I’m surprised we don’t have one of these yet, but I can understand. It’s been a pretty lackluster affair so far. Laura Bush is not a scintillating speaker. W was as awkward and stilted as ever, but it should be noted that he actually had the stunning nerve to bring up John McCain’s adopted child. Balls the size of church bells on that guy. It just makes it all the more pathetic that McCain is still so willing to lick Bush’s hand and rub his nose in his crotch.
Thompson – nothing special. Bog standard liberal bashing and “McCain was a POW!” [Drink]
Loserman douched it up like a storm. Funny how those delegates cheer him now, but they would never accept that baby-killing Jew as a VP candidate. Also, can we all stop pretending that Lieberman is a Democrat or that there’s anything dramatic about him switching sides? The best thing about the Republicans stealing the 2000 election is that it kept Joe Lieberman away from the White House.
I know I’m biased, but it just doesn’t seem to me like the RNC has much going for it. I usually think DNC’s are boring too, but this year was a little more interesting, both because of the compelling nature of the candidate and the drama of having to reunite a party somewhat fractured by an intense primary season.
I don’t know what the RNC is going to offer that will be at all compelling. I suppose some people will want to see what Palin says tomorrow (I personally have no interest), and I imagine the party drones on the convention floor will make a big, grandstanding show of support for her because of all they imagine the liberals have done to her in their little fantasy worlds, but what else have the Pubs got? McCain? You see one McCain speech, you’ve seen them all. He’s going to “my friends” everybody to death, make patronizing declarations about Obama and wave the flag a lot. I doubt we’ll hear any kind of a coherent economic plan, and we certainly won’t hear any plan for how to get us out of Iraq. It’s going to be War On Terror rhetoric all the way, but I think that particular bubble gum has lost its flavor over the last few years.
I suppose he’ll get some kind of small bounce out this, but I kind of doubt it will be very pronounced or very long lasting. I think Obama has succeeded in consolidating the Dems, has reached 50% for the first time and has a good chance to still maintain a statistically significant lead even after McCain’s convention bounce. The Republicans just don’t have anybody with Clinton or Obama type pizazz. I know they’re pretending that Palin does, but she doesn’t. She’s a very amateurish public speaker from what I’ve heard, and she’s got a grating voice to boot (so does Hillary, but at least she makes up for it with a brain. I’d love to see Hillary debate Sarah Palin. You’d have to watch it between your fingers. It would be like watching someone skin a live puppy).
I kept telling myself in advance that I had to watch as much as I could possibly stomach of the Republican convention. Around 7-8 tonight, I realized that, since I’m pretty conversant with McCain’s positions, all watching it was going to achieve was to piss me off. So I didn’t watch anymore.
Am I failing in my responsibility as a citizen? I mean, I already know for whom I’m going to vote, and I can’t imagine anything that could be said at the convention that would change that - I’m a policy voter far more than a personality voter. (This year, the Dems just happened to get it right in both to my mind.) But there’s also the old saying “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” So should I be watching Wednesday and/or Thursday?
The thing that really bothered me was the “Country First” theme. I can’t explain it, but it had this 1984, Fatherland vibe for me.
It really bothered me on a gut level. I didn’t like it.
That and the comment that McCain is the bitch of the extreme right…well they didn’t say, bitch; but they may as well have. The news boys commented that this was the most extreme right convention they had ever seen and that McCain had no say in the platform, which was geared to end abortion as their main goal.
Once again the same old, same old…so much for change.
That and there was no talk about how they were going to improve the lives of the American people…it was mostly how Palin is the “one”…twice removed.
Watch the convention with an eye to finding minorities or young people. There are some to be sure but honestly…they are so few and far between it is actually remarkable. It is an old white people convention.
Contrast that with Obama’s crowd and the difference is stark. His crowd ran the gamut of people in this country. For me that was one of the biggest indictments of the Republican Convention tonight and I am not expecting their demographics to change notably for the rest of it.
Certainly we all know Obama is a masterful speech giver and you cannot blame everyone else for falling short of that. More than that though I found the republican speeches (the actual writing style, not delivery) to be remarkably flat and lackluster. Even ignoring the message they feel like they were churned out of a bored speech writer’s mill.
Of course including the message I found the constant harping on the war hero angle to be pathetic. I get they want to use that and that is fine. But we all know it, we all get it and I think we all agree McCain deserves respect for what he did while serving in the military. It really got to beating the dead horse there.
Another notable feeling of mine was the forced and weak “cheering”. At one point Lieberman actually had to prompt the crowd for a reaction. Sure there was lots of dutiful cheering but I never felt their hearts were really in it. Again contrasted to the occasionally frenzied response Obama elicited the difference was distinct.
All-in-all I give the Repubs a “C” for their first night. Not awful, not good, just methodically hitting the talking points the assignment requires.
Judging from Lieberman’s speech I think the message is going to be that McCain is a Maverick. The Sarah Palin pick goes against the grain of politics as usual and she did fight corruption in Alaska. So they are going to let people know that McCain isn’t Bush III.
I don’t see how they can raise the inexperience issue now with Palin, so it will be interesting to see how they attack Obama.
I also think everyone is trying to jump on the “we are all Americans” boat. Only it looks very contrived and lame.
On the other hand, this election year has already seen an end to unemployment for black conservatives. Every black person capable of speaking who’s anti-Obama seems to have a spot on CNN, Fox, or MSNBC panel programs. It’s almost to the point of the laughable (“our anti Obama African-American is blacker than yours!”).
I really do- and I’m sincere- pity the Reps for the timing of Gustav; as I mentioned in a probably now gone thread that was a “damned if you do/damned if you don’t” event and there really wasn’t a proper way to handle it. Luckily for the people of the Gulf it was nowhere near as catastrophic as feared, obviously, so now they can get back to regularly scheduled nomination and the lackluster beginning can be overlooked.
So do you think Bush’s endorsement is a plus or minus at this convention?
I have a relevant pit thread about McCain’s new found thin-skin (side effect of the melanoma maybe?). He was to give an interview on Larry King tonight, but cancelled… because Campbell Brown (not affiliated with Larry at all other than having the same employer) was “rude” to his spokesman Tucker Bounds when he couldn’t or wouldn’t answer a question about Palin. This whole thing is a comedy of errors by this point.
I noticed the elderly leanings of the crowd too. It looked like the local symphony orchestra concerts I go to sometimes or a VFW function. They did not have the same energy as the Dems had this year, or the youth or the diversity. I guess they’re all amped up to see Palin tomorrow. For some reason they think she’s the answer to all their prayers. I hope they never figure out what an albatross she actually is until it’s much too late. I expect her to throw lots of red meat, but I wonder if she’ll try to make a direct appeal to Hillary voters (this is a woman who called Hillary a “whiner,” by the way) in light of the fact that she’s gotten booed for bringing up Hillary’s name at rallies. My guess is they’ll write her something that tries to appeal to center-left women without mentioning Hillary by name. The tricky part is that they’re not going to have an easy time explaining why non-fundy women would have any reason to vote for other than that she’s a woman.
By the way, there is one Republican who I think would have pizzazz as a speaker, and that’s Arnie. I guess he cancelled, though.
Obama nabbed that one already. Sure that does not mean the Republicans are barred from using it but as you said it comes off as contrived and lame. Kind of an, “Us too!”
I haven’t seen that Wisconsin woman who is in the **Hillary-to-McCain **camp lately. Oh yeah…that might be because she told the world that she jumped ship due to McCain’s forward-thinking pro-choice ideas. Tee-hee.
It felt to me like one of those huge churches, the ones thatpack 30,000 people in them on Sundays…one major difference is that the churches don’t have any empty seats, and the convention had sections of empty seats. The lack of any color or young folks really tells the state of affairs in our country today. We are moving in direction that is more blended and those who do not embrace the diversity are setting themselves up to get rolled over. Cultural paradigm shifts happen, too bad no one is telling that to the Republican Party.
“The thing that really bothered me was the “Country First” theme. I can’t explain it, but it had this 1984, Fatherland vibe for me.”
That’s their bread and butter. They have nothing to offer the country so they claim to be all that’s right with America and should you not agree you’re supporting Osama bin Laden.
How our country can have fallen this low is very sad indeed.
Bush via satellite. Puh-leez. Doesn’t it say something when the incumbent GOP president and VP don’t even show. It’s freakin ridiculous. I guess the sell is that McCain will bring back the true GOP platform that Bush abandoned.
Thompson telling McCain’s POW story was compelling because the story is. I’m disappointed in the morning shows because nobody is asking the relevency question. Yes McCain has a great story that shows courage. It is 40 years later so it’s a valid to ask if that story of character is still the man running for president.
I thought it was interesting that on Morning Joe they’re talking about how the media frenzy to investigate Palin, which they described as an attack, was playing into the GOP hands. They talked about sexism and at least one guest had the nerve to say, “isn’t it obvious she was picked* because * she’s a woman. They wouldn’t have picked a man with those slim credentials”
Gov Pawlenty was on and made very simple and direct observations about the basic Republican values that speak to the average Joe. “Stay out of my pocketbook, and although I’d like some help, I don’t need the government to run everything” I think he has a good understanding of the grass roots republican and Dems would do well to pay attention to him and adjust accordingly.
I was disappointed that while they were talking about her being attacked they didn’t bring up the very valid questions and details of her record that relate to the image the GOP is trying to create. It’s great that she is frontier woman and can filed dress a moose but it seems more relevant that as a so called reformer she actually went after millions in ear marks for Alaska, and as a corruption fighter she actually supported and sought the support of Ted Stevens. Add to that the fact that she is being investigated for her own corruption. Those items aren’t even mentioned. They referred to the rumor about her youngest baby as a vicious lying smear. I didn’t see that in any main stream media. Did anyone else?
One other thing I thought ought to be mentioned, as the Republicans decry the attacks on Palin’s inexperience {as they should} nobody is asking if it’s a bit hypocritical for McCain to repeatedly attack Obama’s lack of experience and then pick someone for VP who has so little. If Obama is unfit because of his lack of experience then how do you justify , as a responsible presidential choice, selecting someone who is equally unfit, {by their standards} who might have to be president.
granted the argument that the GOP has the experience in the right order is a valid one, but that doesn’t answer the question does it?
That reminds me - I thought it was really awkward and a bit ill-advised to tell the old “McCain gave them the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line” bit, after the embarrasing gaffe he committed talking to the radio guys here in Pittsburgh.
Nobody there seemed for a moment uncomfortable with that at all, however.
on the campbell brown front. cnn did a bit of research, and ms brown informed us last night, that gov. palin sent the ak. guard to wildfire areas twice.
i do hope they told tucker. they were teasing campbell it was because she called tucker baby. campbell then called wolf honey, and anderson went for commercial right fast.
sometimes keeping things so secret, that your own people don’t know, doesn’t work out well. the exchange reminded me of the one with chris mathews and the guy who thought obama was chamberlain.
they do seem to have picked up on obama’s “one america the united states of america” theme.
jeffery toobin mentioned the “old white guy” thing last night. that all the speakers were old white men and the women speakers were wives.
obama had the olympic high going into the convention. mccain has a convention bookended on hurricanes. very tough to rally people while everyone is watching the coasts.
I’ve been watching both conventions on a laptop. The FIRST thing I see, and it’s not because I’m a Democrat, is that the Republican convention looks like shit. It looks like shit because the Dems obviously upgraded the video stream.
“Drill, baby, drill…and drill now” is the rallying cry? That’s the solution? I know it isn’t. I know the Republicans stand for clean coal and nuclear power, but that’s not a good sound bite.
They pan the audience trying to find minorities or young people. It is difficult. They are just the old ownership class, They actually believe it is their position in life to determine our morals and what we read and hear. They are so much better. That goes with money. All rules and regulations should be disbanded. the little people are not qualified to regulate business or impact the ruling class. . It will all work out in the end. if they decide it should.