At the National Conventions, the Words They Used
by Democrats
by Republicans
by Democrats and Republicans
Excerpts from Democrats
Democrats mentioned various topics
some number of times per 25,000 words
I'd like to focus on two crises and show you — show you the character of leadership that each man will bring to this job, because as I said, I've had a ringside seat.
And we're not going back. And we have no intention of downsizing the American dream. (Extended cheers, applause.) Never. Never a good bet.
For you see — you see, we see a future — we really honest to God do — we see a future where everyone, rich and poor, does their part and has a part, a future where we depend more on clean energy from home and less on oil from abroad, a future where we're number one in the world again in college graduation, a future where we promote the private sector, not the privileged sector — (cheers, applause)
I've seen him tested. I know his strength, his command, his faith. And I also know the incredible confidence he has in all of you.
(Cheers, applause.) What works in the real world is cooperation, business and government, foundations and universities.
Fourth, soon the insurance companies — not the government, the insurance companies — will have millions of new customers, many of them middle-class people with pre-existing conditions who never could get insurance before.
And he has tight controls on future spending. That's the kind of balanced approach proposed by the Simpson-Bowles Commission, a bipartisan commission.
(Sustained cheers, applause.) If — arithmetic! If — (applause) — if they stay with their $5 trillion tax cut plan — in a debt reduction plan?
After all we've been through, I don't believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help the small-businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep his home.
(Cheers, applause.) In the last year alone, we cut oil imports by 1 million barrels a day, more than any administration in recent history.
— why selfless soldiers won't be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love, why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely, welcome home.
In large part it's because this president, this administration gave ordinary people a leg up: construction jobs afforded by recovery act dollars, better schools pushed by the president's education reform, growing hospitals and health centers and booming life science companies born from national research support.
He disguised his tax hikes as fees. He still (exploded ?) our long-term debt by $2.6 billion. Mitt likes the business speech.
Think of me as a reference check. In Massachusetts, Mitt Romney had the one job in his life that's close to being president, and he wasn't all that good at that.
Economic growth down.
And thanks to the courage of American special forces and the bold leadership of our president, Osama bin Laden's at the bottom of the ocean. (Cheers, applause.)
That ideal is written into our laws, the rules of the road that create a level playing field in this country. Those are the rules I became attorney general to uphold.
Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting — that's not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement — that's not leadership.
When I was governor during the worst recession since the Great Depression, Virginia maintained one of the lowest unemployment rates in America. We kept our AAA bond rating.
Remember the last time they were in charge, the other side turned a record surplus into a massive deficit with two wars, trillions in tax breaks, loopholes and entitlements, none of which they would pay for.
We must re-elect the president — listen up, we must re-elect the president because he's standing up for middle-class families and growing our economy — an economy that is built to last.
We each have a choice in this country. We can go back to the same old failed economic policies that brought about the worst recession since the Great Depression, or we can go back to economic plans that are designed to benefit only the wealthiest among us, like Mitt Romney — (boos)
A lot of people know Dr. Jill Biden as our nation's second lady. (Cheers, applause.)
President Obama, he is fighting for changes that grow the economy from the middle out and help all Americans succeed: jobs, education, health reform, the DREAM Act — (cheers) — equal pay for women. President Obama is moving us forward with opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow.
My girlfriends from high school to this day still depend on Planned Parenthood, and often Medicaid, for important health care services. (Cheers, applause.)
— rights that we fought for, our right to vote — (applause) — our right to choose, our right to affordable, quality education, equal pay, access to health care.
They are our priorities. This fall we will fight for them harder than ever. (Cheers, applause.)
— and fought alongside of this country's bravest soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And like all veterans, I swore an oath and promised to defend this great country.
That's what we need. That's how we'll keep moving forward together. The eyes of the nation are on North Carolina tonight.
Growing up, I learned from my mama and my neighbors and my church members a certain set of values: Respect your elders; help your neighbors; honor your commitments; stand up for education.
Today, our small company has been blessed with success — huge success. I might say, bulk success. (Laughter.) Costco is the fifth largest retailer in the U.S.
And that's exactly what the Romney-Ryan plan does. You know, they call their plan brave, bold, courageous.
From day one, President Obama has made small business a top priority in his White House, giving them the tools they need to turn their dreams into small businesses and their small businesses into world-class companies, giving them help and then getting out of their way.
Two years ago — two years ago these funds saved nearly 20,000 teacher and education jobs just here in North Carolina. (Cheers, applause.)
In order to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, Governor Romney will cut education for our nation's children. That's the choice. That's the choice in this election. They see education as an expense.
Our schools are where we pass down our stories and our history. And in my family, that American history goes back centuries, back to the first residents — Native Americans.
(Cheers, applause.) And when we go home tonight, the workers will be mopping and vacuuming and picking up our trash.
(Cheers, applause.) Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart. Hope inspires me to believe that any day now, we will catch up to the ideals put forth by our nation's founding fathers.
The last Republican president gave huge tax cuts to millionaires that exploded our deficits. Mitt Romney not only wants to make those tax cuts permanent, he wants to add more tax breaks for the wealthy that would make our deficit even bigger.
Where I'm from, we dream big. We think different. And we invest in a future filled with possibility. President Obama understands that future.
They even turned health care reform into what they thought was a bad word, "Obamacare." At first, I resented that term. But then I realized that this was the perfect phrase.
But President Obama said that failure was not an option. And today, American auto workers can sleep securely, knowing their jobs and the opportunities for a brighter future exist because President Obama fought for them.
President Obama is protecting immigrants; Mitt Romney wants undocumented immigrants to self-deport. This election will determine whether high school valedictorians, football team captains and student council presidents will be treated with respect or treated like suspects, whether they reach their dreams or whether Mitt Romney turns their dreams into nightmares.
That's why he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to help women get equal pay for equal work.
First they called it "trickle-down." Then they called it "supply-side." Now it's Ryan — Romney-Ryan, or is it Ryan-Romney? Either way, their theory's been tested.
Romney only talked about. And today in Massachusetts, you can marry whomever you love. (Cheers, applause.) We still have more to do — much, much more to do.
That bill would give immigrant children who've never pledged allegiance to any flag but ours the chance to earn their citizenship.
(Applause.) Second, we believe in personal freedom. We do not want the government controlling our personal lives or our most personal decisions.
And we are creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, good middle-class jobs as we move forward with a clean energy economy. (Cheers, applause.) And thanks to President Obama's leadership, the auto industry is making cars that Americans want to buy, that get better gas mileage, that save money at the pump and reduce emissions.
For the Democratic women of the House, our work is not about the next election but rather the next generation.
If they get sick or become pregnant, they will not lose their health insurance. (Cheers, applause.) And soon, for the very first time, no longer will being a woman be a pre-existing medical condition.
Moving America forward means never going backward on America's great promise of health care for our seniors, Medicare. As a daughter who cared for an elderly parent, I know medical care is not optional for our seniors.
Mitt Romney and Congressman Ryan want to take away the promise that makes Medicare Medicare. They want to give seniors a voucher that caps what Medicare will cover and then tell our seniors they're on their own for what's left.
President Obama has walked with our small businesses, our job creators. He knows small businesses are the backbone of our economy.
That's the difference in this election. President Obama believed in me. He fought for me. This fall, let's fight for him.
And now we have a chance to meet some of the people whose lives are better, thanks to President Obama, and to hear their stories.
Excerpts from Republicans
Republicans mentioned various topics
some number of times per 25,000 words
But driving home late from that second job or standing there watching the gas pump hit $50 and still going, when the realtor told you that to sell your house, you'd have to take a big loss, in those moments you knew that this just wasn't right.
Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, I'm an American, I make my destiny, we deserve better, my children deserve better, my family deserves better, my country deserves better. (Cheers, applause.) So here we stand. Americans have a choice, a decision.
It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible.
He led a great — (cheers, applause) — he led a great automobile company and became governor of the great state of Michigan.
Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order and Seal Team 6 took out Osama bin Laden. (Cheers, applause.) On another front, every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran's nuclear threat.
There's so many to choose from: the stimulus, his energy policy, "Obamacare," taxes, Joe Biden. (Laughter.) Now, I hear Joe's particularly interested in tonight's proceedings.
Now, our opponents claim to be the party of the middle class, but Democrats don't understand this fundamental point: It's really hard for people to be part of the middle class if they don't have a job. Now, I know a bit about these things.
This isn't his first job or the first time he's been a leader who's produced results. He's made a success of failing companies. He made a success of the Olympics.
He has a plan to strengthen and grow America's middle class with lower taxes, a government that works for the American people instead of dashing their hopes and dreams, lowering energy prices and greater access to quality education for all.
(Cheers, applause.) And not too long ago, The Wall Street Journal said anyone still thinking the U.S.
Unfortunately, these past few years, you can work hard, try to be as successful as possible, follow the rules, and President Barack Obama will do everything he can to stand in your way.
We deserve a president who won't sacrifice American jobs and American workers to pacify the bullying union bosses he counts as his political allies.
In 1923 there were no government benefits for immigrants except one: freedom. (Cheers, applause.)
Even today, graduate from high school, work hard and get married before you have children, and the chance you will ever be in poverty is just 2 percent.
(Cheers, applause.) Yet as my family and I crisscrossed America, something became so obvious to us: America is still the greatest country in the world, and with God's help and good leadership, we can restore the American dream.
I have been blessed to spend thousands of hours over many years with a dear friend and remarkable man named Mitt Romney.
Mitt seldom delivered the sermon himself; he gave that opportunity to fellow church members. He sought to involve everyone so everyone could grow.
And the biggest, coldest power play of all in "Obamacare" came at the expense of the elderly. You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with the new law and new taxes on nearly a small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn't have enough money.
They needed hundreds of billions more. So they just took it all away from Medicare — $716 billion funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.
We're taking our country back because we are the great-grandchildren of men and women who broke their backs in the name of American ingenuity, the grandchildren of the "Greatest Generation," the sons and daughters of immigrants, the brothers and sisters of everyday heroes, the neighbors of entrepreneurs and firefighters, teachers and farmers, veterans and factory workers and everyone in between who shows up, not just on the big days or the good days, but on the bad days and the hard days, each and every day, all 365 of them.
They're wrong. We believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements.
Nevada was hit hardest by the recession, highest unemployment, highest foreclosure rate, highest bankruptcy rate.
So I stepped down from a lP young children from all walks of life begin to wonder if their future holds any hope at all. Make no mistake: The current administration's failed experiment with big government gets in the way of economic recovery.
(Cheers, applause.) The torch of American Dream is fueled with the unquenchable desire for independence, liberty and freedom.
Mitt Romney will restore the American dream based on three of our tried and true founding principles. One, God gives us our rights, not government. (Cheers, applause.)
And — (cheers, applause) — and this election is not simply a choice between a Democrat and a Republican. It's a choice about what kind of country we want America to be.
As our national anthem rang out like never before, I stood there holding that flag, the symbol of everything our country had ever been through, with tears streaming down my face.
(Cheers, applause.) Before Governor Romney took office in 2003, women were significantly underrepresented among top roles in government, with 52 percent of the population but just 30 percent of the jobs.
Our investors included pension funds, colleges and charities with noble missions. We would invest wisely, and we would treat their money as carefully as we treated our own.
Governor LePage in Maine and Deal in Georgia are transforming education by pushing schools to harness the power of technology and digital learning.
Both weakened the respect for America abroad. Both increased government programs filled with waste and inefficiency that failed to produce results.
Each of us must do our part now to ensure that America remains, in the tradition of President Reagan, a land of freedom, hope and opportunity. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.
Sadly, we are abandoning the field of free and fair trade, and it will come back to haunt us.
Of the four people on the two tickets, the only self-professed evangelical is Barack Obama, and he supports changing the definition of marriage, believes that human life is disposable and expendable at any time in the womb, even beyond the womb, and he tells people of faith that they have to bow their knees to the god of government and violate their faith and conscience in order to comply with what he calls health care. Friends, I know we can do better. (Cheers, applause.)
No more excuses, no more blaming others, no more waiting. We need Romney-Ryan, and we need them now. (Cheers, applause.)
The court agreed that the Constitution does not allow the federal government to force states to adopt a budget-busting expansion of Medicaid.
I hate to say it, but that dream is in serious jeopardy. We have a sluggish economy burdened by Obama administration policies that are weighing down our job creators.
For decades, she's been a fighter who has championed the cause of disadvantaged children, been an advocate of teenage pregnancy prevention, a leader of faith- and community-based initiatives and an ambassador for multiple sclerosis awareness.
Moments like that remind us that what makes America so great, what makes us exceptional, is that throughout our history, in moments of crisis, be they economic or fiscal, military or spiritual, what makes America amazing has been that there have always been men and women of courage who think more about the future of their children and their grandchildren than they did about their own political careers.
We've had nearly $1.4 billion in budget surpluses, and we've done it by keeping regulation and litigation to a minimum, and we haven't raised taxes.
They want to focus on their business; the Obama administration wants to bury them with rules, regulations and red tape. (Boos.) From the National Labor Relations Board to the Department of Labor to the EPA, under this administration, the regulations are up and the job creation is down.
(Cheers, applause.) And one of the speakers I'm most looking forward to hearing from tonight is someone who I think we can all agree will make a fabulous first lady, Ann Romney.
That's why this election is so important to small businesses and to our country. I represent the small businesses, the women, the families working so hard to rebuild our communities.
So in 70 days when the American people walk into the voting booth, what should we do? We should throw him out, because we can do better.
The time has come for a new day in America, one of more freedom, one filled with more opportunity and jobs, and one filled with a whole bunch less debt. That time has come. That man is — (inaudible)
Our vitality has been sapped. Our confidence is down. We're saddled with a failed presidency, with an incumbent president who has not led.
Throughout his life, friends, family, businesses, charities, troubled entities and the commonwealth have turned to a leader, Mitt Romney when they needed wisdom, support or a turnaround.
We are ready for government to get out of the way so our job creators can actually create jobs. We are ready for leadership that leads from the front.
We hear a lot from the media about the Republicans' so-called war against women. Well, which war? Which women? Is it the 850,000 women who have lost their jobs under President Obama?
We need a new generation of leadership to chart the path, to fight for policies that create jobs rather than red tape and to help small businesses succeed rather than helping green energy companies fail.
For every mining job lost, three additional jobs are threatened, including those at Toyota.
We are curing diseases on the cutting edge of science and health care. And Tampa remains proud to be home of MacDill Air Force Base, the headquarters of United States Central Command and United States Special Operation Command.
The danger for America is already here. It's in the form of the Democrat leaders in Washington. We have a Democrat Senate leader who refuses to meet his moral obligation to pass a budget for our government.