After a week of speeches, a hurricane watch, endless clips of President Obama saying “You didn’t built that,” speeches, silly hats, balloons and whatever it is that you want to call what Clint Eastwood did last night, the Republican National Convention is finally over.
We’ll have the Labor Day weekend to catch our breath and then be confronted with the Democrats infomercial in Charlotte. But before we get ready to digest the Obama and Biden show, here is a roundup of some winners and losers from Tampa.
Winners
Mitt Romney: The candidate did everything he needed to do in his acceptance speech. The address managed to overcome the handicap of his low-key personality and reluctance to talk about himself, while revealing his intense patriotism as well as his love of family and the importance of his faith. But the speeches by his wife and those families that he helped while serving as a Mormon lay leader did even more to humanize a man the Democrats have gone all out to demonize. After hearing the Oparowskis talk about his loving friendship for a dying boy, it’s going to be tough for liberals to keep yapping about him killing people at Bain or the dog on the roof. Romney emerges from the convention with a strong running mate, a party united in its dislike of his opponent and some wind in his sails. We’ll find out in November if that is enough but right now, he’s looking stronger than he has all year.
Paul Ryan: The intense effort by the liberal media to try and debunk his smashing acceptance speech is testimony to how scared they are of him. The left has to falsely brand him a liar because now that America has gotten a good look at him, it’s not going to be possible to depict him as throwing granny off the cliff anymore. Ryan doesn’t just leave the convention with his reputation as the intellectual leader of his party intact. Republicans clearly love him more than the top of the ticket but their affection seems matched by Romney’s for his choice. And if you’re thinking about 2016 if Romney loses, Ryan is now automatically at the top of the list.
Marco Rubio: Rubio had the disconcerting task of following Clint Eastwood’s bizarre act. But he gave a speech that was second only to that of Condoleezza Rice’s address in terms of eloquence. Like Chris Christie, he talked a lot about himself rather than Romney but he still tied his story to that of Romney in a credible manner. He showed us that he is the most natural speaker of the GOP’s young guns. It’s hard to imagine that he won’t be on the ticket the next time the nomination is open.
Susana Martinez: Martinez was just a name and a statistic — the first female Hispanic governor — to most Republicans before she spoke on Wednesday. But even though she had the misfortune of following Condi Rice on the platform, she still earned the love of the delegates and, no doubt, much of the television audience, with her plucky style. Her comments about packing a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum delighted them and her, “I’ll be damned, we’re Republicans,” may have been the best line of the convention. She’s someone with a big future in national politics. Honorable mentions should also go to Mia B. Love and Sher Valenzuela. Both also will be heard from again.
Jeb Bush: Given the talented GOP bench that was on display this week, it looks as though Jeb Bush is going to have a steep hill to climb if he ever decides to try and follow his father and brother into the White House. But he scored in his speech both by defending his brother against President Obama’s attempt to blame him for everything and by making the case for school choice. Bush may never be president but he’s still a party favorite and Romney should definitely be thinking of him as a possible Secretary of Education.
Losers
Rick Santorum: Given that a year ago neither most pundits nor I though he had a chance in hell to even make it through the primaries, let alone be Romney’s toughest foe, it’s probably unfair to cast him as a loser. Nor did I think his convention speech was as bad as a lot of people labeled it. For me, it was Santorum at his best, as he talked about his values without lapsing into the angry guy persona that is his greatest weakness. But this week showed that any hopes Santorum might have of winning the nomination in 2016 are quixotic. For all of the grit he showed last winter and spring when he won more than a dozen primaries and caucuses, it’s impossible to imagine him besting stars like Ryan, Rubio or Christie. Santorum’s moment has passed.
Chris Christie: I disagree with those who termed his keynote address a failure since it was all about himself rather than extolling Romney. But sometimes a consensus of pundits can help shape public perceptions and I fear that a year from now it will have become conventional wisdom that he really did flop in the spotlight even though the speech was actually quite good and set the right tone for the party’s future which is the traditional purpose of a keynote. But even if posterity agrees with me rather than the most of the rest of the chattering classes, I still have to concede that the New Jersey governor doesn’t stack up that well when compared to the men who may be his primary competition in 2016 should Romney lose. Christie has a lot of moxie but he’s not as likeable or as much of a star as Ryan and Rubio. But perhaps a convention that is viewed as a slight setback will do him good, as it will focus the governor and his supporters on the formidable task of securing his re-election rather than pipe dreams about 2016 or 2020.
Sarah Palin: The comparison between Palin’s standing in the GOP isn’t so much between the present and her dazzling debut at the 2008 convention but between now and the early summer of 2011, when her mere appearance in the lower 48 seemed to briefly suck all the oxygen out of the GOP race. Over the course of the last 15 months she went from being a superstar to an afterthought and may even be in danger of losing her gig at Fox News, which is her last claim to prominence. Palin still has a cadre of faithful followers who can be relied upon to angrily and sometimes profanely protest whenever she is referred to in less than laudatory terms. But Tampa proved what we already knew about her. She’s yesterday’s news.
Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman and John Thune: Listening to any member of this trio, it was hard to figure out why anyone ever thought they were presidential material. Thune was simply a dud. One wag replied to my criticism of his talk on Twitter by pointing out, “you can hire a speech coach but you can’t fix ugly.” That’s true but Thune is proof that you need more than good looks to be taken seriously. As for Pawlenty and Portman’s speeches, the less we speak of them, the better. Suffice it to say that Romney made himself look like a genius by having them come on prior to Paul Ryan’s star turn.
Lastly, I’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later whoever it was inside Romney’s camp that had the bright idea of inviting Clint Eastwood to be the mystery speaker at the convention. But for his or her sake, we should hope they remain forever anonymous. That person probably shouldn’t be completely blamed for Eastwood discarding his planned remarks and providing what was one of the most embarrassing moments in modern political convention history. But I doubt either party will ever take that kind of a chance again.
I had a different reaction to Eastwood's speech. n nFirst, the fact that I actually laughed during an RNC convention was new, and provided a nice contrast to Rubio's passionate oratory. n nSecond, while the delivery could obviously have been much better, the bumbling old man performance (or not performance) was disarming to the point that it became finally ok to laugh at Obama (not to mention his hilarious line on Biden being a grin with a body). One of the very odd and troubling thing about the Obama years has been the near prohibition on Obama jokes. It should never be taboo to mock your leaders. n nThird, it was kind of like listening to some old man whose seen a lot of what this country has been through, almost musing to himself on old truths we seem to have forgotten about our country, almost regretful, but reminding us that when someone fails it's ok to replace them. n
I agree. It was truly an entertaining performance, not really a speech. Given the commentary, I wouldn't be surprised if Clint Eastwoods speech ends up being more widely viewed than Mitt Romney's speech. These things have a way of taking off on the internet. … Indeed as I write my wife is showing me a Facebook posting of a snarling Clint Eastwood captioned "when somebody doesn't do the job, we've got to let 'em go." An internet meme is born.
Put me in this camp too… watching it one wondered if Eastwood was in the middle of losing his marbles (though I hear this is not all that different from how he's ever been as an extemporaneous speaker) but then he'd bring it home with a deadly zinger and you'd think ha ha, crazy like a fox. And as many have now noted, those parts are what will play continuously on YouTube– that it's time to fire Obama, that they're our employees, that we need a businessman instead of another lawyer, mocking Obama's self-absorption and grandiosity. But most of all, when the Dems put up one stale windbag after another, people will remember that Eastwood got up and did his Andy Rooney-meets-Lord Buckley bit and another chunk will fall out of the monument that declares that they're cool and conservatives are square for all time. n nIn other words, it was magnificent. n
I don't understand all the gnashing of the teeth about Clint Eastwood.
Sarah Palin and her family have been "crying all the way to the bank" in response to all the insults directed at her. If living well is the best revenge, then they've got theirs!
I’m not quite sure about Clint’s one-act play. It was a mixed bag but his heartfelt call -across party lines- to remind the political class that it’s a servant class was effective.
empty chair == empty suit. 'Nuff said.
Don't agree with your comments on Chris Christie. His speech was shrewdly crafted and effectively delivered. Pugnacious as always but not bullying or combative, he laid out the case for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party by explaining how he, a conservative Republican governor, was able to make things happen in deep-blue New Jersey. He pointed to the successes of Republican governors in other states, such as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. He described a bold philosophy of leadership, holding it up in sharp contrast to Obama’s timid, finger-in-the-wind mode of governance. In short, Chris Christie was the ideal advocate for a candidate and a party who, as he said, are ready to level with the American people and prepared to lead. n nIf I had to summarize the theme of Christie's speech in one sentence it would be: “This is what real leadership looks like.” It was a commanding performance and it showed, in case anyone still needed convincing, that the Governor of New Jersey is aa power to be reckoned with in Republican Party.
Clint also may have brought in some viewers for Romney, which was the best reason for doing it last night.
Being a rabid partisan(though I was not a Romney supporter and still am lukewarm toward him), it's very difficult to avoid separating oneself from what you may want to see or happen. That's what makes these "winners/losers" difficult to determine. But I think Jonathan has done an admirable job. From my perspective, I'm glad Christie may have been taken down a peg or two. He is much too aggressive and "hot" to succeed as a national figure, and even when he muted his well-known persona, he had trouble putting everything together a real effective keynote. One more point. I was stunned by the demeanor maintained by the speakers giving their gut-wrenching testimonials. These "average," non professional speakers talked to huge audiences with a dignity and spirit that make them the winners heads and shoulders above everyone else.
The Olympians were winners too. Especially the young Mexican-American speed-skater, Derek Parra. He was quite good. Genuine goodness and virtue written all over his face. Don't want to slight Kim Rhode and Mike Eruzione, though. They were very good too. n nAnd you know what? Eastwood's speech is already aging nicely. When its next-day and hottest critic is Michael Moore, that's something to feel good about.
Clint Eastwood's speech does get better when watched again. On Ace of Spades HQ, one of the commenters noted that it was because you knew this time that nothing terrible was going to happen by the end of it (which wasn't so readily apparent when it was live). n nOther winners — Condi Rice, Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.
The only thing false about Eastwood's gig was the claim that it was not scripted. He (they) had the target audience pegged on every line, even the hair was for folks who think R&R with their perfect hair are "too slick". The first time I saw "Jack", the guy with the styrofoam head in the Jack in the Box ads, I reacted the same way people are reacting to Clint. Next November, when an undecided is standing in the box going "eeny-meeny-miny-mo", the only thing he/she will remember from 6 months of ads and speeches is old Clint with Obama the empty chair and "And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go." This was sheer brilliance.
Mr. Tobin and Commentary continue to bad mouth Sarah Palin at all junctures, this time by approving Mitt Romney's deliberate exclusion of the Tea Party favorite. Perhaps you didn't know that the Palins own a house in Arizona and therefore can visit the lower 48 without your approval.? n nYou also conveniently overlooked Newt Gingrich's contributions to this year's primary and to Republican conservatism. n nNot a word was said about the sick fawning over Ron Paul at the convention and not a word about why the poor decision to ask John McCain to speak. Could it be that all Spanish-speaking famous Republicans were asked to speak – Susana, Jeb, Marco, and McCain, n n
I am not a big Eastwood fan, but it was apparent to me in the first 15 seconds that this was a performance not a speech. I saw Gran Torino on TV just a few months ago, so I recognized the character. I mean the mussed up hair and not quite right fitting suit were dead giveaways. His audience wasn't the RNC, it was millions of undecided voters who voted for Obama last time. On Palin, she helped make that stellar lineup of diverse speakers possible. When she endorsed Nikki Haley, Haley was running third in the Republican primary. Yes, Mitt endorsed her too, but Mitt's endorsement doesn't carry the same power. She also endorsed Rubio in the primary and Martinez in the primary. If you compare Palin's endorsements at SarahPac with the primetime lineup of younger diverse speakers you will see a very high congruence. And many of them, like Tim Scott, won despite taking on the Republican establishment. Sarah may be doing well financially and she deserves it, but she is still making political stars– like Ted Cruz and Mia Love. She is far from over. She is more like, waiting in the wings. The Palin endorsement still packs a lot of punch. Ask Oren Hatch. She is far from over.
You forgot the biggest losers of the week; MSM/Obama campaign and the DemoKKK-rat party.
basically a good list, Jonathan, but where is Condoleeza Rice? she rocked the house. n nthe convention showed America that the Republicans are NOT all old white men who hate poor people. I thought it was good for the Repubs, especially in contrast with the Democrats' war-on-women-fest that's coming up in North Carolina. let the American people compare! n nRick Santorum: he's not only yesterday's news, he wasn't even news yesterday. that this guy is able to have had the political career he has just shows the paucity of the Republicans' bench. fortunately, that's changing: look at all the "young guns" at the convention: Rubio, Martinez, Haley, Jindal, et al. we've got a lot of exciting people coming up; the future looks good. n nand I thought Clint Eastwood was funny, disconcerting, and at times outrageous. and he did something important: it's now ok to laugh at Obama. (c'mon, call us racist, we don't care anymore, you're going to say it anyway!)