Thursday, July 29, 2004
Madame Secretary, Wisconsin, Home of Our Great Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, Our Great Democratic Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, Home of the Green Bay Packers, Winners of 12 NFL Championships, America's Dairyland, Birthplace of Liberace and Orson Welles, the State Where the Hamburger Was Invented and the BoDeans Were Formed, Land of the Wisconsin Dells, the State That's Warmer Than Minnesota and Better Than Illinois, Proudly . . . What Was the Question Again?
It occurred to me last night that the roll call of the states at a political convention is one of the funniest things you'll ever see on TV. Those long, subordinate-clause-laden sentences delegates use to preface their votes are overstuffed like suitcases before a two-week vacation. And Democrats being Democrats, they make sure to divvy up the announcements, and sometimes even individual sentences, so that they present a balance of speakers by race, gender, social class, and this year, military service. I watched until Kerry went over the top last night, and the best line was Kentucky's: "Home of fast horses, smooth whiskey, world-class barbecue, and Muhammad Ali."
In the end, the only person other than Kerry to get a delegate vote was Dennis Kucinich, who got 37. Not a sausage for Howard Dean. What a difference a year makes.
I also noticed last night that Democrats have much better music generally than Republicans. It was great to hear the refrain from Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" after John Edwards' speech, and the 1979 disco classic "We Are Family" works as a Democrat anthem in a way it never would for the Republicans. I was a bit surprised to see Black Eyed Peas doing "Let's Get It Started," however--if only because I didn't think the party would do anything to risk offending those 37 swing voters in Ohio, who might be put off by rap music. I quickly flicked around from C-SPAN to the other channels, betting on who'd be carrying it and who wouldn't. None were--although I expected Fox would be, if only to show its audience another reason to hate and fear Democrats.
Edwards sure gives a good speech. If the contest really does come down to which party better represents hope, he puts us in good shape. If there's a vice-presidential debate (and it is the official surmise of this blog that there will not be, as the War President and his puppeteer will be too busy fighting Insensate Evil to stoop to politics when the time comes), Edwards is going to make Cheney look even more darkly reptilian than he already does.
You may have heard earlier this week that USA Today was planning to have Ann Coulter write a column from the Democratic Convention, but that the newspaper spiked the agreement after a dispute involving Coulter's first column. Coulter's politics aside, she's a simply dreadful writer, and the canceled USA Today column is, even by Coulter's usual standards, astoundingly bad, an amorphous mass of crude insult that wouldn't sound out of place if it were mumbled by a homeless street person. If one of your loved ones talked like that, you'd want her to get help.
Recommended Reading: Sheila Samples suggests that Fox News, for all its faults, may be the most honest news operation we have in one way--they make little attempt to hide their bias, while other news operations barely seem to notice their bias. She notes how often the media seems to want to protect Bush from himself, and cites the lack of coverage of his meltdown at a press briefing earlier this month when he was asked too many questions for his liking about the indictment of Enron's Kenneth Lay. On a related note, Capitol Hill Blue (which, it occurs to me, is bcoming like the National Enquirer for political junkies) reported this week that after the meltdown, Bush's physician prescribed "powerful anti-depressant drugs" in hopes of curbing Bush's mood swings and obscene outbursts. As for me, my obscene outbursts are going to lessen a lot when Bush is permanently back on the ranch.
It occurred to me last night that the roll call of the states at a political convention is one of the funniest things you'll ever see on TV. Those long, subordinate-clause-laden sentences delegates use to preface their votes are overstuffed like suitcases before a two-week vacation. And Democrats being Democrats, they make sure to divvy up the announcements, and sometimes even individual sentences, so that they present a balance of speakers by race, gender, social class, and this year, military service. I watched until Kerry went over the top last night, and the best line was Kentucky's: "Home of fast horses, smooth whiskey, world-class barbecue, and Muhammad Ali."
In the end, the only person other than Kerry to get a delegate vote was Dennis Kucinich, who got 37. Not a sausage for Howard Dean. What a difference a year makes.
I also noticed last night that Democrats have much better music generally than Republicans. It was great to hear the refrain from Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" after John Edwards' speech, and the 1979 disco classic "We Are Family" works as a Democrat anthem in a way it never would for the Republicans. I was a bit surprised to see Black Eyed Peas doing "Let's Get It Started," however--if only because I didn't think the party would do anything to risk offending those 37 swing voters in Ohio, who might be put off by rap music. I quickly flicked around from C-SPAN to the other channels, betting on who'd be carrying it and who wouldn't. None were--although I expected Fox would be, if only to show its audience another reason to hate and fear Democrats.
Edwards sure gives a good speech. If the contest really does come down to which party better represents hope, he puts us in good shape. If there's a vice-presidential debate (and it is the official surmise of this blog that there will not be, as the War President and his puppeteer will be too busy fighting Insensate Evil to stoop to politics when the time comes), Edwards is going to make Cheney look even more darkly reptilian than he already does.
You may have heard earlier this week that USA Today was planning to have Ann Coulter write a column from the Democratic Convention, but that the newspaper spiked the agreement after a dispute involving Coulter's first column. Coulter's politics aside, she's a simply dreadful writer, and the canceled USA Today column is, even by Coulter's usual standards, astoundingly bad, an amorphous mass of crude insult that wouldn't sound out of place if it were mumbled by a homeless street person. If one of your loved ones talked like that, you'd want her to get help.
Recommended Reading: Sheila Samples suggests that Fox News, for all its faults, may be the most honest news operation we have in one way--they make little attempt to hide their bias, while other news operations barely seem to notice their bias. She notes how often the media seems to want to protect Bush from himself, and cites the lack of coverage of his meltdown at a press briefing earlier this month when he was asked too many questions for his liking about the indictment of Enron's Kenneth Lay. On a related note, Capitol Hill Blue (which, it occurs to me, is bcoming like the National Enquirer for political junkies) reported this week that after the meltdown, Bush's physician prescribed "powerful anti-depressant drugs" in hopes of curbing Bush's mood swings and obscene outbursts. As for me, my obscene outbursts are going to lessen a lot when Bush is permanently back on the ranch.
