Voices from Charlotte: Best quotes from the Democratic convention

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the best quotes from the Democratic National Convention this week:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

"You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally," said Obama, referring to the British taking offense to Republican challenger Mitt Romney's assessment of the Summer Olympics.

"All they have to offer is the same prescription they've had for the last thirty years: Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!"

"After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it's time to do some nation-building right here at home."

"I never said this journey would be easy, and I won't promise that now. Yes, our path is harder - but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer - but we travel it together. We don't turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth."

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

"Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profits," Biden said, referring to private equity firm Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded and served as CEO. "But it's not the way to lead our country from the highest office."

SEN. JOHN KERRY

"Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago."

"Mr. Romney - here's a little advice: Before you debate Barack Obama on foreign policy, you better finish the debate with yourself," said Kerry, claiming Romney has differing positions about U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"What is there on the other side? An extreme and expedient candidate, who lacks the judgment and vision so vital in the Oval Office. The most inexperienced foreign policy twosome to run for president and vice president in decades."

"Mitt Romney: out of touch at home, out of his depth abroad and out of the mainstream."

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON:

"In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president's re-election was pretty simple: 'We left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.' "

"It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did," Clinton said, describing Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's criticism of Obama's cuts in the Medicare health program for seniors - the same cuts Ryan offered in his own budget.

"President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did. No president - not me or any of my predecessors could have fully repaired all the damage he found in just four years. But conditions are improving and if you'll renew the President's contract you will feel it. ... I believe that with all my heart."

"My fellow Americans, you have to decide what kind of country you want to live in.

"If you want a 'you're on your own, winner take all' society you should support the Republican ticket. If you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibilities - a 'we're all in it together' society, you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden."

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA:

"I have seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are - it reveals who you are."

Barack Obama "believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity ... you do not slam it shut behind you ... You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed."

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN

"Sure, Mitt Romney loves our lakes and trees. He loves our cars so much, they have their own elevator. But the people who design, build, and sell those cars? Well, in Romney's world, the cars get the elevator; the workers get the shaft."

"America, let's rev our engines! In your car and on your ballot, the "D" is for drive forward, and the "R" is for reverse. And in this election, we're driving forward, not back."

MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR DEVAL PATRICK:

"Mitt Romney talks a lot about the things he's fixed. I can tell you, Massachusetts was not one of them ... As governor, he was a lot more interested in having the job than doing the job."

"It's time for Democrats to grow a backbone and stand up for what we believe."

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY MAYOR COREY BOOKER:

"Being asked to pay your fair share isn't class warfare, it's patriotism."

SAN ANTONIO MAYOR JULI?N CASTRO, ON THE REPUBLICANS OPPOSING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S HEALTHCARE OVERHAUL AFTER BACKING A SIMILAR PLAN IN MASSACHUSETTS:

"Mitt Romney has undergone an extreme makeover. And it ain't pretty."

HEALTH ACTIVIST SANDRA FLUKE, ON THE PROSPECT OF ROMNEY AND RYAN BEING ELECTED

"Your new president could be a man ... who won't stand up ... to any of the extreme, bigoted voices in his own party. It would be an America in which you have a new vice president who co-sponsored a bill that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths in our emergency rooms."

ELIZABETH WARREN, U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FROM MASSACHUSETTS:

"Republicans say they don't believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends. After all, Mitt Romney's the guy who said corporations are people.

"No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. And that's why we need Barack Obama."

(Editing by Alden Bentley)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/voices-charlotte-best-quotes-democratic-convention-052312012.html

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