entertainment
Last night I wound up watching the Republican National Convention on TV… Not really my first choice of diversions, but it did prove to be entertaining. Not so much because of the content of the broadcast, but because of Terri’s reactions. She was actually yelling at the TV – literally screaming back at them. It was hilarious.
As far as the Convention itself goes… Lots of speeches. Most of them were pretty decent. I disagreed with just about every word they said, but they said it relatively well.
They kept referring to McCain as a “maverick” – which I thought was a little odd. Yes, I know this is how he likes to think of himself. That’s how they’re billing him. They’re claiming he’s going to go against the flow and come up with new and unique solutions and all that. He isn’t a normal Republican. Except that if you look at his voting record you’ll see that he hasn’t done anything terribly unusual in the last 8 years or so. He’s been going right along with the rest of the party.
Maybe he used to be more of a maverick when he was running against Bush back in the day… But these days he seems like just another Republican. I’m not hearing anything new or interesting from him. He’s saying the same things every other Republican during the primaries was saying.
Palin gave a speech too… She delivered it pretty well, but I wasn’t much impressed. It turns out that the speech was basically written by McCain’s people long before he picked a VP. It was going to be delivered by whoever they chose. So, obviously, it was rather generic.
They tweaked it a bit to fit Palin… She talked about her family, her experience, her children… But even with those tweaks it sounded generic. She could just as easily have been talking about someone else’s family, experience, or children.
I was also pretty disappointed with the tone of the whole convention. Everyone seemed very sarcastic, condescending, and mean. Obviously they disagree with the Democrats, that goes without saying. But you can disagree without being insulting. And I’m really getting tired of the insults in politics. I’m not interested in who can craft the most biting comment or wittiest comeback, I’m interested in who’s going to run this nation best.
Palin, especially, was tossing out snide remarks left and right. Tons of things aimed right at the Obama camp. There were more insults aimed at the Democrats than there was praise for McCain, talk about Palin, or concrete discussion of the future. Seems like all she did is talk trash.
A huge theme for the night was McCain’s military career. They kept coming back to all the things that happened to him in the military, including his time as a POW. They talked more about his military career than what he’s done in Washington. And I’m personally not convinced that military experience makes you a good president. There’s a hell of a lot more to the office than simply following orders and being willing to die for your country.
And, of course, there seemed to be tons of inaccuracies. They refer to McCain as a maverick when he votes the party line 90% of the time. They claim Palin is against pork barrel spending when she was initially all for the infamous “bridge to nowhere.” They also claim that Palin reduced taxes, when she actually raised them. They talked about leaving the nation in a better state than they found it, when the Republicans have all-but destroyed the nation over the last 8 years. They talked about Palin’s extensive “executive experience” when she hasn’t even been Governor for a full two years.
Frankly, the Convention last night reminded me of a friend Terri used to have. This woman basically defined herself against Terri. If Terri was sick, the friend was sicker. If Terri was happy, the friend was happyer. If Terri liked a certain author, the friend had already read absolutely everything the guy ever wrote. If Terri dyed her hair red, the friend suddenly had red hair and it has always been that color. She was like Terri’s shadow – unable to exist without something else giving her form.
The Republicans last night seemed like the Democrats’ shadow – like they were unable to define themselves except in contrast to the Democrats. The Democrats, at their Convention, certainly criticized the Republicans… But they also talked about their own plans and goals. The Republicans only talked about plans and goals when they contrasted with what the Democrats wanted to do. It made me wonder what the Republicans would stand for if they didn’t have the Democrats to criticize.
Now, you can certainly dismiss my criticisms as those of someone who just plain dislikes the Republicans… And you would be correct, at least in that I just plain dislike the Republicans. I don’t like their policies or their politics. But I’m not generally that passionate of a person, and I’m typically able to see both sides of an argument. Normally I thoroughly enjoy watching the election coverage to see what both sides are aiming for, even though I typically agree with the Democrats in the end.
But this time around I’m having a very hard time seeing anything worthwhile in the Republicans. They’ve had 8 years in office and have all-but ruined the nation. We’re at war in Iraq, with no clear reason why, and no clear end in sight. We gave up on finding Bin Laden and abandoned the fight in Afghanistan. The world no longer looks up to us as a beacon of hope and freedom. Our economy is falling apart. Our education system is crap. We’re slowly slipping behind nation after nation in science and industry.
And to hear the Republicans at their National Convention talk, it’s still somehow the Democrats’ fault.
It’s hard to listen to the Republicans roll out the same old crap about God and Country while both are falling by the wayside.
I’m tired of the insults, I’m tired of the squabbling, I’m tired of the hate. I really don’t want to see another election won or lost because people have been convinced that someone is going to take away their guns or their religion or their money. I’d really like to seen an election decided on the facts, on what each side is actually trying to accomplish.
Maybe if the Republicans stopped trying so hard to bash the Democrats they might be able to convince me that they’ve got something worth-while to say.