I paid a visit to the Rethug Convention website today to see what our enemies are up to (troll shield: I did not visit because I love the GOP). It is very instructive and tells us a lot about what's preoccupying the minds of the GOP right now.
The top item on the website is a feature called "Stand Up and Holla!" An embarassing bid to look tolerant and hip, the RNC joined with MTV to sponsor an essay-writing contest sharing "personal stories." The top 10 they have picked tell you exactly what demographics they want to make it look like they love: 2 African Americans (some, but not too much!), 2-3 other vaguely "ethnic" types, one guy clearly in uniform. Swing states well represented. Of course the attempt to look all down (just picture Dick Cheney saying "holla!") is just hilarious.
The next big item is "Compassion Across America." Yep, two wars and the devastation of the economy later, "compassion" is back! Apparently the RNC plans to highlight at the convention "national service projects" that show everyday people doing good things for their neighbors. Well, since everybody is laid off and broke, I guess folks don't have much choice!
So there you have it -- the key themes for New York will be 1) how much the GOP loves young people, including some that aren't white and 2) compassion.
I know that WE all think this is crap. But with some friendly network coverage, they could spin this quite well.
We need to get our talking points in order as to why this is crap, and start pushing it in the media ASAP. Here are some that come to mind:
-- Compassion? The only people Bush has been compassionate to are Halliburton and mulit-millionaires. We need a president who believes in a compassionate America for ALL.
-- You wanna "holla?" Listen to the thousands of laid-off workers that are hollering for a job. Listen to the hundreds of military families that are hollering for a sensible policy in Iraq. Listen to the families hollering about their water and air getting poisoned by your polluter buddies.
What are some others?