The one nodding at 3:00.

So, anyway: Dolan’s a pretty big get, especially since the Roman Catholic Church is sufficiently annoyed at the Democrats right now over the lack of conscience exemptions for abortion that they’re ready to play nice with the party of small-government conservatives – which actually could cause long-term problems, as Holy Mother Church hates getting too deep into American politics. So Dolan would actually like to keep the Church’s options open. But apparently nobody in the DNC knows how to play this game: Dolan went to the Democrats, told them that he’d be happy to do a prayer for them, too… and probably watched with some pity as party officials completely missed the hint.

Get used to it, Your Eminence. Goodness knows, the rest of us have had to.

(Via @ByronYork.)

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*For those without video: it’s the clip from Ghostbusters when they’re in the Mayor’s office. One of the best bits of a movie famous for good bits.

And my use of the word ‘hysterical’ does, in point of fact, incorporate the thought that it’s downright maddening that we’re subtly teaching our kids to think of the government in terms of being the first response to a problem, instead of the last one. Which is really the issue: after all, nobody would be too bothered at the thought of a kid wanting to growing up to be a government crony if only it weren’t a career path with a steadily-increasing ability to ruin everybody else’s day…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Executive summary: the first half of the video shows a bunch of cute kids talking about how they want to grow up to have real jobs like being a doctor or whatnot; the second half shows them talking about how they want to be members of this home-grown apparatchiki of ours that’s been steadily increasing in numbers since FDR decided to play Lord Protector of America for a decade or so. You can probably guess which side is portrayed more favorably.

1. It was because of the suppression of a Citizens United movie (Hillary: the Movie) that the US Supreme Court decided to restore most of the First Amendment privileges that had been unconstitutionally suppressed by McCain-Feingold; it will be interesting to see how the filmmakers plan to top that particular civil rights accomplishment.
2. In 2008 much was made of reports that various prominent Republicans/conservatives had decided to embrace the message of the Lightworker; not much has been said about the pesky detail that these days the flow from party to party has been going the other way.
3. I take no little pleasure in cheerfully pointing #1 & #2.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

…and, as you can see, it’s ALMOST perfect, as is.  In fact, if you think that it IS perfect as is I am not going to blame you for thinking that; you can make a case, there.

But you know how it is: people can’t just help but season the soup.

Open thread.

Moe Lane

Come, I will conceal nothing from you.  This is Ed Markey’s district, and the Democrats are prepared to sacrifice a puppy if that’s what it will take to keep Markey in that seat.  Still, Jeff is stepping up: and hey.  Things happen.

Jeff’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

This capacity to mold the moral premises of large segments of the public, and especially the youngest and most impressionable elements, may or may not be unfair. What it is undoubtedly is a source of cultural (and hence political) power. Liberals like to believe that our strength derives solely from the natural concordance of the people, that we represent what most Americans believe, or would believe if not for the distorting rightward pull of Fox News and the Koch brothers and the rest. Conservatives surely do benefit from these outposts of power, and most would rather indulge their own populist fantasies than admit it. But they do have a point about one thing: We liberals owe not a small measure of our success to the propaganda campaign of a tiny, disproportionately influential cultural elite.

…which, by the way, enjoys a set of tax exemptions, loopholes, shelters, and other market-distorting favors that benefit them far more than the dubious benefits that supposed accrue to us. Now, despite what you may be hearing, we are still going to be in a position to pass laws next year, and when we do pass those laws I think that it’ll be long past time to stop allowing the entertainment industry to evade paying its fair share while taking a partisan political side.  Long past time.  Which means that I explicitly echo Glenn Reynolds in calling for a repeal of the Hollywood tax cuts.

And before you tell me that Hollywood is too big to take on, funny: that’s exactly what people told me about the public sector unions.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Since this report has been making the rounds of the Internet, I thought that I’d look into it a bit. It turns out the poll comes from McKeon & Associates, which has been polling in Illinois since at least the 1980s. A quick call to Michael McKeon got me access to the poll itself, which I’ll be talking about after the fold.

OK, to start: poll of 629 registered voters, not commissioned for a specific campaign (they were looking at something else, saw an interesting development, and went back to get a full survey). Notable breakdowns: 49/51 Chicago/Suburbs, 48/30/22 Democratic/Independent/Republican, 48/52 male/female, 62/24/10 White/Black/Hispanic. Independents [break] for Romney 43/31; but what’s really hurting Obama in this poll are his undecideds. He’s winning Democrats 79/8… and African-American voters 70/5, with the remainder being undecided. Now, before anyone objects; I don’t expect that one quarter of the Chicago African-American electorate is going to end up pulling the lever for Romney in November. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to end up pulling the lever for Obama, either. In fact, they may not end up pulling a lever at all.

All in all, this poll will not cause anybody to suddenly declare Illinois to be a swing state, nor should it; Barack Obama has a home-field advantage here, and even a campaign team as maladroit as his is should be able to bring in the win. But it is nonetheless not a good poll for Obama, largely because it argues that the Democratic enthusiasm gap seen elsewhere is very, very real. Even in Illinois.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Yeah, about that?

Not so much. Note the signs: generally speaking, ducking an issue – or state – does not mean ‘showing up in the symbolic epicenter of a supposed controversy. With your mom. And with a big honking sign stating your position being used for your camera backstop.’ In fact, that’s kind of the opposite of ducking. If anybody in that crowd didn’t know by the end of the speech that Paul Ryan wants to talk about Medicare, it’s because they were deaf, blind, and lacking someone to sign the speech into their hands.

Meanwhile, the President is… limiting the size of his rallies? Wait, what?

“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”

Via JMF. What makes this NYT article particularly entertaining is the date: August 9th. On August 11th Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan for the VP slot, and since then Romney-Ryan’s crowds (and donations*) have soared. Annnnnnd that’s why Romney kept his pick a secret for as long as he needed to (which is to say, until after the Friday papers came out)…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Somebody remind me in December to do a post on what the differences were between the Romney & McCain campaigns at this stage, particularly our reaction to their respective VP picks. I’d do one now, except that I think that I’d rather wait until writing that post won’t give the opposition party potentially valuable campaign data.

Liberals routinely dismiss Biden’s gaffes as the rhetorical excesses of an overly exuberant speaker — it’s “Joe being Joe.” And there can be something appealing about a politician who throws caution and the script that goes with it to the winds. Yet when conservative speakers get overly exuberant and cross a rhetorical line, they are presumed racist or culturally insensitive, rather than refreshingly free-spirited. One standard should apply.

The surreal part? There’s nothing in the editorial that I can legitimately complain about. The closest is when they say “In the fight for civility and substance over pointless hyperbole, Biden may not be the worst offender,” but even then I’m forced to admit that this is true – besides, the editorial immediately followed with “But he’s an offender nonetheless, and he should apologize.” It’s like the Boston Globe decided that it was going to be, well, fair.

Strange days, my droogies. Strange days.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: For the benefit of any Democratic/liberal lurkers that might be reading this; if, in the next few weeks, you start getting that dream where you’re trying to run through a muddy sea bottom and get to the other side before the tidal wave hits, don’t worry about it. It’s merely your subconscious trying to work out existing unresolved anxieties, and it’s generally harmless. Why, I had that dream myself on several different occasions in 2006 and 2008 – although not in 2004 or 2010 – and I never found it to affect my long term ability to function.

Absolutely… it would be a honor to have someone of Paul Ryan’s stature. Absolutely: not just because he’s the Vice President [nominee]; if he didn’t accept that role, and it was just Congressman Paul Ryan I would welcome him.

I bring this up because a number of people started this week by suggesting that adding Paul Ryan to the ticket would hurt the GOP downticket, particularly in states like Florida. While that argument seems to have largely died off – mostly of embarrassment, apparently – I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t point out that Republican candidates and politicians don’t seem to be particularly nervous about the Ryan pick. In fact, the default emotion that I’ve been detecting seems to be relief…

Moe Lane

PS: Romney-Ryan reported: 10.16 million in online fundraising in the last week; average donation, $81; 68% were first-time donors. 45K new volunteers signed up in the last week, too. I guess that the base is equally relieved.

Also: how did Obama-Biden do, in terms of raising money last week? I only ask because they were planning to fundraise off of the Ryan pick, too: I was merely wondering how they did.

Well, former Governor Wilder isn’t too happy about the entire situation:

Transcript when I get it: the gist of it is, Wilder thinks that the comments themselves were “divisive” and “uncalled for,” not to mention a problem for the Obama administration. Wilder – who, by the way, is the grandson of slaves – doesn’t particularly consider jokes about slavery to be in good taste*, so even if you concede that Joe Biden didn’t mean to race-bait there (I am not conceding that, myself) Wilder still thinks that Biden should shut up.

With the subtext that Biden should be doing that shutting up in his private capacity as a Vice President who is not running for re-election. Note that Doug Wilder has been saying for a while now that Joe Biden should be dropped for some time now: also note that the Democrats apparently couldn’t find a national slot for the first-ever African-American elected governor… and of Virginia, at that. Funny how that always seems to happen to prominent African-American Democrats, isn’t it?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*I am happy to concede that a person may legitimately take a particular position on something (without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with that position), as long as that person is consistent about it.

[UPDATE]: Transcript below.

CAVUTO: what did you make of what the vice president said?

WILDER: well, first of all it is decisive — devisive and uncalled for. i don’t think the obama administration needs that at this time. and as you know, have i not been the most — i have not been the most strong supporter of joe biden. and yet, we all know he is gaff prone. but when you make a statement saying they are going to put y’all back in chains which means i’m okay. it is not going to happen to me.

CAVUTO: that’s interesting.

WILDER: we’ll work through it, but y’all would be in chains. slavery is nothing to joke about. the history of this nation’s involvement with slavery is nothing to pass off in a joke. and so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt by saying, well, he didn’t mean all of it, and his uh poll gists are out there saying it. but you can’t continue to make gaff after gaff after gaff and believe it is going to be supportive of what you and the president are trying to do.

Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America.

As I noted elsewhere: I think that we’ve established by now whether Paul Ryan was a net positive to the ticket; judging from this re-energized Mitt Romney (or, perhaps, a Mitt Romney who was simply tired of having the President attack him via surrogate, and happy to start punching back), it was.

And if you don’t believe me, check out the somewhat twitchy whining of Barack Obama’s campaign staff.  I get the impression that the vaunted, crack Obama for America staff is only now realizing that – unlike in 2008 – they will actually have to work for a living…

Moe Lane

Text of Romney’s remarks, 08/14/2012, Chillicothe, Ohio.

Thank you, Ohio.  It’s good to be back in the Buckeye State.  And it’s a privilege to be here with two good friends – your great governor, John Kasich and your outstanding senator, Rob Portman.  Governor Kasich is doing a great job despite the head winds from Washington. As President, I can’t wait to work with Senator Portman to turn those Obama headwinds into pro-job policies that will help working families all across Ohio.

Tonight, we’re wrapping up our five-state bus tour to towns big and small. That trip reconfirmed to me just how important this election is – and why we need to change the direction of the country by changing the current occupant of the Oval Office.

We started out on the decks of a battleship in Norfolk, Virginia, where arbitrary and reckless defense cuts threaten our national security and 150,000 jobs.  From there it was on to North Carolina, through towns that have lost thousands and thousands of manufacturing jobs.  And yesterday we were in Florida, where families are still struggling with the Obama Economy.

The people I met on this tour – and the thousands of Americans I’ve visited in break rooms and lunch rooms, in school gymnasiums and on factory floors – are worried about their children, their jobs, their mortgages, and their future. And they are right to be worried.

All across the country, I’ve met people who are hurting. Some have lost their jobs; others work two jobs just to get by. Some have fallen out of the middle class and now they’re struggling to get back to where they started. The cost of living keeps going up, and they’re living paycheck to paycheck.

They are tired of being tired.

And tonight, I’d like to say to each of them:  You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. This is America. We are Americans. It doesn’t have to be this way!

Unemployment has been above 8 percent for 42 straight months. We will put Americans back to work!

Half of recent college graduates can’t find work or a job that matches their skills.  We’ll get good jobs for our kids.

Nearly one out of six Americans are in poverty today. This is a disgrace we will end.

And President Obama has amassed five trillion dollars of debt – nearly as much debt held by the public as all other Presidents combined. We will end this moral failure.

After four years, it’s clear that President Obama’s policies aren’t fixing these problems, they’re making them worse. That is why Ohio will lead the way by electing a new President on November 6th.

For the first time, most Americans believe that our best days are behind us. This is an election in which we should be talking about the path ahead, but you don’t hear any answers coming from President Obama’s re-election campaign. That’s because he’s intellectually exhausted, out of ideas, and out of energy. And so his campaign has resorted to diversions and distractions, to demagoguing and defaming others. This is an old game in politics; what’s different this year is that the president is taking things to a new low.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

In 2008, Candidate Obama said, “if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.”  He said, “if you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.”  And that, he told us, is how, “You make a big election about small things.”

That was Candidate Obama describing the strategy that is the now the heart of his campaign.

His campaign and his surrogates have made wild and reckless accusations that disgrace the office of the Presidency.  Another outrageous charge came a few hours ago in Virginia. And the White House sinks a little bit lower.

This is what an angry and desperate Presidency looks like.

President Obama knows better, promised better and America deserves better.

Over the last four years, this President has pushed Republicans and Democrats as far apart as they can go.  And now he and his allies are pushing us all even further apart by dividing us into groups. He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces.

If an American president wins that way, we all lose.

But he won’t win that way. America is one Nation under God. American history has been a story of the many becoming one – uniting to preserve liberty, uniting to build the greatest economy in the world, uniting to save the world from unspeakable darkness. Everywhere I go in America there are monuments that list those who have given their lives. There is no mention of their race, their party affiliation or what they did for a living. They lived and died under a single flag fighting for a single purpose. They pledged allegiance to the United States of America. So, Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America.

This election is about restoring the promise of America. It’s a choice between two visions for our nation’s future. It’s about the challenges America faces. It is about a better tomorrow and a better future.

We don’t need more excuses. We don’t need more blame. We don’t need more small-minded attacks.

What we really need is a new president.

Voters deserve an honest debate. And that’s what Paul Ryan and I will give them.

Paul and I have a positive agenda that will lead to economic growth, to widespread and shared prosperity that will improve the lives of our fellow citizens. Our Plan For A Stronger Middle Class will get America back to work and get our country back on track.

We are offering solutions that are bold, specific, and achievable. We’re committed to helping create 12 million new jobs and to bring better take-home pay to middle class families.

My plan focuses on five things.

First, energy independence. We will achieve North America energy independence by 2020, by taking full advantage of our oil, our gas, our coal, our renewables and our nuclear power.  Abundant, inexpensive, domestic energy will not only create energy jobs, it will bring back manufacturing jobs.

Second, we must give our workers and our children the skills they need to succeed. Our nation cannot continue to fail in public education. For too long, we have let the agenda of union bosses steer the agenda of our schools. It is time to put our kids and their parents and their teachers first, and the union bosses behind.

Third, trade must work for America. We are one of the world’s most productive nations. Trade creates jobs and raises take-home pay for American workers. We must open more doors for trade in Latin America, where there is a growing middle class. But when any nation cheats, as China has cheated, we must make sure that there are clear and compelling consequences.

Fourth, we will do what politicians in both parties have been promising for years, but have failed to do. We will cut spending, shrink deficits, and put America on track to a balanced budget.

Fifth, we will champion small business. Unlike President Obama, I won’t raise taxes on small business. I’ll make sure regulators protect the public, but that they stop killing our jobs. I will remove the crippling uncertainty that is preventing businesses from hiring.

That begins by repealing Obamacare.  It’s bad for jobs and it’s bad for seniors. If the President is re-elected, he will succeed in raiding $716 billion from Medicare — from the trust fund you have paid into all your lives – to pay for Obamacare. He is taking your money to finance his risky and unproven takeover of the health-care system. He is putting Medicare at greater risk. He is putting health care at greater risk. He is putting your jobs at greater risk.  We must not let Obamacare happen.

If we focus on these five areas – energy, education, trade, deficits, and championing small business – America’s economy will come roaring back to life.  And we will finally see a comeback for America’s middle class.

My plan is based on proven principles that will produce real results.  I spent 25 years in business, and I know what it takes for the private sector to create jobs.  I know why jobs go away, what it takes to bring them back, and what we must do to make America the best place in the world for entrepreneurs and innovators and job creators. My five-point plan will bring more jobs and more take-home pay for middle-class Americans.

People ask me why I think the President’s policies have been such a disappointment. I just don’t think President Obama understands what it is that drives our economy.

America runs on freedom. Free men and women, pursuing their dreams, working hard to build a better future for their families. This is what propels our economy. When an American succeeds, when she wins a promotion, when he creates a business, it is that individual, that American that has earned it, that has built it. Government does not build our businesses, the American people do.

The American people also build the government. We pay for it with our taxes. We choose who will lead us with our votes.

Do you want a president who believes that your rights come from God, not from government?

Do you want a president who honors your right to pursue happiness, not as government commands, but as you choose?

Do you want a president who will work every day to bring us together, not tear us apart?

Do you want a president who will celebrate success, not attack it?

Do you want a president who will never, ever apologize for the greatest nation on earth?

With your support, I will be that President.

We are 84 days away from the start of the better future we deserve.

We need new leadership, and new ideas, and a new approach – because four years of failure is enough.

Paul Ryan and I believe in America – and in this election, we’re offering Americans a clear and honest choice. Every single day we’re going to do our part. And we need you to do yours.

I commit to you that I will be the President that this moment demands. I will work to strengthen our families, to rebuild our economy and to keep our military second to none in the world.

I ask you to commit like never before over the next 84 days. This election can come down to just one more vote. I ask you find that vote. Ask one more person to join our campaign. Ask one more person to join us who supported President Obama four years ago and didn’t get the change they deserved. One more vote can make the difference in Ohio. And Ohio will make the difference for America.

Thank you.  God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.

[UPDATE] Oh! And Connecticut.  Sorry about that: I was reminded of that one in comments.  I need a better link than this, too.

Here we have Aaron Bean, who is running in Florida’s Fourth Senate district: we chatted about the race, and state-level races generally.

Aaron Bean’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

At any rate: meet Cord Byrd, who is running in Florida’s new 11th state house district: we talked for a bit about that, and state-level races generally.

Cord Byrd’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

…Really? OK. Let’s look at the special elections for the 112th Congress, then.

Below is a table of all six special House elections conducted to date: the asterisks represent races where the seat more or less no longer exists in a meaningful form due to redistricting (although, truth be told, that could be pretty much most seats at this point). Cook is, of course, the latest (08/02) Cook Political Report on House races.

With me so far? Good; let’s look at each race in turn.

• AZ-08: Medicare brought up, yes. Whether that was more important than the fact that the Democratic candidate was a senior Giffords staffer wounded in the assassination attempt on the Congresswoman is, to put it mildly, debatable. Democrats kept the seat.
• CA-36: D+12. Pretty much enough said; the Democrats pretty much needed to avoid a major scandal to keep the seat, and they did.
• NV-02: Well, the Democratic candidate certainly tried to Mediscare. Didn’t work. GOP kept the seat.
• NY-09: …Look, much as I’d love to claim the win on this one on our party’s superior political kung fu, the truth is: Anthony Weiner showed his, and that pretty much guaranteed the flip.
• NY-26: This is the one that the Democrats are thinking of when they think that Mediscare works as a campaign tactic. Two problems with that: one, Chris Lee was also caught in public showing half-naked pictures of himself (thankfully, half-naked from the waist up); two, incumbent Kathy Hochul is widely considered to be, well, toast.
• OR-01: this one is interesting (aside from former Democratic Rep. David Wu’s ‘go nuts and dress like a tiger’ method of stress release), as the Republican candidate actually tried to target the Democratic candidate with wanting to cut Medicare. Didn’t work, although that might have just been the D+8 talking.

So… Mediscare works! Except when it doesn’t. Which is apparently… all the time, particularly when it comes to flipping seats. Put another way: there’s a reason why the notoriously Democratic-leaning PolitiFact called “Republicans voted to end Medicare” the 2011 Lie of the Year. And it would seem that arguing otherwise doesn’t seem to have been very much practical help to Democrats in actual elections since the 112th Congress started…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*It is not, by the way.

If you missed the speech, that was a shame: nice balance of positive sentiments, and fully-deserved scorn for this current, quite feckless and incompetent administration.  I’ll put up the video itself when it’s available; the text of it is below the fold, and is from here.  One thing that won’t come through is that Ryan knows how to react to a crowd; couple that with his legendary command of budgetary issues, and you end up with a pretty darn good VP pick, there. In fact, to expand on a thought that I had on Twitter earlier, this pick puts the Democrats in a bit of a situation.  They typically prefer to run on a campaign where their opponents are Evil and Dumb, but this simply won’t work this time; it will, in fact, get them laughed off of the stage.  So it’s going to just be all Evil, all the time… and that won’t make happy the Obama voters who genuinely thought that they were voting for a nice guy in 2009.

Game on.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Thank you Governor Romney, Ann.  I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate.

Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history. Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim; and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment; and he and I share one commitment: we will restore the dreams and greatness of this country.

I want you to meet my family.  My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our sons, Charlie and Sam.

I am surrounded by the people I love, and I have been asked by Governor Romney to serve the country I love.

Janesville, Wisconsin is where I was born and raised, and I never really left it. It’s our home now.

For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in Congress.  There, I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, and turning ideas into action; and action into solutions.

I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney Administration. This is a crucial moment in the life of our nation; and it is absolutely vital that we select the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness.

That man is standing next to me. His name is Mitt Romney. And he will be the next president of the United States

My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. I still remember a couple of things he would say that have really stuck with me.  ”Son you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.”

Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem,…and Mitt Romney is the solution.

The other thing my dad would say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That’s the American legacy.

Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution – new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs.

It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children, and theirs.

And I believe there is no person in America who is better prepared – because of his experience; because of the principles he holds; and because of his achievements and excellence in so many different arenas – to lead America at this point in its history.

Let me say a word about the man Mitt Romney will replace. No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation.  And, in his first 2 years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda.  But that didn’t make things better.

In fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt and despair.

• This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression. Families are hurting.

• We have the largest deficits and the biggest federal government since WWII.

• Nearly 1 out of 6 Americans are in poverty–the worst rate in a generation.  Moms and dads are struggling to make ends meet.

• Household incomes have dropped by more than $4,000 over the past four years.

Whatever the explanations, whatever the excuses, this is a record of failure.

President Obama, and too many like him in Washington, have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation. We might have been able to get away with that before, but not now. We’re in a different, and dangerous, moment. We’re running out of time — and we can’t afford 4 more years of this.

Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises–with painful consequences–if we fail to act now.

I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs and factory towns.  Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot from families, from those running small businesses, and from people who are in need.  But what I have heard lately troubles me the most.  There is something different in their voice and in their words. What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures.

I hear some people say that this is just “the new normal.” High unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal.  It’s the result of misguided policies.  And next January, our economy will begin a comeback with the Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class that will lead to more jobs and more take home pay for working Americans.

America is on the wrong track; but Mitt Romney and I will take the right steps, in the right time, to get us back on the right track!

I believe my record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney’s executive and private sector success outside Washington. I have worked closely with Republicans as well as Democrats to advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal discipline, and job creation.

I’m proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience, that if you have a small business—you did build that.

At Bain Capital, he launched new businesses and he turned around failing ones – companies like Staples, Bright Horizons and Sports Authority, just to name a few. Mitt Romney created jobs and showed he knows how a free economy works.

At the Olympics, he took a failing enterprise and made it the pride of our entire nation.

As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with Democrats and Republicans to balance budgets with no tax increases, lower unemployment, increase income and improve people’s lives.

In all of these things, Mitt Romney has shown himself to be a man of achievement, excellence and integrity.

Janna and I tell Liza, Charlie and Sam that America is a place where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead.

We Americans look at one another’s success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks, and succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be improved and uplifted.

But America is more than just a place…it’s an idea.  It’s the only country founded on an idea.  Our rights come from nature and God, not government.  We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.

This idea is founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination and government by consent of the governed.

This idea is under assault.  So, we have a critical decision to make as a nation.

We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security. It doesn’t have to be this way.

The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this:

We won’t duck the tough issues…we will lead!

We won’t blame others…we will take responsibility!

We won’t replace our founding principles…we will reapply them!

We will honor you, our fellow citizens, by giving you the right and opportunity to make the choice:

• What kind of country do we want to have?

• What kind of people do we want to be?

We can turn this thing around.  Real solutions can be delivered.  But, it will take leadership.  And the courage to tell you the truth.

Mitt Romney is this kind of leader.  I’m excited for what lies ahead and I’m thrilled to be a part of America’s Comeback Team. And together, we will unite America and get this done.

Thank you.

…and the second is of Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford, who is poised to be the next Speaker of the House in the Florida legislature.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Ron’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Chauncey’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)