Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Day 2 - Day One Do-Over

Naturally, as the GOP convention kicks off, I find myself working late due to extremely dumb people (Obama supporters?) keeping me past my scheduled time. And with the convention only an hour behind and me working until 9 for the next couple of days, I'm probably going to miss a little more of this convention. But that won't stop me from chewing on some GOP ass where it is needed and enjoying the red meat more than last week.

The theme of the night was that John McCain is independent and conservative and always puts "Country First," primarily by turning an idea into a slogan for the convention. As you can tell, I'm in one of those moods to see some landing gear snap off the Straight Talk Express. More on that liberal later.

(paragraph updated because I was tired when I wrote it and forgot to finish. Sorry. )I was also reminded that the GOP is the lamer of the two parties when it comes to putting on a show. The Dems rolled out some serious heavyweights to rock Denver. It helps that most musicians are liberal. But that means the best the GOP faithful could manage was music by dead musicians. They could have at least gotten Ted Nugent out to shoot arrows while rocking.

Now, let's cover the speakers I heard:

Laura Bush - The First Lady is just nice. No significant politics here, just the fact that she's a good person who had the honor to introduce her husband:

President Bush - George W phoned it in from the White House, as he was still engaged in support for hurricane Gustav. In addition, this gives the convention the ability to cheer their president and keep him separated enough from McCain's convention to fight that "Bush's third term" line that the left keeps flinging at us like monkey shit. Decent speech, no more Bush.

Fred Thompson - My personal fav for the night for many reasons. He was smart, he was funny, all the jokes and points sang and Fred delivered the red meat! The highlight of course was the detailed and graphic story of McCain's military service, from the terror of the USS Forrestal to the greuling agony of tortured years at the Hanoi Hilton. Fred successfully made the point that John's character and dedication are ideal for the leader of the free world. After listening to Fred Thompson, one thought popped into my head: Thompson/Palin '08. Alas that shall not be so. Then they brought out Lieberman.

Joe Lieberman - The Lieberman speech was the event of the night. After all, when is the last time a VP nominee of one party came over to endorse the candidate of the opposite party? Hm. I think you know where I'm going on this. As I was listening, about halfway through, I had one simple thought: Why the fuck did they let him speak!?!?! He managed to cover EVERY SINGLE REASON I DON"T WANT TO VOTE FOR JOHN MCCAIN!!! Campaign finance, immigration, opposition to Bush tax cuts (indirectly), reaching across the aisle to stroke off Democrats. Thanks Joe, for bringing it all back. I figure he probably reached some moderate voters, and the true believer GOP voters are just hoping for a low-cut outfit on the VP nominee tomorrow night, but it was about the last thing I ever wanted to hear at the Republican convention.

Oh well, at least tomorrow is Sarh Palin's big night. But before I go, it's time for Asshat Watch:

More arrests, more tear gas, more people who convince me by their existence that abortion should be legal to weed out these subcreatures. Today, they were whining about poverty, led by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Why do I suspect that their solutions would be to punish the people who have money so that everybody is poor? Of course, the RNC Welcoming Committee, that bunch of anarchist pieces of nutclogs had to make their presence known. I'm just waiting for the police to stop using the less-lethal weapons on these sad excuses for terrorists.

Okay, enough ripping the supreme moronicos. Time for bed and preparations for the best night of the convention.

10 comments:

Beth said...

I noticed, too, that when Lieberman brought up some of those topics (immigration etc) that the applause was less than ethusiastic.

If Reagan was a maverick, he was definitely a different kind of maverick than McCain is, Reagan was a maverick for conservatism while McCain is a maverick for pandering.

And yes, I too lamented during Thompason's speech, why oh why didn't you stay in the race Fred????

Toad734 said...

1st of all, I am convinced Thompson was drunk. Slurring all this words and shit. And so you were on a boat that caught on Fire and you spent time in a POW camp. There are thousands of other people who have gone through the same thing and it didn't make any of them qualified to be President.

I loved the Lieberman reminded everyone how great the economy was and how the budget was balanced when the Democrats were in the Whitehouse. Although he is a sell out it was nice to see that he can still keep it real and speak some truth.

I think the anti poverty people would just prefer their jobs not be outsourced over seas so big corporations can give their CEOs a pay raise and another house. That or they want Republicans to stop coming up with lopsided trade agreements which only benefit rich people and creates not only a huge trade deficit but a budget deficit which makes the dollar loose value which raises the price of oil which has the greatest impact on poor people who have just lost their jobs because someone's CEO decided to give loans to homeless people. I doubt they really want to make everyone poor.

And yes, that shit was boooooring.

Dave Miller said...

The Lieberman speech was indeed interesting. You forgot to mention the Supreme Court deal.

I had the feeling that folks in the hall were just wishing he would go away as he kept bringing up bi partisanship.

It is still a hard marriage between the extreme right of the GOP and the people who in the past have mocked him and called him a traitor for dealing with the Dems.

One of Palin's strongest points has been her apparent willingness to go toe to toe against the GOP establishment, a la McCain.

Why does the far right want another person like that on the ticket? If she really is a soul mate of McCain [his words, not mine] on this, won't she just piss them off too like he has done?

Just a thought.

Patrick M said...

I'll assume Shaw just posted on the wrong post this time:

Shaw Hussein Kenawe has left a new comment on your post "Day 1 - Procedure and Weather":

I'm sure Gov. Palin will give a good speech. But remember how the Right mocked Obama on his speaking charm? I do. They acknowledge he can give a rip-roaring speech and stir up the Democrats, but they say there's more to governing than giving a speech. So, even if Gov. Palin does a heckuva good job in speaking and delivers a sparkler, well...there's more to being governing than giving a good speech.

It is amazing that almost every criticizm and smear that has been tossed Obama's way is now coming back to bite Gov. Palin on her mooseburger.

One more thing. Joe LIEberman lied last night. Outright lied when he said Obama doesn't "reach across the aisle." Sen. Obama has passed legislation in cooperation with at least THREE Republican senators--Richard Lugar, Tom Coburn AND John McCain. That is a fact. He is actually very close to Sen. Tom Coburn of OK.

LIEberman outright friggin' lied! He's your hero, not ours. Remember how you felt when Clinton lied? Go look up Sen. Obama's record and read the names of the Republicans he's worked with.

And Grampa Thompson is a liar too when he claimed Obama advocates infanticide. A huge, disgusting, desperation LIE.

Can't the Republicans stick to the merits of their arguments without lying?

Apparently not.

The Obama campaign will not let those two huge LIES go without a fight.

There'll be payback for both of those men's calumny.

Now on to Gov. Palin's big night!

PS. Morning Joe (Scarborough) covered LIEberman's speech this am and he and his staff also pointed out the lie in LIEberman's speech by citing Obama's legislative work with Republicans in the Senate.

Patrick M said...

Beth: Fred didn't stay in the race because he had the enthusiasm of a cadaver during the primaries. He was so unmotivated that Alan Keyes could have come close to beating him. No, wait, he couldn't.

Toad: Did you listen to the sentences that came right after the POW story?

You said: There are thousands of other people who have gone through the same thing and it didn't make any of them qualified to be President.

Fred said: Now, being a POW doesn’t qualify anyone to be president, but it does reveal character.

Wow, you agree with Fred Thompson, sort of. You just don't listen.

As for Joe, hei IS still a Democrat in his heart. 'Nuff said.

I think the anti poverty people would just prefer their jobs not be outsourced over seas so big corporations can [blah, blah, blah]...

Went to the site for the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Here's their mission:

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. We work to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights- such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job. [emphasis added]

The "rights" that they list require government to redistribute wealth. redistribution of wealth is, in essence a socialist agenda. And socialism makes everybody poor by encouraging companies to move overseas and seeking trade agreements that limit the damage that socialsim causes to business.

And yes, that shit was boooooring.

Maybe you should sleep more.

Dave: I keep hearing the stories that McCain wanted Lieberman, but picked Palin to satisfy his base. After hearing Lieberman's speech for McCain, imagine how fast Obama would be elected if it was McCain-Lieberman.

If she really is a soul mate of McCain [his words, not mine] on this, won't she just piss them off too like he has done?

That's exactly why I'm not on board the Straight Talk Express yet.

Shaw:

As for Lieberman, I still think he has a place with the Democrats.

And Grampa Thompson is a liar too when he claimed Obama advocates infanticide. A huge, disgusting, desperation LIE.

Except that Freddo didn't say that:

And, my friends, we need a president who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.

To clarify, Obama said that the point at which life began was above his pay grade. And I believe the infanticide charge was because Obama voted against a bill that required taking care of a baby that survived an abortion.

Could it be that you tend to hear things that people aren't saying, but react to the conclusions they draw about your messiah?

Dave Miller said...

Patrick, if Lieberman was his first choice, one would have to assume that in his heart, he felt this was best for America.

Given that he changed his mind, and followed the party elders recommendation that he not choose Lieberman, I think it is safe to say that his mantra of "Country before Party" has been debunked.

It should not matter whether he felt he had the support of his party, if in fact he felt it was best for America.

All of this says that in fact, McCain made the type of political calculation necessary to compete and possibly win an election to be president, but in a way that he has personally disdained for years.

Doesn't that speak to character?

Anonymous said...

The dispicable Democrats wan't even give Sarah palin a chance...

I see there's an image of that despicable US Weekly cover, showing a glowing mom and her adorable baby with the blaring headline "babies, lies, scandal"

She certainly has what it takes… the interest, self confidence and she is aggressive, she’s clear about her positions her beliefs.

Anonymous said...

Beh. I thought I posted my comment in the correct thread. Actually I've been a bit out of it--had 8 hours of sleep in the last two days.

I'll wait for tomorrow to post my searing, incisive insight into Gov. Palin's speech. Please don't hold your breath, though.

Patrick M said...

Patrick, if Lieberman was his first choice, one would have to assume that in his heart, he felt this was best for America.

First of all, if this is true (listened to half hour straight on this on MSNBC, so the source is iffy) then it only confirms all the things that make me want to not vote for McCain.

But as for the political calculations, I know of no politician who is successful who doesn't look at polls and attitudes when looking to an election, nor do I have any expectations when the election is on the line.

I surspect he had Lieberman on the short list, but knew there was the problem with his base. So he did what any politician does: He looked for someone who could complement him. Obama went through the same process, and ended up with Biden, who appears to be a good liberal pick for the most part, and someone who might be able to settle the base's concern of Obama's limited experience.

The fact is that McCain is getting so much bounce in the party that the few disappointed people are irrelevant politically. And sometimes, to get the important things done, you have to make compromises to win. That, unfortunately, is the nature of politics.

Shaw: Fine excuse. I think we've all been lacking in sleep. I had to fix this post because I put it up without finishing a sentence. But that was around 1:30 am.

And I can't wait to see if you can be objective in any way about the speech, assuming that you'll disagree with most of the ideas.

Patrick M said...

Laura: Welcome to the madness. Strangely, I think you might be unintentionally referring to Shaw. We'll see how that pans out tomorrow, after Gov Palin blows the roof of the convention.