Let’s try to keep it all in here and keep the little hamsters happy (although they don’t seem to care about us!). I see DtC has already beat me with a Pit thread.
I don’t know–not that he was going to convert me, but he never really caught fire IMO. The best speech of the convention remains Giuliani’s. Zell Miller, whose speech scares me more and more as I think about it, at least treated us all to some good ol’ deep-fried Come-to-Jesus speechifyin’.
One thing Bush has to many of the people who meet him is charisma. I just didn’t see it. He didn’t annoy me particularly, and he was properly self-deprecating about his struggles with the English language. Some of his ‘new’ ideas showed that at least he was thinking about non-terrorism problems. Some new 9/11 anecdotes delivered with due sincerity. He even mentioned the e-word (it’s the economy, stupid). But overall…meh.
Have at it. And remember there’s a Pit thread already!
Well, as I said in my RNC thread, I thought it was a decent speech and an interesting departure from the norm of these kinds of things, going in some depth about what Bush will do at least domestically if he’s re-elected.
I thought Bush did a fairly good job laying out his positions and speaking. The second half of the speech was more like what you normally expect from these kinds of things.
Did you catch the 2 protesters (Bush Lied, People Died)…that was, er, interesting.
-XT
btw, did any else catch Kerry’s midnight speech?? That was kind of odd, wasn’t it?
Will someone tell me how you save Social Security by taking money out of the system and putting in personal retirement accounts? I understand all the arguments for privatization, but for the life of me, I don’t see how it makes Social Security stronger for those of us who have paid into all our lives, and expect to get something, anything out of it when we retire in a few years. The least he could do is promise to put back all the money that has been looted from the Social Security trust fund surplus to pay for Damn Fool Wars™ and ill-timed tax cuts.
And another thing, I would like to see a cite for this so-called “explosion in frivolous lawsuits burdening small business” in recent years. Sure, there has been news coverage of isolated abuses, but statistically, tort litigation has remain level for the last decade.
The Bush campaign seems to be based on the notion that telling the same lie enough times makes it true.
I think it was timed just right. I was watching the goons on msnbc ramble right after Bush’s speech. Everyone was all “golly that speech was a home run. isn’t he swell” until Kerry came on. They switched to Kerry for a bit and when they returned it seemed they HAD to start talking about the issues.
At least on MSNBC it took the fire out of drooling over Bush’s speech.
It’s about time Kerry started going after them. He’s been pretty quiet on some of the things they’ve been saying about him. It was nice to see him get fired up a little.
I think this is going to start getting interesting now.
Anyway, I thought the speech was mediocre at best. He should not have said one word about Kerry. It was very undignified they way he mocked him. Not a good speech for Bush at all.
To be fair, I’m not on his side of the aisle. But I was really surprised that there wasn’t more of a “here’s where I want to take America! Chaarge!” feel to the speech. The policy proposals were either weak tweaks or recycled first-term items.
Doesn’t GWB have some place he wants to pilot this ship in the next four years?
Maybe a partisan on the other side of the aisle will be along soon to read the tea leaves and interpret for me. Really – I do want to know what vision I missed in this speech.
And this:
“Anyone who wants more details on my agenda can find them online. The web address is not very imaginative, but it’s easy to remember: georgewbush.com.”
In an instant he’s reduced his own policy proposals to a web pop-up ad. “Click here to find out more about GWBush! You may have already won!” Is this the best his staff could muster?
It felt to me like yet another SOTU speech. It felt like he was given “talking points” and it didn’t matter whether or not he made up facts or repeated himself for the millionth time or just said quaint, pointless things, as long as he made sure to mention each talking point. It felt like it didn’t matter what he said as long as he just kept reminding people of 9/11, as though nothing else he’s done has mattered or even happened since then, that as long as people remember 9/11, they’ll get all teary-eyed and vote for him again based on cheap emotional appeal. And the few times I caught him winking, and giving that creepy smile, I just got the jim-jams. At least I didn’t get the anxiety attacks caused by those vile, hate-spewing, rants Zell and Cheney gave last night. But still, nothing said could possibly convince me that anyone in the country would be better off with 4 more years of these people at the helm of our government. If anything I feel even less secure with these people still in charge.
And, the claims against Kerry were just one old tired lie after another. I must admit that Kerry didn’t have his best moment when he tried to his $87 billion vote on Iraq. But, for the President to make fun of a vote that Kerry made in large part in response to Bush’s lies and deceptions (in this case, his not telling or even hinting to Congress that this much supplemental appropriations would be needed until after they passed the tax cuts) is the ultimate in “chutzpah”! I mean, this guy doesn’t have a decent bone in his body. I have sometimes tried to excuse G.W. as just being a puppet. I think the Republican convention was good in reminding me what a really unprincipled, lying, vile, reprehensible human being our president is.
I don’t like the way Bush smiles. Now, I can’t stand the guy–and I think the depictions of him as a chimp are funny–but I think he’s cute and back in the day, he probably belonged in the “fine” category. Except, that is, when he smiles in that scary, plastic-face way of his. I’m not talking about the signature smirk. I’m talking about the smile he kept giving whenever he gave shout-outs to certain people in the audience. It’s a practiced smile. It’s the smile a sour-faced kid will give when a scolding parent tells them to “fix their face”. It’s a Pennywise grimace.
Did anyone count how many liberties and freedoms were sprinkled in the speech? I meant to, but I forgot.
Overall, I thought the speech was dry and uninspiring (to be fair, I wasn’t expecting much to begin with), but generally non-offensive. One thing he said, however, did give me much pause:
It’s arrogant to presume our way is the best way. Not all free countries in the world practice our form of government. Our form of government is not synonomous with freedom and liberty, as this country itself has demonstrated for centuries.
It’s frighteningly arrogant to presume we are on a mission from God. All this God rhetoric is what has gotten us in the situation we’re in, and I say this as a Christian who believes God actually cares about us. Just as it infuriates us when Islamic fundamentalists proclaim to be on Allah’s side, it does the same thing for everyone else when we do it. By evoking God once again, he is making TWAT a religious war…the last thing he should be doing (especially since he keeps assuring Muslims that this isn’t about Islam, it’s about terrorists.)
I’m a Christian, but I feel just as alienated as if I were an atheist. I wish we had a president who respects that not every American shares his brand of religion, and even many of those people who do would appreciate him NOT bringing God into his errant diplomacy.
I think the above quote contrasts sharply with what he said in 2000 during the 2nd presidential debate (can we say "flip flop?):
Bolding mine.
We haven’t been “humble” in four years. And lookit! They don’t respect us. At least Bush was right about that one!
If you click on the above link and read the rest of the debate, you’ll see that even back then, Bush was obsessed with Saddam Hussein. It’s clear to anyone with half a brain that bringing down SH has always been at the top of his priority list. 9/11 provided the perfect ruse. Those who believe otherwise need to wake the hell up.
