commentary by NH State Rep. Timothy Horrigan; October 31, 2012
See Also:
This 30-second clip from Willard M. Romney's acceptance speech on August 30, 2012 is the only 30 seconds I have seen of his hour-long speech. I boycotted his speech at the time, although I watched quite a bit of the rest of the 2012 Republican National Convention: I took a bus trip down to the UNH-Holy Cross football game instead. It was much more interesting than the speech.
In this clip, Romney sneers at Barack Obama for "promising" to heal the planet. An all-white crowd snickers derisively. Romney promises to help "you and your family" instead, as if "your family" doesn't need a healthy planet to survive.
Original URL:
http://youtu.be/GbkYBGVVpSc
Romney is referring to something Obama actually said four years earlier on June 3, 2008. Obama was speaking at a victory rally after he had finally defeated Hillary Clinton. Romney's quotes are not inaccurate, although it is interesting that Obama invokes American Exceptionalism at the end. The Republicans love to claim that they believe in the exceptionalism of America and the Democrats don't— but there (as he often does) Obama describes America as "the last best hope on earth."
Original URL:
http://youtu.be/I0tuAJkbUWU
Bill Clinton, God bless him, has
called out Romney on his callous statement at the Republican
National Convention (which also turned up in Romney's stump
speeches, and at the Presidential debates.) On October 30,
2012 (the day after Hurricane Sandy made its landfall in Atlantic
City), President Clinton said the following:
Original URL: http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/bill-clinton-maybe-mitt-romney-shouldnt-be-makin
Not so long ago, healing the planet was considered our patriotic duty as Americans. 20 years ago, on January 31, 1993, the late Michael Jackson made the song "Heal the World" the centerpiece of that most American of spectacles, the Super Bowl halftime show. Jackson was joined by a chorus of local children (from Los Angeles) dressed in the garb of their many ancestral homelands. He died a sad death in 2009, after years of bizarre (and often founded) allegations. I am not condoning anything he did. But, this is still an uplifting song and it is interesting that not so long ago a song about caring for children and healing the planet was the one of the climatic moments of an annual patriotic spectacle:
Original URL:
http://youtu.be/yK77q5Clmnw
See Also: