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
And by the way, after last night, I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama. (Cheers, applause.) You know — (cheers, applause).
(Cheers, applause.) We know that investments in education and infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase growth.
Sometimes I couldn't tell you for the life who I'm working with because we focus on solving problems and seizing opportunities and not fighting all the time. (Cheers, applause.) And so here's what I want to say to you, and here's what I want the people at home to think about.
It will make us more energy independent. It will cut greenhouse gas emissions. And according to several analyses, over the next 20 years, it'll bring us another half a million good new jobs into the American economy.
— who are eligible for Medicaid. (Cheers, applause.) It's going to end Medicare as we know it.
(Sustained cheers, applause.) If — arithmetic! If — (applause) — if they stay with their $5 trillion tax cut plan — in a debt reduction plan? — the arithmetic tells us, no matter what they say, one of three things is about to happen.
If you want a future of shared prosperity, where the middle class is growing and poverty is declining, where the American dream is really alive and well again and where the United States maintains its leadership as a force for peace and justice and prosperity in this highly competitive world, you have to vote for Barack Obama.
And on every issue, the choice you face won't just be between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America, a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.
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.) So help me. Help me recruit a hundred thousand math and science teachers within 10 years and improve early childhood education.
(Cheers, applause.) No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.
You're the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she's ever called home — (cheers, applause)
You can go back to school or get extra training without fear of a health catastrophe bankrupting your entire family. Over 3 million previously uninsured young adults are now on their parents' plans.
That's what change looks like. (Cheers, applause.) Under "Obamacare," insurance companies can no longer discriminate against women.
(Cheers, applause.) Romney and Ryan will take away women's basic health services and turn a blind eye to insurance discrimination.
(Cheers, applause.) I know Kansas women. They taught him the values of hard work and responsibility and fairness.
Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. And Wall Street CEOs — the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs — still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors and acting like we should thank them.
(Boos.) No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. (Cheers, applause.)
— and I can't believe I have to say this in 2012 — a country where women get equal pay for equal work. (Cheers, applause.) He believes in a country where everyone is held accountable, where no one can steal your purse on Main Street our your pension on Wall Street.
When Barack and I — when Barack and I were growing up, there was an implicit understanding in America that if you took responsibility, you'd get a fair shot at a better life. And the values — the values behind that bargain were the values that shaped both of us, and many, many of you.
He said, if I have bin — if we have bin Laden in our sights, we will — we will take him out.
We've registered more than a million voters already more than we did in 2008. (Cheers, applause.)
If you think our kids should have more teachers and millionaires should have fewer tax breaks, spread the word online.
(Cheers, applause.) Democrats believe in reigniting the American dream by removing barriers to success and building ladders of opportunity for all so that everyone can succeed.
We — Democrats passed health care reform to allow Americans the freedom to pursue their passions, to make health care a right, not a privilege and to ensure that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition.
Republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even better that somehow the rest of us will too. (Chuckles.)
And because he knows that we don't have an ounce of talent to waste, the president took action to lift the shadow of deportation from a generation of young law-abiding immigrants called "DREAMers." (Cheers, applause.) Now it's time for Congress to enshrine in law their right to pursue their dreams in the only place they have ever called home, America.
In Minneapolis, President Obama's leadership has helped us train 500 unemployed workers in clean energy jobs, and in Denver, hundreds more are working on the commuter line.
He'd give up everything that creates opportunity for the middle class just to pay for those massive tax breaks for those who are already very, very comfortable.
(Cheers, applause.) Last year he challenged American businesses to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses.
They are the entrepreneurs driving the American economy, not Mitt Romney's outsourcing pioneers.
I had the privilege — I had the privilege to watch him lead a naturalization ceremony in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces for a couple hundred men and women from all the branches of our military. As he led those new Americans through the oaths of citizenship, this celebration of democracy in a land of a deposed dictator, I was struck by the strength and diversity of our country.
(Laughter.) Otherwise, we're like any other family. We eat dinner, we go to church, we have chores. But some people don't see it that way.
What has he learned from all this? All the wrong lessons. He failed the education test and now wants a promotion.
Romney, because of his private business experience, is a superior job creator and that if we elect him president, he will use those great private-sector skills as the chief executive to bring many more jobs.
They'll tell you America needs to be a nation with the best education system so that workers — (applause) — so that workers can get the training they need to join or stay in the middle class.
We worked hard to build and conceive an idea for CarMax, but we didn't do it alone. We succeeded because we had intensely committed associates, healthy and flexible capital markets, good roads and bridges that let us move products rapidly and cooperative federal, state and local governments that helped us have clear rules of the road and plan and grow our business.
He eliminated pages of burdensome forms and regulations so small businesses could focus on profits instead of paperwork.
We have a moral obligation to care for them when they come home — health care, education, jobs. But above all, we owe veterans dignity and respect.
(Applause.) So let's talk about jobs. President Obama has helped create 4.5 million private-sector jobs in our country since he took office.
And for the future we seek, a generation of greater opportunity for all of us, we stand with President Obama in setting that path that moves us forward.
(Cheers, applause.) Our faith tells us we have a moral obligation to better our community, to accept responsibility and to care for each other.
President Obama is making the smart investments we need, and my vote for him is an investment in jobs today, energy security tomorrow and a stronger country for all of our kids.
(Cheers, applause.) Paul Ryan and Republicans in Congress, they voted no.
President Obama gave these patriotic young people a real chance to be a part of America's success. (Applause.) When seniors facing serious illnesses like cancer need Medicare, Mitt Romney said he would turn it into a voucher system, breaking the guarantee of coverage and costing seniors more than $6,000 out of pocket.
Opportunity is why we fight for our country, opportunity is what our president fights for and in 61 days, opportunity is why President Barack Obama will win a second term in office. (Applause.)
At the end of my visit about a year and a half ago, the first grade, led by a veteran teacher, gathered to recite Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
It is the president's values that shape the future in which the middle class has hope. The person who takes the oath of office in the next four months will shape not just the next four years but the next 40 years of this great nation.
— and to all the veterans out there, even if you're having a hard time, don't give up. Believe in God, and keep going forward. Thank you. God bless you.
(Chuckles.) (Cheers, applause.) I still believe in small government, but I no longer believe in the Republican Party.
Whether they are issues of war and peace or great economic matters, be they popular or unpopular, only a president can make those most difficult choices.
(Cheers, applause.) Americans deserve the security Medicare provides. President Obama will strengthen and protect Medicare.
This is about leveling with the American people and creating a level playing field for them. If we don't know how Mitt Romney would benefit from the policies he proposes, how can we know if he's looking out for us or just himself?
Instead, this platform of big and practical ideas sets forth an emboldened pathway towards the historic hope which has driven generation after generation of Americans forward.
But when more than 1 million auto workers from Michigan to Wisconsin to Ohio saw their companies fall on hard times, you know what Mitt Romney said?
I'm honored to serve as the chair of this historic 2012 Democratic National Convention, where we will renominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. (Cheers, applause.) And as I introduce the — as the permanent chair of the 2012 convention, as I introduce the first official to act here, Congressman Steny Hoyer, to give remarks on behalf of the convention parliamentarians.
Excerpts from Republicans
Republicans mentioned various topics
some number of times per 25,000 words
They came not just in pursuit of the riches of this world, but for the richness of this life, freedom, freedom of religion — (applause) — freedom to speak their mind — (applause)
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.)
He led a great — (cheers, applause) — he led a great automobile company and became governor of the great state of Michigan.
By the way, I'd thought about asking my church's pension fund to invest, but I didn't. (Laughter.) I figured it was bad enough that I might lose my investors' money, but I didn't want to go to hell, too.
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.
Of 34 advanced nations in the world, American students rank 17th in science, 25th in math. Only one quarter of high school graduates are ready for their next steps.
We must stop excusing failure in our schools and start rewarding improvement and success. (Cheers, applause.) We must have high academic standards that are benchmarked to the best in the world.
(Cheers, applause.) He is a champion for bringing hope to education, and he intends to be a champion for equality of opportunity — a president who always puts students first.
Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. A Romney- Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare for my mom's generation, for my generation and for my kids and yours.
So here we are, $16 trillion in debt, and still he does nothing. In Europe massive debts have put entire governments at risk of collapse, and still he does nothing.
(Cheers, applause.) Everyone — everyone who feels stuck in the Obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. And I hope you understand this too.
I took office in 2011, and when I came into office, we were 48th in the nation in job creation, 48th. We had an $8 billion budget deficit, the largest in the history of the great state of Ohio, and we had 89 cents in our rainy day fund.
And we killed that death tax because no person should have to visit the undertaker and the tax man on the same day. And small businesses and farmers should be able to pass on their hard work to the next generation.
We still protect the environment, we protect our families, but we don't over-regulate and kill the job creators in our state. In fact, we want to honor the job creators in our state and work with them because they help our families.
Both increased government programs filled with waste and inefficiency that failed to produce results. Both made promises they couldn't keep.
This year the American people will once again have an important choice to make.
The court agreed that the Constitution does not allow the federal government to force states to adopt a budget-busting expansion of Medicaid.
Do you want the government to force individuals and religious institutions to violate the tenets of their faith?
Unfortunately, for four years, for four years, we've drifted away from our proudest traditions of global leadership, traditions that are truly bipartisan. We've let the challenges we face both at home and abroad become much harder to solve.
(Cheers, applause.) His own secretary of defense has said that cutting our military by nearly a trillion dollars would be devastating, and yet the president is playing no leadership role in preventing this crippling blow to our military.
Mrs. Tang (sp) told us that the family works through the night to make doughnuts. The Tang (sp) family have become valedictorians and National Merit Scholars.
But to lead us forward away from this looming debt crisis, it will take someone who believes in America's greatness, who believes in and can articulate the American dream, someone who has created jobs, someone who understands and appreciates what makes America great, someone who will lead our party and our nation forward.
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 said — they said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on the public sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy.
In 1923 there were no government benefits for immigrants except one: freedom. (Cheers, applause.)
I clasped hands of men and women in uniform, and their families — hands that sacrifice and risk all to protect and keep us free, and hands that pray for their safe return home.
My grandfather could have never guessed that his son would fight for this nation in World War II, that his great-granddaughter would lead a platoon in Iraq and his grandson would grow up a middle- class kid in Fairfax County, serve in the Army and now hold the same job as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.
We will lift up and grow the middle class. We will celebrate job creators again. We will restore that great American dream that led my grandfather here from Ireland a hundred years ago.
My wife, Cindy, and I have been married for 25 years, and we're the parents of four great kids.
On her tombstone are three simple words: "Saved by Grace." The words "Saved by government" would never have crossed her mind. She put her faith in God, not government.
(Laughter.) Because his new slogan for his campaign is the word "forward." Forward? A government that spends $1 trillion more than it takes in?
And then finally — I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there's 23 million unemployed people in this country. (Cheers, applause.)
When it came time to begin the procession, I touched the flag for the first time, and I remember a physical sensation unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
When I first met Governor Romney, I was struck by his humanity, his grace, his kind manner.
We served breakfast to homeless veterans, encouraging voluntarism and acknowledging the special debt we owe to those who sacrifice for our country.
There is one candidate in this election who will protect that dream, one leader who will fight hard to keep the promise of America for the next generation.
We must work for an open global economy and pursue free and fair trade to grow our exports and our influence abroad.
Mitt Romney has given over 16 percent of his income to church and charity. (Cheers, applause.) And my friends, I feel a lot better about having a president who will give generously of his own money instead of mine or yours.
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.
In that one sentence, folks, he summed up what I've heard from hundreds of small-business owners all across Ohio and around this great country.
We need a president that understands that we need all of that energy, all of that oil, all of those jobs. And we need a president that understands that America needs that pipeline.
(Cheers, applause.) And not too long ago, The Wall Street Journal said anyone still thinking the U.S.
A president who promised change but turned instead to the same tired strategy of ever-larger government, a president who abandoned hope and embraced only blame. So I stepped down from a lifetime appointment to make a difference.
Thank you, and good evening. (Cheers, applause.) On June 5th, voters in Wisconsin were asked to choose between going backwards to the days of double-digit tax increases, billion- dollar budget deficits and record job loss, or moving forward with reforms that lowered the tax burden, balanced the budget and helped small businesses create more jobs.
Like many small-business men, my dad borrowed against our house to purchase the machinery to start Gilchrist Metal Fabricating, machines making equipment for drilling oil, generating power, television broadcasting, processing food and many other industries which touch our lives every day, machines run by taxpaying Americans like us.
I represent the small businesses, the women, the families working so hard to rebuild our communities.
Their future is in jeopardy because President Obama has added $5 trillion to the national debt for all of our children to pay off.
We hear a lot from the media about the Republicans' so-called war against women. Well, which war? Which women?
But I did two years ago because, like many of you, I was disgusted by what was going on in Washington. They're spending away our children's and grandchildren's futures.
And Washington can do the same. By cutting spending, reducing the red tape, we can unleash our small businesses to create jobs.
Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America. (Cheers, applause.)
There is no greater threat to the health care of our nation and the health care of our seniors than "Obamacare." (Scattered applause.) And no matter what path we take to save Medicare, the very first step is to repeal "Obamacare." (Cheers, applause.)
(Applause.) We have a Democrat House leader that wouldn't allow a major piece of legislation, "Obamacare," to be read before it was passed. She stated, and I quote, we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it.