The Republican National Convention

I am not an American; yet, I am an American.

I watched part of the RNC tonight. Specifically, the Ronald Reagan tribute, and Zell Miller's amazing speech. I actually began to get teary-eyed during the Reagan video. I can't explain it. I never cry at stuff like that. And even though I know the RNC is hyped up, I got emotional. I couldn't help it. I think it's because Canadians (read: real Canadians), are just like Americans. In fact, we're virtually indistinguishable. When I heard Zell speak about the relationship between Democrats and Republicans, I couldn't help but think of the relationship between Canada and the US. Here is apart of his speech. Replace the words "Republican" with "American" and "Democrat/Democrat leaders" with "Canadian/Liberal leaders":

Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.
Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.
And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

We were the US in Europe. We were with 'em in Korea. We stood next to them and cheered when the Wall fell. Yet where are we now?
We gleefully endorse Michael Moore, and condemn the liberation of Iraq.

Something just ain't right about that.
From Dick Cheney's speech:

Just as surely as the Nazis during World War Two and the Soviet communists during the Cold War, the enemy we face today is bent on our destruction. As in other times, we are in a war we did not start, and have no choice but to win. Firm in our resolve, focused on our mission, and led by a superb commander in chief, we will prevail.
The fanatics who killed some 3,000 of our fellow Americans may have thought they could attack us with impunity because terrorists had done so previously. But if the killers of September 11th thought we had lost the will to defend our freedom, they did not know America and they did not know George W. Bush.
From the beginning, the President made clear that the terrorists would be dealt with and that anyone who supports, protects, or harbors them would be held to account. In a campaign that has reached around the world, we have captured or killed hundreds of Al-Qaeda. In Afghanistan, the camps where terrorists trained to kill Americans have been shut down, and the Taliban driven from power. In Iraq, we dealt with a gathering threat, and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein. Seventeen months ago, he controlled the lives and fortunes of 25 million people. Tonight he sits in jail.

"Tonite he sits in jail." And that, my friends, is not a bad thing. That's a good thing.