why romney is gonna win ...

Did you watch last night?  No, really -- did you watch last night?  Just for an hour, just the prime time, 9pm CT window.  That's all you needed to see.

Because if you could watch Condi Rice and Paul Ryan last night, and STILL think Barack Obama is the better choice?  That the President and his philosophies are the cure for what ails our nation?  Then God help you, because you are absolutely clueless.

Those speeches last night were beyond inspirational.  I'm going to focus on Mr. Ryan's comments, since his remarks and thoughts are more important to this campaign than Ms. Rice's.  But still, if you missed her speech, please -- go to MSNBC or CSPAN and watch it.  And as you're watching, look intently at the speaker.  Don't just listen to her, watch her -- specifically, watch what she ISN'T doing ... which is reading a tele-prompter.  Why, you ask, would Ms. Rice decide "screw it, I don't need no stinking tele-prompter"?

Because she's speaking from the heart.  That, and I'm telling you, I am SO DAMNED FIRED UP for this election -- THIS is why.  This isn't the phony Greek columns and scripted Hollywood movie scene the Democrats put on four years ago.  This is so damned awesome to watch unfold, because this is GENUINE.  When Ms. Rice notes, hang on, let me pull up the transcript so I get this right.

"After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful economic and political experiment in human history.  That is the true basis of American exceptionalism.  You see, the essence of America, what really unites us, is not nationality, or ethnicity, or religion.  It is an idea.  And what an idea it is!  That you can come from humble circumstances and you can do great things!  That it does not matter where you come from, it matters where you are going!"

(cue the wild crowd applause, as well as this hot-as-hell 35 year old blogger cheering like the Chiefs finally won a playoff game).

Riddle me this, folks -- when was the last time you heard a Democrat talk like that?  When was the last time you heard our current President PRAISE this country, EMBRACE this country, express pride over where he came from?  (Answer: he never has.)

"And on a personal note, a little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham.  The segregated city of the South where her parents cannot take her to a movie theater or to restaurants, but they have convinced her that even if she cannot have a hamburger at Woolworth's, she can be the President of the United States if she wants to, and she will become the Secretary of State."

I gotta admit, I actually teared up listening to that last night.  What you saw on display last night, was PRIDE in this country.  OUR country.  It is something you will NOT be seeing next week in Charlotte.

And yet, it was more than pride.  Here's how Ms. Rice closed:

"That is why -- that is why this is a moment and an election of consequence.  Because it just has to be that the freest, most compassionate country on the face of the earth will continue to be the most powerful and the beacon for prosperity across the world."

What you saw on full-fledged display last night, is one thing I guaran-goddamn-tee you, you won't be seeing in Charlotte next week.

And that thing ... is HOPE.

Did you catch how positive, even when attacking the other side, how positive the Republican message is?  They don't need tele-prompters because they're speaking what they believe.  What they believe in, is the greatness of this country.  In the good of America.  In the promise, the hope, the freedom of this country.  They don't need to be told what to say.  They instinctively know it.

And nowhere was that on better display, than with Mr. Ryan.

I entered his speech with high hopes, with a sincere belief that if he did well, it would turn this election on its head.

I left his speech convinced that barring the worst speech in recorded human history tonight, that this election is over, and the Romney / Ryan ticket is going to win on a landslide.

Seriously folks -- what in the hell can the Democrats do to counter this?  They cannot run on their record, because they OWN the financial disaster this nation currently is.  They're the ones who literally doubled the national debt in four years.  They're the ones who haven't passed a budget in four years, have posted above a $1 trillion deficit every year for the past four years.  They're the ones who spent nearly $2 trillion in bailouts and stimulus funding with the promise that unemployment would never top 8% ... and go figure, unemployment has been above 8% EVERY SINGLE MONTH Barack Obama has occupied the White House.  Even worse than that abysmal failure, the numbers are getting WORSE -- jobless claims rose by 180,000 first time claims last month to nearly 400,000.  The short term unemployment rate rose to 8.3%, up from 8.2.  And the U6 number, the true unemployment number, rose from 14.9% to 15.3.  15.3!  Let that sink in -- 15.3 percent of the adults in this country who can work, and want to work, can't work, because there's no job for them to hold!  In America!

48% of the country receives their substinence from the federal government.  48%!  Now granted, that is a very misleading figure, because obviously some of that 48% are retirees on Social Security, and a significant chunk of that figure is federal employees.  But still, we have now reached the point to where literally half of us are working to support the other half.  That's unsustainable.  THAT'S what Barack Obama is asking you to accept four more years of.

Is he nuts?

And that was the whole point of Paul Ryan's effort last night.  This election is the most stark, clear moment of my lifetime when it comes to this country.  My favorite part of Mr. Ryan's speech came fairly early on:

"So our opponents can consider themselves on notice.  In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the left isn't going to work.  Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it.  Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate.  We want this debate.

"We will WIN this debate!

"Obamacare, as much as anything else, explains why a Presidency that began with such anticipation, now comes to such a disappointing close.

"It began with a fiscal crisis; it ends with a jobs crisis.

"It began with a housing crisis they didn't create; it ends with a housing crisis they failed to correct.

"It began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America.

"It all started off with stirring speeches, Greek columns, the thrill of something new.  Now all that's left is a Presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at a moment that has already passed, like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind."

Awesome.

I have a phrase, that gets hauled out at the moment in time when the Chiefs, for however brief a time period, revive hope in our demoralized, downbeaten, humbled fanbase.  Three simple words -- simple, succinct, to the point, and only one of them is profane.

After last night?  After that incredible hour of echoing the greatness this nation has been, and can be again?

Election.  F*cking.  ON!