Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Convention Report--Monday from the Couch
We did manage to catch a bit of Monday night's DNC party. We tuned in just as Carter was in the middle of what appeared to be a cure for insomnia. He was hard to listen to, and not just for his hypocrisy. Had quite a laugh listening to Carter criticizing Bush's middle-east policy. I realize that for most people the 70s were a blur, but even in the middle of that blur, the 444-day hostage drama in Iran is probably one of the things people still remember well. I understand that this is the first convention the Democrats have allowed Carter to speak at since 1980, and now I understand why.
I have no idea what Carter meant when he blamed Bush for creating panic across the nation. I guess the only thing I've seen close to "panic" was the short-lived run on the gas pumps on the night of 9/11, and for that we have Osama to thank.
Though Hillary gave us much more than the simple introduction to her husband the party had planned for her, we thought Hillary was actually better than Bill. (Not that I care much for Hillary, and my wife dislikes her more than I do.) Both my wife and I thought it interesting that when Hillary brought up the subject of combating terrorism, her very first statement on the subject was that we need to train police and fire fighters better. Perhaps it did not occur to her that those people are responders. They cannot prevent terrorist attacks. They can only respond after the attack has happened. But maybe she thinks that our only relation to terrorists should be as victims.
She did eventually get around to talking about making sure our military are protected, but invoking John Kerry's name immediately after that was laughable considering how he voted against funding that would have supplied body armor and other equipment to our soldiers in Iraq.
Bill bored us, but what a gloryhound, eh? He could start a religion. His disciples were certainly pouring on the love, staring at him with rapt, teary-eyed adoration. And he was clearly lovin' the spotlight. But his rhetoric was as empty as Carter's was earlier. Carter just didn't have the same charisma, and charisma is a nice distraction when you haven't got anything new to say. I'm still waiting for these guys to talk about terrorism seriously. It was just buzzwords and "We'll do it differently," and "Bush lied" (which he didn't, but I guess these guys couldn't be bothered to read the recent reports). The speechifying steered well clear of any plans the Democrats might have for keeping us safe from terrorist threats. I'm interested in what they might have to say, because at this point it doesn't seem like the Democrats are worried about terrorism at all. The topic is notable by its absense (or where mentioned, by lack of serious discourse on the subject).
Anyway, Bill surprised me, though. The guy dragged his party kicking and screaming toward the center, and now he's acting like he was a far-lefty all along. But after 15 minutes we couldn't stand him any longer and switched over to C-SPAN2 which was running the 1960 Republican convention. Nixon! Nixon! Nixon!
I have no idea what Carter meant when he blamed Bush for creating panic across the nation. I guess the only thing I've seen close to "panic" was the short-lived run on the gas pumps on the night of 9/11, and for that we have Osama to thank.
Though Hillary gave us much more than the simple introduction to her husband the party had planned for her, we thought Hillary was actually better than Bill. (Not that I care much for Hillary, and my wife dislikes her more than I do.) Both my wife and I thought it interesting that when Hillary brought up the subject of combating terrorism, her very first statement on the subject was that we need to train police and fire fighters better. Perhaps it did not occur to her that those people are responders. They cannot prevent terrorist attacks. They can only respond after the attack has happened. But maybe she thinks that our only relation to terrorists should be as victims.
She did eventually get around to talking about making sure our military are protected, but invoking John Kerry's name immediately after that was laughable considering how he voted against funding that would have supplied body armor and other equipment to our soldiers in Iraq.
Bill bored us, but what a gloryhound, eh? He could start a religion. His disciples were certainly pouring on the love, staring at him with rapt, teary-eyed adoration. And he was clearly lovin' the spotlight. But his rhetoric was as empty as Carter's was earlier. Carter just didn't have the same charisma, and charisma is a nice distraction when you haven't got anything new to say. I'm still waiting for these guys to talk about terrorism seriously. It was just buzzwords and "We'll do it differently," and "Bush lied" (which he didn't, but I guess these guys couldn't be bothered to read the recent reports). The speechifying steered well clear of any plans the Democrats might have for keeping us safe from terrorist threats. I'm interested in what they might have to say, because at this point it doesn't seem like the Democrats are worried about terrorism at all. The topic is notable by its absense (or where mentioned, by lack of serious discourse on the subject).
Anyway, Bill surprised me, though. The guy dragged his party kicking and screaming toward the center, and now he's acting like he was a far-lefty all along. But after 15 minutes we couldn't stand him any longer and switched over to C-SPAN2 which was running the 1960 Republican convention. Nixon! Nixon! Nixon!
