Major themes at last night’s session:
Experience
And I’m optimistic about something else: When the debates have ended, and all the ads have run, and it is time to vote, Americans will look closely at the judgment, the experience, and the policies of the candidates — and they will cast their ballots for the McCain-Palin ticket.
Sen. Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record – not in these tough times. In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party.
— Former Democrat candidate for vice president, Sen. Joseph Lieberman
Here’s another inspiring statistic. When my husband took office, fewer than 50,000 Africans suffering from AIDS were receiving the medicine they needed to survive. Thanks to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, that number is now nearly two million. You might call that “change you can really believe in.”
Reform
The Washington bureaucrats and power brokers can’t build a pen strong enough to hold these two mavericks [Gov. Sarah Palin and McCain].
— Former Democrat candidate for vice president, Sen. Joseph Lieberman
Last year, John McCain’s independence and character helped change history. The Democrats had taken control of Congress and were threatening to cut off funds for our troops. In the face of calls for retreat, I ordered a surge of forces into Iraq. Many in Congress said it had no chance of working. Yet one Senator above all had faith in our troops and the importance of their mission — and that was John McCain. Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his presidential campaign at risk. He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. That is the kind of courage and vision we need in our next commander-in-chief.
Let’s be clear … the selection of Gov. Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic. She is a courageous, successful reformer, who is not afraid to take on the establishment. Sound like anyone else we know?
— Former presidential candidate and former Sen. Fred Thompson
Economy
We do so while taking a different view of our country than that of the other party. Listening to them you’d think that we were in the middle of a great depression; that we are down, disrespected and incapable of prevailing against challenges facing us.
— Former presidential candidate and former Sen. Fred Thompson
Tonight we are