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Convention junkies can obsess details here!

F

FreshFish

New member
I was sort of hoping joecct would start a thread like this one.....anyway......


I don't know why I've always found political conventions so interesting....it's like a pep rally for politicians in which for a few days we get excitement over ideas, and sometimes some great zingers too.

I still remember Ann Richards' address at the 1988 Democratic convention, talking about GHWB: "Poor George, he just can't help himself, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Governor Richards could have had a supplemental career in stand-up if she wanted it.

I was a bit young in 1968 to understand what all the shouting and fighting was about; still that left quite an impression on a pre-teen mind.
 
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Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

It was edgy weird fun to watch Artur Davis' speech last night....sort of like Chris Rock does the Hamptons.

Davis was really funny, in a sly subtle way. It's well worth watching his speech on youtube if you can find it (maybe I'll have time to chase down the link later and post it).

You could tell though that the audience wasn't quite aligned with his timing and didn't quite know what to make of him; and I got the sense that he was struggling a little bit to find a rhythm with his audience as well. It was a very effective speech, especially when he said "we were all inspired by Obama's words; and we became disappointed when he failed to live up to them." You could feel the authenticity come through.
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Would it have killed one of these Republicans to start their speech off with the line..."YABA DABA DOOOO" ? :D
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Rover said:
Would it have killed one of these Republicans to start their speech off with the line..."YABA DABA DOOOO" ? :D
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That would presuppose humor.

Not a lot of humor among this lot. Unless you count jokes about legitimate rape.

P.J. O'Rourke said something like, "you can always tell which party is in ascendance by two things: who tells the best jokes and who has the cutest girls on the convention floor." If he's right, the Republicans are as dead as Mussolini.
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

I guess I'm in a minority (along with Juan Williams) on Ann Romney's speech.

I do have to give her props for an effective speaking style for someone who rarely gives speeches.

However, Juan said "corporate wife" in his recap, and that seemed spot on to me (though he was the only one to view it that way on the panel).

The whole "I empathize with regular women" part came across to me as a bit stilted and forced.

The second part of her speech, where she talked about her husband, did come across as genuine. However it was a bit vapid. She alluded to some important things in passing, without fleshing any of them out. An opportunity to make Mitt human that didn't happen. Not a single ilustrative anecdote, just three references to that high-school suitor who made her laugh.

C'mon Ann if he made you laugh you could at least have shared with us one of his jokes!
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

I thought Ann Romney was fine, but I'm amused by some of the coverage. Hit a home run and all that. Has a spouse of a nominee ever bombed their speech? Usually its a pretty easy one to make. I don't know how long candidate's wives have been giving a prime time address but they're usually pretty standard (guy is a wonderful husband and father, if you knew him like I did, blah blah blah).
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Rover said:
I thought Ann Romney was fine, but I'm amused by some of the coverage. Hit a home run and all that. Has a spouse of a nominee ever bombed their speech? Usually its a pretty easy one to make. I don't know how long candidate's wives have been giving a prime time address but they're usually pretty standard (guy is a wonderful husband and father, if you knew him like I did, blah blah blah).
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James Buchanan. ;)
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Rover said:
I thought Ann Romney was fine, but I'm amused by some of the coverage. Hit a home run and all that. Has a spouse of a nominee ever bombed their speech? Usually its a pretty easy one to make. I don't know how long candidate's wives have been giving a prime time address but they're usually pretty standard (guy is a wonderful husband and father, if you knew him like I did, blah blah blah).
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It's a story the networks love because it won't make anybody angry. It's perfect for the third hour of Good Morning America, or that kind of crap. Even better is if you can get a candidate's brat up there about how daddy built a tree house this one time...

Everybody does it. The sad thing is it probably swings more votes than all the position papers in the campaign.
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

FreshFish said:
"I empathize with regular women"
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What about constipated women or post-menopausal women? :D

FreshFish said:
C'mon Ann if he made you laugh you could at least have shared with us one of his jokes!
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She thought it was hilarious when he beat up the nerds. I'm willing to excuse him for it though - every Detroiter knows Cranbrook is full of little snots who deserve a good arsekicking. :)
 
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Nikki Haley was doing great in her speech until her moment of cognitive dissonance, which was bizarre. Here's she's giving an inspiring speech about her immigrant parents, and suddenly she's talking about taking the Obama administration to court over South Carolina's immigration statute?

Didn't anyone "proof-read" her remarks first and suggest maybe leaving out that one line?
 
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Ryan's speech should be interesting. Galbraith had his number 50 years ago:

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
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Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Kepler said:
The sad thing is it probably swings more votes than all the position papers in the campaign.
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That's, at least in part, due to the fact that there are more spouse speeches than position papers.
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

busterman62 said:
That's, at least in part, due to the fact that there are more spouse speeches than position papers.
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Yeah, I love that the GOP talking point if they're not afraid to take the unpopular stances. You know, the ones they'll announce right after the election... :rolleyes: :D
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

Looks like The Man With No Name is going to be a speaker.
 
Re: Convention junkies can obsess details here!

joecct said:
Looks like The Man With No Name is going to be a speaker.
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Is he Thursday's "TBA"? That was my speculation on who it would be; haven't seen anything to give it away however.

Sarah Palin seems to be the consensus pick but I'd think she'd be too polarizing for Mitt.
 
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Still mulling over Chris Christie's speech. It was quite different than what I expected.

First of all, it was really thoughtful. He addressed a Big Idea.

Also an interesting bookend to Mrs. Romney. She said "I want to talk about love" then Mr. Christie shares a life lesson from his mother: "It's better to be respected than to be loved. Love without respect will fade; if you have respect you might also develop love over time."

He wandered a bit too far into the "sacrifice / hard times" territory though. What the Republicans are still failing to do is emphasize the importance of economic growth.

Martin Feldstein has a thought-provoking article in today's Wall St. Journal in which he takes IRS data on revenues collected and shows how Romney's tax plan could indeed remain revenue-neutral while also promoting more economic growth.

that is the single key issue we face, more than cutting spending, more than any other concern: if we can increase the rate of growth of the economy, then many of the other related problems become far less pressing.

The Republicans have always done well as the party of opportunity and optimism; they've not done well when they act like nagging scolds.*

Anyway, Christie did emphasize how Republican governors have promoted teachers while fighting teachers' unions, which was really well done rhetorically. Merit pay for teachers is something most of them want, yet it is also poisonous anathema to the teachers' union leaders. Interesting that the teachers can't shed their leaders, no?


Overall, the first night of the convention was off-key to me. Missed notes left and right. Some great moments, not strung together very effectively.

Won't be able to watch Ms Rice or Mr. Ryan tonight though. The former speech could be interesting for its content, the latter for its homespun humor.




* That's probably the secret as to why regular people vote for them even though they aren't "rich": because they intend to be rich some day. Charles Barkley told that story once.
 
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Oh man, it looks like the Paulistas got rolled on procedure. Tampa actually had its own mini-Chicago '68, but they were able to contain it.

You're supposed to do your jack-boot stuff in conference rooms the way Ford and Reagan knifed each other in '76, guys.
 
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