Saturday, August 30, 2008
CONVENTION OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS
Thank heaven for remote controls! The Militant Moderate was kept busy during some evenings trying to keep a source whose coverage stayed on the convention rostrum. OETA (PBS) came nearer to complete rostrum coverage than did any of the cable news channels, but others did well.
Sometimes one is ready for political pundit commentary, and sometimes one is not. Pundits often give a good speech a bad aftertaste. Americans have developed an unhealthy reliance on the media to tell them what to think.
Obama picked well in naming Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. He brings experience and sound knowledge to the ticket.
The speeches given by the party leaders and dignitaries were informative and inspirational. Ted Kennedy was an inspiration himself just by summoning the strength to address the convention with such vigor.
The Clintons contributed eloquently toward a healing of factions and party unity, as well as by enunciating key party tenets. John Kerry and Al Gore came through strong. It was easy to see why each had at one time been the party standard-bearer. The Montana governor gave us a taste of good old fashioned politics and humor.
Michelle Obama’s speech, and the films presented, should dispel any impression on reasonable people made by the dirty e-mails labeling him a foreigner, a Muslim, un-American, and not patriotic. He was dramatically portrayed as a family man of principle and with social conscience.
Despite efforts by McCain, his party, and his “swift-boat” corps to define Obama otherwise, he came through clearly as one of us – only brighter and more articulate. Like Bill Clinton, and unlike the opposing candidate, he impressed us as one who “feels our pain.”
It has been difficult for the Militant Moderate to grasp why there would be such a large number of folk who supposedly say they don’t know Obama, according to commentators. Where have these people been? Don’t they read anything except comic books, political trash, or Rupert Murdock’s Wall Street Journal? Don’t they watch any news channels except Murdock’s Fox?
After long and tantalizing suspense, McCain’s careful and agonizing selection process has yielded a bizarre result. That such a gestation period and painful process should bring forth an unknown without credentials is appalling. Pundits are now falling all over themselves trying to conjure up and attribute some kind of logic to his choice.
Some say he is trying to lure Hillary’s voters. Well, we have news for him. We knew Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton was an ideological friend of ours.
And, she is no Hillary Clinton.
Anyone interested in national security and the welfare of the country would expect an old man with recurring cancer to know better. Of all people since Ronald Reagan, he should most of all have a qualified back-up. Some are saying he has shown disrespect for the nation.
I imagine we will soon find out something about this unknown governor of a poorly populated state. It may not be a lot since she has so little experience of consequence.
We do know that she was elected by the same republican party voters there that just elected Ted Stevens again, a republican incumbent indicted for corruption and bribery, as its party nominee for another senate term. Surely that is no recommendation for her.
We hear that she is under investigation for firing a state administrator who refused to discharge her former brother-in-law divorced from her sister. More is sure to come on that. If so, then she should fit right in with the Bush/Cheney bunch now stonewalling against charges of political corruption of the country’s district attorney system, as well having been taken to court for vindictive actions against Valerie Plame because of her husband.
We do not look forward to the week to come, since it brings with it another convention. Nevertheless, we shall dutifully watch the significant parts of that convention as well. If they present good arguments, then we should hear those. If they repeat the time-worn lines of right wing ideology, then we shall turn them off.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
Sometimes one is ready for political pundit commentary, and sometimes one is not. Pundits often give a good speech a bad aftertaste. Americans have developed an unhealthy reliance on the media to tell them what to think.
Obama picked well in naming Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. He brings experience and sound knowledge to the ticket.
The speeches given by the party leaders and dignitaries were informative and inspirational. Ted Kennedy was an inspiration himself just by summoning the strength to address the convention with such vigor.
The Clintons contributed eloquently toward a healing of factions and party unity, as well as by enunciating key party tenets. John Kerry and Al Gore came through strong. It was easy to see why each had at one time been the party standard-bearer. The Montana governor gave us a taste of good old fashioned politics and humor.
Michelle Obama’s speech, and the films presented, should dispel any impression on reasonable people made by the dirty e-mails labeling him a foreigner, a Muslim, un-American, and not patriotic. He was dramatically portrayed as a family man of principle and with social conscience.
Despite efforts by McCain, his party, and his “swift-boat” corps to define Obama otherwise, he came through clearly as one of us – only brighter and more articulate. Like Bill Clinton, and unlike the opposing candidate, he impressed us as one who “feels our pain.”
It has been difficult for the Militant Moderate to grasp why there would be such a large number of folk who supposedly say they don’t know Obama, according to commentators. Where have these people been? Don’t they read anything except comic books, political trash, or Rupert Murdock’s Wall Street Journal? Don’t they watch any news channels except Murdock’s Fox?
After long and tantalizing suspense, McCain’s careful and agonizing selection process has yielded a bizarre result. That such a gestation period and painful process should bring forth an unknown without credentials is appalling. Pundits are now falling all over themselves trying to conjure up and attribute some kind of logic to his choice.
Some say he is trying to lure Hillary’s voters. Well, we have news for him. We knew Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton was an ideological friend of ours.
And, she is no Hillary Clinton.
Anyone interested in national security and the welfare of the country would expect an old man with recurring cancer to know better. Of all people since Ronald Reagan, he should most of all have a qualified back-up. Some are saying he has shown disrespect for the nation.
I imagine we will soon find out something about this unknown governor of a poorly populated state. It may not be a lot since she has so little experience of consequence.
We do know that she was elected by the same republican party voters there that just elected Ted Stevens again, a republican incumbent indicted for corruption and bribery, as its party nominee for another senate term. Surely that is no recommendation for her.
We hear that she is under investigation for firing a state administrator who refused to discharge her former brother-in-law divorced from her sister. More is sure to come on that. If so, then she should fit right in with the Bush/Cheney bunch now stonewalling against charges of political corruption of the country’s district attorney system, as well having been taken to court for vindictive actions against Valerie Plame because of her husband.
We do not look forward to the week to come, since it brings with it another convention. Nevertheless, we shall dutifully watch the significant parts of that convention as well. If they present good arguments, then we should hear those. If they repeat the time-worn lines of right wing ideology, then we shall turn them off.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
