As a background for those that don't know me, I'm pretty progressive in my beliefs, but I'm not a pacifist, I am not allergic to money, and I'm a small business owner who previously was a work a day stiff in the professional services industry. I represent businesses all the time, but I'm pretty open with most clients about my political views (when it naturally comes up...which it does when they see my framed Bill Clinton inauguration invitation). I'm fortunate to live in Austin, Texas, which is a progressive enough town that I'm more likely to get business being progressive than swimming upstream. I was an Obama early adopter, and I'm a technology early adopter as well. But I wanted Wes Clark to win in 2004 since I knew Kerry would not win in rural areas. And I am UID: 17276, which means although I'm an infrequent diarist, I've been reading this site for a fairly long time.
Here's how a guy like me reviews the RNC convention, who watched it on the teevee...after the break...
The Katrina Flashbacks
The RNC convention started with a thud. I don't care how you spin it, the last thing McCain needed was a reminder of the biggest Bush failure of his presidency. Wait, there's Iraq and failure to get Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Oh, and vetoes of Children's Health Insurance and complete inaction on health care costs. Ok, the Banking crisis. Well, then there was getting involved with Terri Schiavo...OK, forget it. Anyways, it was a biggie. The good: Since they didn't completely tank it this time, it bolstered their argument that it was Governor Blanco's fault that everything was in disarray, and it brought a new rock star, and probably your 2012 Republican frontrunner if Palin tanks, Governor Bobby Jindal. The bad: Jindal didn't speak in prime time, and I fully understand why he didn't attend, but I would have had Jindal introduce McCain via satellite rather than have that stupid 9/11 dispicable display. So, instead they suspended first night to have two people wearing thousand dollar dresses ask Joe Sixpack to give to the relief effort, and they don't capitalize on the "we've already fixed the problem" meme. Not a good night, and overall, Gustav marginally hurt the Republicans by shifting them off message, and by taking a news cycle away from Palin, if only for a day.
Day 2: Fred "Ricola" Thompson and the Elephant Not in the Room
The media is stating that Fred Thompson "knocked it out of the park", but I think this was merely based on how bad the other speakers on the dais were. There was also this very weird "George Bush and Dick Cheney can't attend because they are working on the Hurricane Crisis", yet Cheney, as best I can tell, never went to the Gulf region, and Bush was able to fly back to DC just fine. So very bizarre, and it became a story in itself, as if it were a very big slap to the sitting President by his own party leaders. Can't imagine Bush feels very wanted right now.
The elephant not in the room, of course, was the eruption of the Palin controversies, which are so numerous, that eventually people started tuning out. And the Democrats, outraged by the failure of the pick to be white and male as had every Republican been before and playing to type, and further mystified that their country could be potentially run by a Ronald Reagan-like former sportscaster empty shirter with strange religious beliefs, stuffed in a Tina Fey-like body, went predictably bananas. I did too, because I always hate a pander to the religious extremists in this country, and let's just say, growing up in East Texas, I know a few Sarah Palins and they are so not good for this country. But we're clever people, and hell, we can't help ourselves, and we have to make such a simple person a punching bag. And so we did and continue to do so. More about this later...
But noticeably, the press is raging, and Palin gets hid from the press. Very smart move by the McCain camp...at this point, nothing she could say will help, and would only be parsed. So instead make it a mystery for the press, and let her stick to the message as written by speech writers.
P Day at the Convention
No doubt about it, Day 3 of the convention is the highlight for the Republicans. Red Meat galore, the villifying of the press and Obama, and ending with the (vindictive gimmick) Republican mystery date. We were all watching to see what was behind door number 3, and it was largely what we feared. Empty-headed Ronald Reagan in a skirt.
But before the main "attraction", we were subjected to the series of losers, ending in "Noun, Verb, 9/11". If I had to pick a "best speech" for the convention, I'd probably give it to Giuliani. It seemed like he wrote it, and I think his defense of Sarahcuda was the most compelling and really set up her speech well. Giuliani makes me scream at my teevee, but it is usually on policy and politics. He's a very charismatic person, very engaging, and an excellent public speaker. If the fundies could have stomached a pro-choice top of the ticket guy, I think Obama would have been in trouble, particularly if Palin was the VP. Now THAT would be a scary ticket. Persuasive attack dog orator with a fundie church lady hockey mom...makes me shiver thinking about it. Romney was as "icky" and as "used car salesman-y" as always, and it is quite scary he was once a governor of Massachusetts. Huckabee is a scary dude. In part, because he's very good at humor, and on a personal level, he really gets people. He's very good at accepting facts as facts, but arguing the conclusions. He's going to be a party leader, I fear, for years to come. And he can go on the Daily Show and actually come off well...that ain't easy for a fundie preacher conservative. Pause to think about that...
As for Palin, I had a much different reaction to her than most people I talked to around here. Most seemed to indicate, that were on the fence, her policies scare them, and she's inexperienced, but she delivers a wallop speech. Personally I found her accent and squeeky voice very grating, and I thought while watching it that it was so over the top on the "I'm just a mom" stuff in the Rosanne stand up from the 80s style, it really didn't sell me. I know I'm a progressive, and it wasn't meant towards me, but my brain had a hard time believing that this played to anyone but the Christian Extremists and the "barely pay attention, look at the dangly sparklies" People Magazine types. I mean, it was ok, as speeches go, but I didn't think her delivery was all that great...it seemed to me to be more like someone running for student council (and don't ya know I hated those people in high school), or a cheerleader at a pep rally. Pep rallies you rarely remember anything from them, and outside of the lipstick joke which I had heard many times before in a lot of different, more sexist contexts, I can't really recall anything other than her dog whistle "community organizer" flap. And I thought the thunder of that was taken out by Giuliani doing the same joke earlier. So I was kinda mystified by the "Sky is Falling" diaries on here. Largely, I thought the speech seemed mean-spirited, squeeky, amateurish, and so thin on policy and specifics that I can't remember if there were any. The most compelling thing was the baby...most audiences are suckers for babies, which is why they are so often used in commercials. And the Downs' Syndrome children are used when babies aren't around because we associate them with sweetness and innocence combine with courage. She had a child that fit both. And with the teen's pregnancy tabloid "what does the Knocked Up II couple look like" drama, it was Must See TeeVee, and the ratings showed it.
The downside for McCain is he had to follow both Obama, which was, according to PAT BUCHANAN, the best acceptance speech ever, and then his own VP, which if she had said, "lalalalalalalalala...God Bless You and God Bless the USA", then held her baby in front of her family, would have been deemed a "grand slam" by Wolfie and Mental Munchkins covering the convention.
The Dénouement: Green Screens, Graphic Disaster Porn, and Grandpa Dontgetit
Last night was pretty much a disaster all the way around. The green screen (which had the WRONG Walter Reed and looked like one of McCain's Seven Mansions), the awful Cindy McCain stuff (following the story about her outfit being and estimated worth of $300,000), which was preceded by something so pander-ous that it made me physically ill, the 9/11 Gratuitous WTC Porn. Talk about a complete collapse.
It is good Obama jumped on the Palin card and did $10 million in fundraising the 24 hours preceding it, because I don't think anyone that watched that disaster unfolding thought that McCain has it in him to connect with people. I was significantly calmed watching the slow decay in Minnesota.
He seemed like someone getting a lifetime achievement award and not accepting his nomination.
He wandered and meandered like a grandpa at a kids' birthday picnic. Now, no doubt he has a compelling story, but, geez louise, the story has been played, and it seemed like he was "reading" that...nothing sincere, no emotion, no connection with the Audience. Now I think he ended his speech on a high, but he had lost those people (and me) thirty minutes before. I'm betting the teevee's went off in a lot of households after twenty minutes. And it was completely void of humor, even when he was interrupted. I'm guessing Palin, if interrupted, would have been able to say something pithy to get the crowd cheering for her...all he did was pause, forcing the crowd to chant "USA" like a bunch of xenophobic Aryans. Bad when you're trying to say "change is coming".
And having the pundits agree, when a ham sandwich could have gotten a "home run" from Wolf and the bunch, that it was not particularly good and that he is "happy it is over", that was not so good.
The biggest lingering question, the same one that killed Bush I in 1992, was whether McCain "gets it". And he not only didn't dispute it, he may have actually confirmed it.
So overall, yes there was Palin, who is dangerous and caused us all to do the rope a dope, but overall I think as a choice between Obama and McCain, Obama won the week. And that can't be good for the McCain campaign.
What did you think?
UPDATE: I forgot about Joe Lieberman. But really, didn't everyone?