Thursday, July 29, 2004
Send More Chuck Berry
Random thoughts while the confetti and balloons are still falling:
Tonight was the only opportunity John Kerry will have to talk to the country at length without being instantly analyzed by people who think they're smarter than he is--and he did extremely well, I thought, all except for stepping on almost every applause line throughout the entire speech, like he was trying to keep it from running long. If the goal was to make him seem resolute, responsible, non-scary, and a plausible alternative to Bush, he did that. I'm a little worried about his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class, though. Remember what happened to Bush 41.
By the end of the summer, the biggest stars in America may be Emma Claire and Jack Edwards--and as a friend asked this morning after John Edwards' speech last night, "How many boys are in love with Cate Edwards today?" A more photogenic family there ain't.
Watching Max Cleland up there, and remembering how his opponents in Georgia smeared him as soft on evil and unfit to serve in the Senate despite his sacrifices in Vietnam, makes me pretty sure that if there's a Hell, Ralph Reed and the Georgia Republican Party are going to have a particularly hot spot.
Thank goodness somebody made sure Alexandra Kerry was wearing underwear.
Once again tonight, Democratic tunes rocked: Springsteen's "No Surrender," "Beautiful Day" by U2, Van Halen's "Dreams" (although it was looped a few too many times), and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." And give it up to the anonymous house band and its lead singer, who adjusted the lyrics to tunes like "Proud Mary" and "Celebration" to incorporate the names of both Kerry and Edwards.
And so, the party's over. Now the hard part starts. Three months and three days to go.
Random thoughts while the confetti and balloons are still falling:
Tonight was the only opportunity John Kerry will have to talk to the country at length without being instantly analyzed by people who think they're smarter than he is--and he did extremely well, I thought, all except for stepping on almost every applause line throughout the entire speech, like he was trying to keep it from running long. If the goal was to make him seem resolute, responsible, non-scary, and a plausible alternative to Bush, he did that. I'm a little worried about his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class, though. Remember what happened to Bush 41.
By the end of the summer, the biggest stars in America may be Emma Claire and Jack Edwards--and as a friend asked this morning after John Edwards' speech last night, "How many boys are in love with Cate Edwards today?" A more photogenic family there ain't.
Watching Max Cleland up there, and remembering how his opponents in Georgia smeared him as soft on evil and unfit to serve in the Senate despite his sacrifices in Vietnam, makes me pretty sure that if there's a Hell, Ralph Reed and the Georgia Republican Party are going to have a particularly hot spot.
Thank goodness somebody made sure Alexandra Kerry was wearing underwear.
Once again tonight, Democratic tunes rocked: Springsteen's "No Surrender," "Beautiful Day" by U2, Van Halen's "Dreams" (although it was looped a few too many times), and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." And give it up to the anonymous house band and its lead singer, who adjusted the lyrics to tunes like "Proud Mary" and "Celebration" to incorporate the names of both Kerry and Edwards.
And so, the party's over. Now the hard part starts. Three months and three days to go.
