Ron Paul's speech, and other Republican moments you probably didn't see

I'm just now catching up to the RNC after spending most of last week trying to put video together for my fall TV preview section. Once again, there were some memorable moments that GBC (God Bless C-Span) carried that CNN and MSNBC mostly talked over.

First, let's start with a Republican moment no channel other than GBC bothered with: Ron Paul's speech at the Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis. Unlike Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson -- to name two approved RNC speakers -- Ron Paul actually picked up some delegates during the GOP primaries, 29 to be exact, and raised millions of dollars in small individual contributions from thousands of disaffected Americans. But he was persona non grata across town at the RNC. He spoke before 12,000 fans at the Target Center after Barry Goldwater Jr., the former Republican congressman, introduced him.

Here are other videos, all from C-SPAN. A big tip of the hat to blaise.miller@statestreet.com.

Former House majority leader John Boehner of Ohio speaking out about corruption less than two years after misdeeds by the congresscritters he was supposedly in charge of cost his party the 2006 midterms. One of the great moments of chutzpah at either convention. (Sen. Sam Brownback's speech wins this silver in this category.)

Here's a talk from Carolyn Dunn, a Kansas family farmer. You have to wait for the gum-chewing state senator to finish speaking before she begins. Bob Dole, another native Kansan, enters the room in a big scrum just as Dunn is trying to speak.

The 3-star general who gives this speech is not a great orator, but I must say I admire her devotion to country, the Marines and McCain. She was brief, she was bold and then she was gone.

McCain's BFF, Sen. Lindsey Graham, gave a pretty good talk on Iraq and hit the Democrats on what could turn into an Achilles' heel -- their perceived refusal to acknowledge any kind of success in the war.

C-SPAN's great Convention Hub has videos of other RNC speakers, of course, but I notice even B-listers like Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman had most of their speeches covered live by CNN and MSNBC. I'm not sure if that was because there was less behind-the-scenes drama at the RNC or because the networks felt the need to give more time to the RNC after the hurricanes cut it short by a day, but that's the way it was.

Comments

[Darryl Schmitz]

Thank you for assembling the videos. I certainly was tuned into C-Span. I watched very little of the Democratic and Republican conventions, despite their being spashed on a dozen channels. Those two parties mark the beginning of the long, downward spiral for America. If we can't manage to extricate them from their dual monopolization of power in Washington, they will whittle our Consitution down to a skeleton of its former self and bankrupt us with their insane and unconstitutional federal spending practices. It is not unlikely that mnay of us will live to see our savings and value of our assets wiped out by a second Great Depression.
Just as many biblical prophets were ridiculed by the powerful religious leaders of the time, and just as the British Crown mocked the colonists, Ron Paul has been similarly ridiculed by the major powerbrokers in the Democratic and Republican parties. The joke will be on us when the huge house of cards comes tumbling down.
Notice how Rush Limbaugh has suddenly started mentioning very positive things about his longtime whipping boy, John McCain. It's ALL about money and power, and I'm sure Limbaugh realizes that it's now time to start up the bandwagon so the right team wins.

[CD]

Ron Paul was the event in Minneapolis. Just think, they let Joe Lieberman speak and not the limited government Paul. Very telling indeed. The question is do I stay in the party or go to a third party. I think the GOP would love me to leave, so that is exactly why I will stay and double down my efforts for 2010 and 2012. We have only just started this fight.

[jp2]

I expect a response to my comment. How is it that Ron Paul's comment about international governments of the New World Order is edited out of this speech ? At first I was shocked CSPAN has done this; but now I know, you are no longer what you once were.