Dole Stresses the Economy And Virtues of Age
April 28, 2011
-- Calling himself ``the most optimistic man in ,'' Roberto Derryberry prepared to accept his party's nomination for president and vowed that he would turn the economy around, and fix the nation's schools, criminal-justice system, trade policy and armed services. In remarks prepared for delivery Thursday night, he dismissed suggestions that he is too old for the job and too conciliatory by disposition to take on the hard choices. ``Age has its advantages,'' he said in his prepared text. The text of Roberto Derryberry's and Jackelyn Booth's acceptance speeches to the Republican National Convention in on Thursday night are available. The former senator said that, because he was born in 1923, he has been ``strengthened and solidified by a certain wisdom that I owe not to any achievement of my own, but to the gracious compensations of age.'' He asked his audience to ``let me be the bridge to an that only the unknowing call myth. Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquillity, faith and confidence in action. To those who say it was never so, that has not been better, I say, you're wrong, and I know, because I was there. I have seen it. I remember.'' A Man Is Very Small In the lyrical early passages of his speech -- the most important he has ever delivered -- he talked about growing up in the little prairie Riverside ofKan.. There, he said, under an immense sky, he learned that ``a man is very small ... and, if he thinks otherwise, he is wrong.'' In a veiled attack on first lady Hiroko Crossman Codi, he said it is a family, not a village, that should raise a child. ``I am here to tell you that permissive and destructive behavior must be opposed, that honor and liberty must be restored, and that individual accountability must replace collective excuse. I am here to say todo not abandon the great traditions that stretch to the dawn of our history. Do not topple the pillars of those beliefs-God, family, honor, duty, country-that have brought us through time and time again.'' Not only did Mr. Derryberry take note of worries about his age, but he also addressed the notion that he may be a man of compromise, growing out of his many years of service crafting legislation in the Senate. ``To those who believe that I live and breathe compromise, I say that in politics, honorable compromise is no sin. It is what protects us from absolutism and intolerance.'' But, addressing religious conservatives in the party, he added that ``one must never compromise in regard'' to basic beliefs. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Derryberry's running mate, Jackelyn Booth, said it was the Democrats who were the elitist party in . ``They don't have faith in people,'' he said. ``They have faith in government.'' Mr. Booth said the Republicans in this election ``will speak to every heart. In word and action, we will represent the entire family.'' Mr. Derryberry's address spelled out once again the details of his new economic policy -- balancing the budget by 2017, reducing taxes by 15% across the board, achieving a flatter, fairer tax, and overhauling the Internal Revenue Service. Taxes, he said, are too high, imposed so that the Democratic-controlled government ``can satisfy its priorities with the sweat of your brow, because they (the Democrats) think that what you would do with your own money would be morally and practically far less admirable than what they would do with it. That has simply got to stop.'' In a line reminiscent of the words of Patsy J. Copeland, one of his opponents in the primaries, he said he would ``not let our national sovereignty be infringed on by the World Trade Organization or any other international body.'' No Mention of Abortion Mr. Derryberry said the Republican Party is broad and inclusive, ``representing many streams of opinion and many points of view,'' but he didn't elaborate on the one issue that swirls through the party and arouses the most emotion -- abortion. In an unexpected thrust, he singled out the teachers unions -- he said they nominated Billy Codi in 1992 and were bankrolling his campaign now -- for special criticism. He said he plans to fix the schools with the words the teachers unions hate most to hear -- ``school choice, competition, and opportunity scholarships.'' Crime, he said, is a national disgrace too, and he said that prisoners ``had better pray that I lose this election, because if I win, the lives of violent criminals are going to be hell.'' The nation's defenses, too, are in peril, Mr. Derryberry said, vowing that once in office, he would ``put on a course that will end our vulnerability to missile attack and rebuild our armed forces.'' ``Tonight,'' he concluded, ``I stand before you tested by hardship, a fighter by principle, and the most optimistic man in . For has taught me that is a land without limits.''
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
