The Conventions
It was amazing to watch 20 hrs of the Democratic Convention and then 20 hrs of the Republican Convention. At the end though, when Gov Pataki was speaking, introducing GW Bush, I did have to stop and take a tranquilizer before I could go on.
And the scores, as per the Olympics: In my opinion, Democrats: 8.0, Republicans: 10:0. I think that Carl Rove and his group deserve an Academy Award.
The Republicans were perfection. And it put me in mind of the time when I was on that peace march in the Soviet Union with 200 each of Soviets and Americans, when one day we had a talent show. The Soviets presented the first performance that I had ever seen that was absolutely perfect. The costumes, perfect, color choices perfect, accent colors perfect, one dance would end, the participants would walk back across the stage again to lead the next dance, perfect. Young men and the majority, young girls, all amateurs it was stressed, (amateurs as in the Olympics), perfect, The girls danced in large groups, no stars, each was beautiful, perfect; they danced like swans, feminine, graceful, precise, gently glowing dancers. Actually it was breathtaking.
After the perfection of the folk dancers, the walkers did a concert with imperfection, in their worn walking clothes doing their acts. Some were very good, some not so good. None had perfected his act with the discipline that seemed necessary to those Soviet dancers. Well, we were honestly there, but far from perfect. Those lovely young Soviets were there too, but very practiced and professional before coming out to demonstrate the talents of that closed state. The Republican convention was similar to the one of those Soviets. The Democratic convention was more similar to the far from perfect but maybe a little bit more honest acts of the walkers.
And the honesty (ability to keep from stretching the truth) scores: Democrats: 9.0, Republicans: 4.0. And for reality scores (the ability to show what is happening in the world and in our country now): Democrats: 9.0, Republicans: 2.0.
The Republicans were practiced. Even George Bush had been trained to avoid his smirk, not one. The speech was well written and beautifully spoken. The vice president was superseded by Zell Miller whose speech was perfectly vitriolic, so much so that Cheney's was toned down by comparison.
The democrats had a spirited time. Barack Obama, their keynote speaker gave a brilliant speech. The daughters acted like lovely young women who introduced their father well. Theresa H. Kerry presented herself as a well educated lovely caring woman who has made her own imprint on the world, using her billions well, taking sass from no one. Admirable. But compared to Laura Bush, she seemed so "of the people", where Laura was an angel set down among us to lead the president to his best self.
The Republicans were able to supersede all of the occurrences of the last year. They suggested only that Kerry was bad, that 9/11 was the disaster that sent our great president not only to war on terror but also to the war in Iraq which became one and the same in their presentation.
We viewers were meant to forget all the terrible mistakes of the war, from the riots of looting to the hell of the occupation for both the Iraqis, so many of whom have died, and for our soldiers, nearly 1,000 of whom have died, to the beastly treatment of the prisoners at Abu Ghurayb to the continuing fighting of insurgents and now real terrorists. We were also to forget about the terrible national debt, the lost jobs, the 9/11 commission's report, the lack of funding for "No Child Left Behind" and on and on.
I'm glad I watched all those hours, I think. It made me more aware of the good reporting, plus the biases and half-truths that reporters somehow allow to go unremarked upon. It gave me a look at those bright young faces showing enthusiasm still for the political process. Am I more cynical? Yes.
The Democrats obviously need some help with their message and their performance. They had better get to work on that quickly. Because right now the only thing that will make a win for them is just that one fact, that John Kerry is not George Bush.
And the scores, as per the Olympics: In my opinion, Democrats: 8.0, Republicans: 10:0. I think that Carl Rove and his group deserve an Academy Award.
The Republicans were perfection. And it put me in mind of the time when I was on that peace march in the Soviet Union with 200 each of Soviets and Americans, when one day we had a talent show. The Soviets presented the first performance that I had ever seen that was absolutely perfect. The costumes, perfect, color choices perfect, accent colors perfect, one dance would end, the participants would walk back across the stage again to lead the next dance, perfect. Young men and the majority, young girls, all amateurs it was stressed, (amateurs as in the Olympics), perfect, The girls danced in large groups, no stars, each was beautiful, perfect; they danced like swans, feminine, graceful, precise, gently glowing dancers. Actually it was breathtaking.
After the perfection of the folk dancers, the walkers did a concert with imperfection, in their worn walking clothes doing their acts. Some were very good, some not so good. None had perfected his act with the discipline that seemed necessary to those Soviet dancers. Well, we were honestly there, but far from perfect. Those lovely young Soviets were there too, but very practiced and professional before coming out to demonstrate the talents of that closed state. The Republican convention was similar to the one of those Soviets. The Democratic convention was more similar to the far from perfect but maybe a little bit more honest acts of the walkers.
And the honesty (ability to keep from stretching the truth) scores: Democrats: 9.0, Republicans: 4.0. And for reality scores (the ability to show what is happening in the world and in our country now): Democrats: 9.0, Republicans: 2.0.
The Republicans were practiced. Even George Bush had been trained to avoid his smirk, not one. The speech was well written and beautifully spoken. The vice president was superseded by Zell Miller whose speech was perfectly vitriolic, so much so that Cheney's was toned down by comparison.
The democrats had a spirited time. Barack Obama, their keynote speaker gave a brilliant speech. The daughters acted like lovely young women who introduced their father well. Theresa H. Kerry presented herself as a well educated lovely caring woman who has made her own imprint on the world, using her billions well, taking sass from no one. Admirable. But compared to Laura Bush, she seemed so "of the people", where Laura was an angel set down among us to lead the president to his best self.
The Republicans were able to supersede all of the occurrences of the last year. They suggested only that Kerry was bad, that 9/11 was the disaster that sent our great president not only to war on terror but also to the war in Iraq which became one and the same in their presentation.
We viewers were meant to forget all the terrible mistakes of the war, from the riots of looting to the hell of the occupation for both the Iraqis, so many of whom have died, and for our soldiers, nearly 1,000 of whom have died, to the beastly treatment of the prisoners at Abu Ghurayb to the continuing fighting of insurgents and now real terrorists. We were also to forget about the terrible national debt, the lost jobs, the 9/11 commission's report, the lack of funding for "No Child Left Behind" and on and on.
I'm glad I watched all those hours, I think. It made me more aware of the good reporting, plus the biases and half-truths that reporters somehow allow to go unremarked upon. It gave me a look at those bright young faces showing enthusiasm still for the political process. Am I more cynical? Yes.
The Democrats obviously need some help with their message and their performance. They had better get to work on that quickly. Because right now the only thing that will make a win for them is just that one fact, that John Kerry is not George Bush.
posted by Barbara Buttel @ 1:27 PM
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