26 July 2004
Right Message, Wrong Song
Right Message, Wrong Song
The Democratic National Convention has opened in Boston and so far you have your usual boring speakers to build up to the prime time coverage, and various delegates spread out to disseminate the message of the Democrats to Chris Matthews and the like. It's not unlike the pre-show of the Oscars, especially in that there was a very unfortunate choice of music as the first song played: "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge. Come on! At least using Fleetwood Mac in 1992 showed some taste. (Hey, imagine if it had been the Eagles) If they play "Celebration" I'm voting for the socialist candidate. (That is a joke, but only barely) I ask my readers now: please send me a list of better songs appropriate to a convention and I will do my best to get these playlists to the party and bug them till they use it. The Democrats are supposed to be the ones with cool taste in music, and yet it drives me crazy that Rush Limbaugh uses part of "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders as the theme for his show. Republicans shouldn't even know what music is.
So far though the message seems to be focused on defining the race on the Democrats' own terms, around the theme of "making America respected in the world again." If they stick with this rather than fighting defensively against Republican attacks they should do well. In 1992 Bill Clinton ran his race like Bush was merely in the way, that Clinton had a positive vision for this country. Bush spent the whole campaign attacking Clinton and showing no positive reason to vote for him, and we all recalled the tax pledge, saw the recession, and in general 1992 was a dark year(not the least because of a cloud of volcanic ash that made the world a little darker that year and which I only found out about later; and hasn't it seemed unusually dark and cold late in the year lately?) and Bush seemed an irrelevant, incompetent relic of the past that seemed to think it should be re-elected for no other reason than that they'd inherited the presidency from Reagan. But Bush seemed to stand for nothing but not being Bill Clinton.
This Bush is at a particular disadvantage, not the least being his sleazy, untrustworthy VP Cheney, not a good contrast with the youthful and positive Edwards--whom I believe will not shy away from direct attack on Cheney once the debates begin this fall. But also Kerry actually served in Vietnam, as a pilot if I'm not mistaken. Contrast this with AWOL Bush playing pilot in his little Top Gun suit. Karl Rove will rue those pictures. But then, he's on record as already feeling that way.
And a bit of hubbub occurred when, upon being accused of saying something which she did say but not in the context she was accused of, Theresa Heinz-Kerry told the accusing right-wing journalist, "You said I said something I didn't say. Now shove it." Good for her. How can the Bush camp make any hay from that after Cheney's "big-time asshole" remark about Adam Clymer of the New York Tomes during the 2000 campaign?
The media have been making much of the fact that corporations are not barred from spending as much as they wish on candidates during the convention, an example being a fireworks show put on over Boston last night for Nancy Pelosi. Of course, the very idea that candidates from either party don't take corporate donations is unthinkable now, though it'd be nice if it weren't so. But as the GOP is having their convention this September, the media will have exhausted the corporate money angle by then. So it ends up sticking only to the Democrats.
And then there's the Free Speech concentration camp, the fenced-off area many blocks from the convention center where protests are allowed. As more and more build up in there I'd like to see how that will hold for long, and what will the level of rage be by then? We'll see...
More updates as things worth commentary arise...
The Democratic National Convention has opened in Boston and so far you have your usual boring speakers to build up to the prime time coverage, and various delegates spread out to disseminate the message of the Democrats to Chris Matthews and the like. It's not unlike the pre-show of the Oscars, especially in that there was a very unfortunate choice of music as the first song played: "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge. Come on! At least using Fleetwood Mac in 1992 showed some taste. (Hey, imagine if it had been the Eagles) If they play "Celebration" I'm voting for the socialist candidate. (That is a joke, but only barely) I ask my readers now: please send me a list of better songs appropriate to a convention and I will do my best to get these playlists to the party and bug them till they use it. The Democrats are supposed to be the ones with cool taste in music, and yet it drives me crazy that Rush Limbaugh uses part of "My City Was Gone" by the Pretenders as the theme for his show. Republicans shouldn't even know what music is.
So far though the message seems to be focused on defining the race on the Democrats' own terms, around the theme of "making America respected in the world again." If they stick with this rather than fighting defensively against Republican attacks they should do well. In 1992 Bill Clinton ran his race like Bush was merely in the way, that Clinton had a positive vision for this country. Bush spent the whole campaign attacking Clinton and showing no positive reason to vote for him, and we all recalled the tax pledge, saw the recession, and in general 1992 was a dark year(not the least because of a cloud of volcanic ash that made the world a little darker that year and which I only found out about later; and hasn't it seemed unusually dark and cold late in the year lately?) and Bush seemed an irrelevant, incompetent relic of the past that seemed to think it should be re-elected for no other reason than that they'd inherited the presidency from Reagan. But Bush seemed to stand for nothing but not being Bill Clinton.
This Bush is at a particular disadvantage, not the least being his sleazy, untrustworthy VP Cheney, not a good contrast with the youthful and positive Edwards--whom I believe will not shy away from direct attack on Cheney once the debates begin this fall. But also Kerry actually served in Vietnam, as a pilot if I'm not mistaken. Contrast this with AWOL Bush playing pilot in his little Top Gun suit. Karl Rove will rue those pictures. But then, he's on record as already feeling that way.
And a bit of hubbub occurred when, upon being accused of saying something which she did say but not in the context she was accused of, Theresa Heinz-Kerry told the accusing right-wing journalist, "You said I said something I didn't say. Now shove it." Good for her. How can the Bush camp make any hay from that after Cheney's "big-time asshole" remark about Adam Clymer of the New York Tomes during the 2000 campaign?
The media have been making much of the fact that corporations are not barred from spending as much as they wish on candidates during the convention, an example being a fireworks show put on over Boston last night for Nancy Pelosi. Of course, the very idea that candidates from either party don't take corporate donations is unthinkable now, though it'd be nice if it weren't so. But as the GOP is having their convention this September, the media will have exhausted the corporate money angle by then. So it ends up sticking only to the Democrats.
And then there's the Free Speech concentration camp, the fenced-off area many blocks from the convention center where protests are allowed. As more and more build up in there I'd like to see how that will hold for long, and what will the level of rage be by then? We'll see...
More updates as things worth commentary arise...
Labels: cheney, fatboy mcfascist, politics
¶ July 26, 2004
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