RNC Day 4 McCain's Acceptance

I originally wanted to compare and contrast the speeches from the two conventions along with thousands of other bloggers in the country, but that would be a cruel thing to do to the Republicans. Michelle Obama, Ted Kennedy, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama all gave much better speeches than their counterparts.

This Republican convention had its moments, introducing the firecracker Sarah Palin to the country, and John McCain's speech was much better than I thought it was going to be. His retelling of his POW imprisonment was expected, but it was more personal and revealing how he turned a tragedy into a watershed experience, something that he draws strength from to this day. To the rest of us it sounds like a broken record and pandering, but it was something that defined him as a man.

He tried to give specific things he wants to do to help the economy, but it was the weakest part of the speech. The same old retread ideas that have been put on the table before don't make the case that you are a maverick and a reformer. Besides, the original Maverick was James Garner... What's bothered me all week long is that everyone else's speeches sounded like they were trying to convince themselves that McCain was the guy to lead them, hence the militaristic and almost jingoistic tone disguised as patriotism. It was heavy-handed, though McCain did try to interject a respectful note towards his opponent.

So, instead of being demoralized, the Republicans have some hope that their candidates will give a good fight in this election. The choice for Vice President was a gut instinctual move that looks like it has payed off big time ( I still think she was Cindy's choice ), and now we will have some good debates in the near future. In my dreams I see Gore Vidal once again rising to the podium, taking on the brash, young Sarah Palin...

RNC Day 3

Well, the house was rocking tonight. It was a raucous crowd whooping and cheering the speeches. Mit Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Guliani all gave ones that seemed like they were from the same speech writing team, but that didn't matter. They all began with John McCain's POW experience, telling us what a good character he is, then went on the attack against Obama. It was a good swan song for their political careers, and a full house cheered and applauded.

Talk about treating politicians like they were celebrities, the real star tonight was Sarah Palin. She delivered her speech well, and got to deliver the most zingers against her opponents. She even got to deliver the best joke of the night: What's the difference between a soccer mom and a pitbull? Lipstick... She came across confident, sarcastic, and someone who will be able to handle the pressures of campaigning. In a copycat move, John McCain made a surprise visit at the end of her speech. They still don't know each other very well, and her body language when he went to embrace her was less than pleasant, get it over with old man...

It remains to be seen if she can learn enough about domestic and foreign policy to debate with Joe Biden, but she could make it interesting and not be a complete drubbing. She certainly gives the GOP campaign the shot of adrenaline it needs and proved that she can dish it out with the rest of the girls.

A major theme was to drill, baby drill! If we drilled off of all our coastlines and the oil was available tomorrow, it still wouldn't bring the cost of gasoline down one penny. Instead, we'd be selling it to China and the Russians on the open market at the current barrel price. The only way to keep the oil for ourselves is if we nationalized the oil companies... And you know that will never happen. We are being manipulated by the agendas of the oil companies and it won't make us any less dependent on foreign oil. Our oil will just add to their profits while making you believe that it was a patriotic thing to do. A sucker really is born every minute...

RNC Day 2

I was going to play a drinking game, have a drink every time someone mentioned John McCain's POW experience, but I would have been passed out by 8:30 pm. Good thing I'm diabetic and gave up drinking awhile ago...

This was a better evening with back to back speeches that moved briskly. The theme seemed a bit creepy, trying to outdo the Democrats but proving why the Republicans just don't get it. Stealing the " change " theme and calling theirs authentic defies logic. Want change? Then elect us even though we control Washington and could make these changes anytime we really want to. Inspired by the speeches at the Democratic convention? Well, feel doubly inspired by how patriotic we are, how militaristic we are without mentioning the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. I guess that explains all of the empty seats. Also, the eleven year old grand-daughter asked " where are all of the black people? "

The whole Bush family was there for a video tribute to H.W Bush, except for Jeb Bush, who must have stayed at home eating his bitter pills, and our current president, who sent his speech in by video. There was another video tribute to Ronald Reagan thrown in for no reason at all, unless the very name makes you salivate.

The best speech of the night came from Fred Thompson, who gave a dramatic reading of John McCain's POW experience. I think he got lost halfway through and added a couple of beatings and broken bones, but nobody noticed. Every person of my generation that I have talked to that has also been in Vietnam has been critical of the way John keeps answering questions by referring to his POW imprisonment, as if it makes him especially qualified to give you an answer. Too bad Fred couldn't give this good of a speech when he was campaigning for himself. Though you came away feeling better about John McCain, there was no substance in it, no defining exactly what his policies are going to be.

Tonight will be Sarah Palin's speech. She has been set up so that she cannot flinch or fail and must give the speech of her life. Can a great speech be written on such a short notice? We'll see.

RNC Day 1

So the Republican National Convention didn't really open, coverage from Hurricane Gustav took over the airwaves instead. I think Laura Bush and Cindy McCain gave some speeches about the hurricane, something along the lines of let them eat cake? I was hoping to be able to contrast Cindy's speech with Michelle Obama's, but wisely the RNC officials didn't want that to happen.

Tonight President Bush will give a speech by telecast, probably because he's too chicken to show up in person. I don't know why the candidates snipe back and forth about who's fit to be President, when here's the biggest example of a person so obviously unfit and we've had him in office for eight years. His lies to the American people have been so blatant and in-your-face that on many occasion I have waxed nostalgic for just the good old I-have-not-had-sex-with-that-woman days. Let's see, am I impressed by the misguided arrogance that costs us billions of dollars and thousands of lives, or one case of oral sex with no-one looking?

Anyway, I don't think I'll have to take notes on shrub's speech. I do hope that there will be someone who will rise to the occasion and give one to rival one of the ones given by the Democrats. I would like to feel inspired here, also. But it seems that the real fun will happen during the upcoming debates, as long as John McCain doesn't cheat like he did at Rick Warren's lovefest. And this is the heart of the matter that bothers me: that John McCain talks about cleaning up corruption and yet relies on the same old negative campaign tricks and using Carl Rove. After being ripped by those same tricks in the past when they were focused on him, he is willing to turn them now at his opponent. And this is the price for one's ambition, taking a backseat to morals, ethics and human decency...

Thoughts on Sarah Palin, Hurricane Gustav

Even though Sarah Palin is governor of Alaska, she is still a nice, naive woman where national and world politics are concerned. I know the upcoming GOP convention will be her Warholian 15 minutes of fame, but it's cruel to take her out of her safe niche and throw her to the wolves who will expose how shallow her thinking is.

 After she and her family get mistreated and abused and lose the election, I doubt that they can go back to their former lives. They are not rich people like the Bush family, or Al Gore, or John Kerry, or John McCain, who can use their money to insulate themselves from the rest of society. They will have to go back to Alaska and live with their shame, and people can be cruel. It may affect her marriage and the health of her youngest child. On the bright side, maybe John McCain will give them one of his houses!

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My nephew works for American Medical Response out of Mobile, Alabama. Prior to the knowledge that Gustav was coming, they had been hiring unqualified people without their state certification to work part-time rather than give their employees overtime. Now that FEMA has contracted them to use their employees, they are scrambling to get their old, more experienced employees who had quit on them hired back. My nephew is certified for over 6 states in the region, so he can be deployed just about anywhere the hurricane hits.

He is currently in the city of New Orleans with the National Guard. Because there are no restaurants open for business, and his company didn't give him any money up front for things like food, he's had to go begging the National guard for MRE's, and looting a local hospital for supplies for his ambulance. Despite these handicaps I know that he will do a good job, for it's the unsung heroes like him that save lives when disasters strike.

Sarah Palin

My first reaction when I first read about John McCain's pick for his Vice Presidential running mate was, Sarah who? Maybe I haven't been reading enough blogs and websites. But over the last 24 hours there has been more than enough information and affirmations released on her that it's truly amazing how quick the BS factor kicks in today's media. It may be that Sarah Palin was Cindy McCain's pick, showing how much John will listen to his wife.

I'm glad that John didn't pick any of the losers who were considered to be in the top running. He showed some spunk and creativity, and might bring some delight to his campaign after all.He needed to separate himself from George Bush and do it in a polite way. He did it by choosing someone as far away from Washington as you can geographically get, and proving to the old folks in the GOP that he's the one in charge and can make fresh, independent choices.

Did he pander to the 18 million Hillary supporters, hoping to pick up a few million by choosing a woman? Duh, of course he did. It may backfire on him, because Palin's ideals are far away from Hillary's ideals, proving once again that he doesn't " get it. " Or, she might actually show some charm and substance on her own. We'll all get a chance to see at the Republican convention next week.

As for me, I'm looking forward to the Presidential debates. The choice of Palin may negate Biden's attack a bit, trying to be more polite to the woman, while freeing her up to be as nasty as she wants to be. Biden could know what buttons to push on McCain, and show the world what can happen when he loses his temper. I'm looking forward to a feisty, fun contest, maybe no longer lopsided in total favor of Obama. I still think he will win, but the fun factor has been put back in, and for that I thank you, John McCain.

DNC Day 4 Obama's Speech

Wow. Here I am, a 55 year old grumpy white male, registered Republican, sitting in front of the television with tears in my eyes, feeling humbled and so proud to be an American. There is no doubt that millions of people worldwide witnessed history in the making.

The Democratic Convention was a beautiful production, well put together and seamlessly pulled off. There were excellent speeches given on all days, in fact so good that the buzz was that Barack Obama was going to have to come up with something really special on Thursday night. He wrote and delivered one of the most well crafted speeches in the history of the United States, proving what an inspiring and great orator he has become. It will be a speech that will be studied and used as an example of excellence for many years to come.

I tried to get the 15 year old girl to watch the speech, after all, she has some Black, Hispanic, and Native American blood in her, but her response was " whatever " and reburied herself in her Myspace page. I hope that there are some of her generation less in the grip of raging hormones interested in what goes on in the world, but I seem to recall a certain amount of apathy at that age myself. And a fair amount of cynicism in my current world views, which is why Obama's speech took me by pleasant surprise.

The cynical part of me isn't sure if he can pull off any of his plans for the economy and the way that Washington currently works. It may take a total economic and political collapse before people will actually be willing to change, when there is no other option. I would be happy if I had less things to complain about.

The irony here is that it's the Republicans who really need to change and rebuild their party from the ground up. They have to get rid of the tainted right wing ideas that haven't worked and have almost bankrupted our country, both physically and morally. It should have been a Republican giving such a moving speech and there isn't anyone in the GOP who can rise to the occasion.