Burt Prelutsky

Although, as a rule, I try to avoid spending too much time listening to political speeches, I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised by a number of those delivered in Tampa. It wasn't simply that they were saying many of the things that I had been writing for the past four years. It was the honest emotion that they evoked. A great many of the personal stories they shared were so touching they even made this old cynic get teary-eyed, as they spoke movingly about their immigrant parents and grandparents who, like my own, risked everything in the belief that all the glorious things they had heard about America were true.

As a sidebar, I should mention that when I first noticed how few blacks were in the auditorium, my reaction was to resent the fact that so many millions of them have allowed themselves to be bought off for a bowl of gruel. They have accepted their pathetic role in the Democratic Party as mental and physical invalids who must be patronized with welfare and affirmative action. But by the end of the convention, I came to see the few blacks in attendance in a different light. I came to respect them, to recognize the sort of ostracism they must constantly endure in their communities, even in their own families. I came to respect them, not because they're black, but because they're brave.

Some of my friends thought that perhaps Juan Williams had been suspended from Fox because of his curt dismissal of Mrs. Romney's speech, insisting that she came across as "a corporate wife."

Millions of viewers thought she came across as a bright and devoted wife, mother and grandmother, and a courageous survivor of multiple sclerosis and cancer. However, an honest difference of opinion is one thing and serving as an Obama surrogate is quite another. Somehow, I very much doubt that if Mrs. Rupert Murdoch or Mrs. Roger Ailes had delivered a similar speech, Juan Williams would have so casually dismissed these corporate wives as corporate wives. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that Juan Williams would magically turn into Fawn Williams.

I only hope that when Romney moves into the Oval Office, he will not only put his own programs into place, but will reverse and repeal not only ObamaCare, but everything else that Obama, Pelosi and Reid, have done. As we have seen over the past few decades, when the GOP doesn't undo the mischief of left-wing administrations, the Democrats, once back in power, merely resume where they left off.

Left-wing policies are like campfires. And every Republican president, senator and congressman, must take Smokey the Bear's instructions to heart. Don't assume the fire is out simply because you don't see any smoke. First drench it in water and then bury it in sand.

It was nice to see Clint Eastwood on stage at the convention, giving the lie to the notion that everyone in Hollywood is a left-wing bonehead. Not everyone; based on my own personal experience, I'd say probably not more than 98.6%. The fascinating thing about the entertainment community is that, in spite of all the obvious evidence to the contrary, its inhabitants regard themselves as saints. The fact that they do this suggests that they are not quite as atheistic as they'd like people to think, as it is a clear-cut case of faith trumping facts.

For instance, actor Brad ("Midnight Express") Davis had to conceal the fact that he had AIDS and, more recently, writer-director Nora ("Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail") Ephron had to conceal the fact -- even from friends -- that she had cancer, lest they be exiled from the ranks of the employable.

When you read some of the comments made during the GOP convention by liberal commentators, such as Yahoo News bureau chief David Chalian announcing that the Romneys were happy to be throwing a party while black people were drowning, you come to realize how abysmally stupid and infantile Democrats are. When you hear people like Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz, it's like listening to nursery school children competing to see who can come up with the dirtiest remark. Basically, the sound bites emerging from the Left are invariably a variation of "Republicans are just a bunch of big, fat, poopyheads!"

Finally, it occurs to me that Obama and Biden have created so many truly hostile divisions between people; divisions that have frayed or destroyed countless relationships between friends and family members; that probably not since the 1860s has so much raw animosity existed in this country.

Let history note that while Lincoln's Civil War at least helped forge a stronger Union; a weaker, divided America is the inevitable result of Obama's Uncivil War.