Romney has to step up...

I hope Mitt's speech is as good or better than Ryan's... cause Ryan's was damn good.

Some fluff, some party-line pandering... neither of which Paul Ryan is very good at delivering.  Some hyperbole and exaggeration... neither of which I think were needed.  Otherwise, a solid speech that really seemed to wake the crowd up at times.

I think his strongest points were at the end of his speech.  Without coming out and listing the differences, he showed that he and Mitt were from different backgrounds, faiths and even generations, but that they were "hand-in-hand" in all that mattered politically.  I'm not all that sure that is true, but it is enough to be said, I guess.  He is the VP candidate, after all... his agenda isn't the one that really matters.

He brought up the salient points that I felt really needed to be touched on:

Success in business does NOT mean Romney is a bad man, or did bad things.  Obama is NOT a poor man, either... and Obama didn't give half as much of his wealth to charity that Romney did over the last four years, even as a percentage of income.  Dollar for dollar, even Ryan gave away more money than Obama did.

Romney got to where he is today with honesty and integrity, and he is making his run for the White House without the aid and support of people who are either avowed socialists/communists (who are antithetical to the very premise that is America), racists, or terrorist sympathizers and supporters.

Choosing to vote for Obama is choosing to vote for the "status quo"... and there aren't many people in this country that can want to see more of that.  A sluggish, almost stagnant rate of economic growth; disastrous foreign affairs; nearly unlimited debt potential with no means of escape... other than higher taxes across the board.  I especially liked the point he made that increased cost to business and manufacturing ONLY increases the cost to the consumer, so when corporate taxes go up, so do costs.  End result:  less for the tax payer to keep in his pocket and spend as he wishes.

If creating an environment in the small-business community of America could mean adding ONE MORE employee to every company that has a total staff of between 5 and 50 employees, then the unemployment problem in this country disappears entirely.  It doesn't get any easier than that... but since most of the OWNERS of companies that size make between $250,000 and $1,000,000 a year, and will have to pay 30% MORE in taxes and carry a higher corporate tax rate as well, this is unlikely to happen in Obama's next term.