When a man or a woman loses their job, they not only lose their income, they lose their sense of dignity, they lose - their identity, who they are. That's how we identify ourselves, that's how we're brought up, that's how in my neighborhood and yours you're identified. You're identified by your willingness to work hard, your willingness to do the right thing, your willingness to show up every day and work for your family.  

And so it's not merely a lost job, it's a lost sense of identity that occurs. And I don't think my Republican friends... This ain't, this ain't your father's Republican party, by the way. This is a different Republican party.  

[applause]

And so, folks... when I listen, when I listen to the parts of the Republican convention I can hear, because I was travelling, a lot of time I was in the air. I went from, you know, all the way from Battle Creek, Michigan, back to Pittsburgh, to Scranton, down to the west coast of Flor- east coast of Florida, then the west coast, then back up into North Carolina, and into Virginia - excuse me, Virginia - and then into D.C. - so I've been on the road! No complaints.  

And I've been on the road, so I haven't been able to see all that I wanted to see, but I tell ya, it's not so much what I heard in the Republican convention, when you heard John speak last night. Or not so much what I heard when I heard part of what the Governor had to say, the Vice Presidential candidate. It's what I didn't hear.

[applause]

The silence - the silence of the Republican party was deafening! It was deafening on jobs, on health care, on the environment, on all the things that matter to the people in the neighborhoods I grew up in. Deafening!  

[applause, standing ovation]

Ladies and gentlemen, their America is not the America that I live in. They see something different than I see! Ladies and gentlemen, literally, those of you - I can't swear to this because I didn't see every bit of every speech. But I asked my staff to check. Do any of you recall either candidate on the Republican ticket utter the phrase, "middle class?"

[audience: "NO!"]

Did any of you hear them utter the phrase, "health care," and how we're gonna help?

["NO!"]

Did you hear them talk about aid to get kids to college?

["NO!"]

Did you hear them talk about aid to education?

["NO!"]

Did you hear them talk about putting more cops on the street, to make us safer?

["NO!"]

I didn't hear a thing! A thing about any of the things that matter to the lives of the people in my hometown of Scranton, the neighborhood of Delaware called Claymont where I was brought up and went to grade school and high school, the area of Wilmington that I live in. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Davis, John's campaign manager said two days into the convention - and I heard this! - he said, "This election is not about issues."  

[audience boos]

That's what he said! And everything I saw at the convention demonstrated that. It was about how well-placed - and boy, she is good! - how a left jab can be stuck pretty nice. It was about how Barack Obama is such a bad guy. It's about how, in fact, they got great quips. Man, they're like the kids you know, when you went to school, and you're really proud of the new belt you had or the new shoes you had and there was always one kid in the class who said, "Oh, are they your brother's?" Remember that kid? That just reminded me of 'im - "Oh, I love your dress, was that your mother's?" You know what I'm talking about, huh? 

What do you talk about when you have nothing to say? What do you talk about when you cannot explain the last eight years of failure?

[applause, standing ovation]

What do you talk about, what do you talk about? You talk about the other guy! Look, I don't have to -  

[guy in audience: "GIVE 'EM HELL, JOE!"]

Remember what Harry Truman - "Give 'em hell, Joe?" - remember what Harry Truman - I wasn't around when Harry Truman was around! 

[laughter]

But I remember my grandfather saying, when they yelled to Harry Truman, "Give 'em hell, Harry!" He yelled back, "I'm not gonna give 'em hell. I am gonna tell 'em the truth and then they're gonna THINK it's hell!"