00a0from ordinary people – not politicians, people who were not accomplish speakers but they struck every nerve in the hall.\u00a0They told stories of business development, building\u00a0and growth, stories about families and struggles.\u00a0Stories from Olympians causing the delegates\u00a0to rise\u00a0to their feet\u00a0shouting\u00a0that all-too-familiar USA… USA.\u00a0 Stories\u00a0not just\u00a0about\u00a0Romney simply\u00a0saving the Olympic Games, but rather about\u00a0saving\u00a0the face\u00a0and\u00a0reputation\u00a0of America and the dreams of athletes before the whole world.\u00a0I saw tears in the eyes delegates as they waived\u00a0 American flags shouting – USA… USA!\u00a0There were men and women, Blacks and Whites, Hispanics, Democrats, and\u00a0of members of his church\u00a0who spoke of his helping those with their life problems.\u00a0We heard from\u00a0a retired\u00a0firefighter who\u00a0 told about the compassion Romney\u00a0showed\u00a0for their daughter\u00a0when he reached out to\u00a0them upon\u00a0hearing of her\u00a0death to simply give the family comfort. All this\u00a0leading up\u00a0to what the scheduled\u00a0showed\u00a0to be “A to be announced\u00a0speaker”.<\/p>\n
Enter center stage …\u00a0Clint Eastwood. In the greatest of Bob Newhart\u00a0fashion, he placed\u00a0on the stage next to the podium an empty chair and told everyone that\u00a0Obama was sitting\u00a0there.\u00a0He then proceeded to carry on a\u00a0spirited dialogue with the empty chair.\u00a0He\u00a0asked the President\u00a0about\u00a0breaking all the promises that he had made\u00a0and\u00a0told\u00a0him “We own\u00a0this country and politicians are our employees”.\u00a0 As you might suspect the delegates were standing and cheering. “I think\u00a0it’s time for someone else to solve the\u00a0problem.”, he said. But, perhaps one of his best lines was\u00a0“When someone doesn’t do a job, we have to let them go!\u201d, Eastwood\u00a0told the empty chair. With that, came the chant\u00a0“Let him go!\u00a0Let him go!”\u00a0I\u00a0did not see a single delegate who was not deeply engaged with Eastwood’s remarks. Afterwards, I was told\u00a0by a\u00a0number of my colleagues\u00a0that they\u00a0were rather taken\u00a0 back by his remarks and his entire presentation. I’m certain they felt that way because they were not next to, and among the delegates who\u00a0all ate up\u00a0his every word.\u00a0No Clint Eastwood performance could be complete without the line\u00a0that he\u00a0most certainly is\u00a0best known for …and\u00a0the Delegates in unison and as\u00a0Eastwood began to say” Mr. Obama”\u00a0 finished his presentation with …”Make my day!”<\/p>\n
Florida’s favorite U.S. Senator\u00a0Marco Rubio had the privilege of introducing Mitt Romney. His appearance put an exclaimination point on a Spanish – accented\u00a0convention.\u00a0A steady stream of\u00a0Republican Hispanic elected officials told their stories as did Rubio to wildly\u00a0cheering delegates.\u00a0 His influence and appeal\u00a0to Hispanic voters is vital in this election and it was apparent\u00a0with\u00a0his “Prime Time” remarks targeted to\u00a0the\u00a0nation\u2019s wide\u00a0audience.\u00a0Unquestionably, his best line of the evening was “Obama is not a bad person. He is a bad President.”<\/p>\n
To much fanfare\u00a0and with\u00a0great anticipation Mitt Romney entered the convention hall from the very back.\u00a0He wove his\u00a0way to the front of the stage,\u00a0shaking hands, patting backs, giving hugs, and kissing cheeks along the way.\u00a0His first words – “I accept your nomination for\u00a0Presidency of the United States”,\u00a0provided\u00a0by far the longest and loudest\u00a0out bursts of the entire convention. Promising a greater\u00a0vision for the country, he launched what will certainly be the rallying campaign cry\u00a0“We deserve better”.<\/strong>\u00a0He blamed Obama for what he called “disappointment and division.” Where others before him attacked, blamed, and mocked\u00a0Obama’s experience, I found his remarks softened and more of ones of disillusionment. “Hope and change had a powerful appeal”, he said. “You\u00a0know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as President\u00a0when the best feeling you had, was the day you voted for him”, Romney continued.<\/p>\nHis speech was not necessarily one of fire &\u00a0brimstone, as I suspect we will hear next week in Charlotte. Rather he spoke of American principles, and\u00a0what many Americans\u00a0had hoped would have\u00a0happened after\u00a0the last election.\u00a0He painted the bright future we all sought in the promise of\u00a0change.\u00a0“This was the hope and change America voted for.\u00a0It’s not just what we wanted.\u00a0It’s not just what we expected. It’s what Americans deserved.”\u00a0Once again the the chant of USA… USA\u00a0filled the hall as he struck a nerve.\u00a0“President Obama promised to begin\u00a0to slow\u00a0the rise of the oceans. And to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your families.” Romney said to still another standing ovation.<\/p>\n
Romney\u00a0concluded his remarks,\u00a0“If you\u00a0elect me\u00a0President of the United States, I’ll work with all my energy and all my sole to restore\u00a0that\u00a0America<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0to\u00a0lift\u00a0our eyes to a better future.\u00a0 That future is our destiny.\u00a0That future is out there, It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it.\u00a0 Our nation depends on it. The peace and freedom of the world requires it.\u00a0 And with your help, we will deliver it! Let us\u00a0began\u00a0that future for America tonight!<\/p>\nChaos ensued!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exclusive to the LEHIGH ACRES GAZETTE From Dick Allen, Political Analyst, Chicago, IL “We Believe In America”,\u00a0the signage all-around\u00a0the convention center read, obviously\u00a0it is this evening’s theme. The stage had… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/clint-and-chair-300x200.jpg\" "\\"Thursday")
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