Politics again...
Jul. 30th, 2004 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capri0mni [disclaimer: I was going to vote for Kerry before the convention. I was even planning on voting for him before the primary season started -- his was the first political pop-up ad I saw on AOL, and the fact that it was appealing to the environmentalist vote won me over, as the fact that Gore rolled over to Conservative criticism on his environmental record frustrated me no end]
I must admit: after watching the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, I had some trepidation about how Kerry would come across last night.
However good the speeches that others made on his behalf, they all hit the exact same talking points, with almost the exact same wording. I knew it was getting bad when I could mouth the words along with the speaker when he or she got to the line about the swift boat in the Mekong Delta.
If a convention as a whole is a reflection of the candidate, I had fears that Kerry really would be this over-cautious, afraid-to-fight-back wooden puppet who doesn't have the passion to inspire passion in the voters, and that Limbaugh and O'Reilly and their ilk would still have all the power in shaping the nature of the debate.
And then his daughters came out to introduce him. Here were all the warm fuzzies the pundits had complainied was missing from Teresa's speech on Tuesday. And they sounded so much better coming from his daughters than they would have coming from his second wife. The writer-ly part of me loved the choice of stories that Vanessa picked for childhood memories...The story of how he saved the hamster from drowning was a wonderfully lighthearted paralell to his rescue of a fellow soldier in Vietnam. He just has a thing for saving people from the water -- whether they are little, furry, four-legged people, or big, burly, two-legged people. ;-)
And then came himself, and his speech in his own voice. I agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tomfodw that the failure to mention Osama bin Laden (the guy who really did attack us) was a major miscalculation and missed oportunity. And the more he made promises about his healthcare plan, the more I thought: that's fantastic, and the idea is right, but there is no way that one president can make that come to pass, and keep those promises -- not even one who's elected to two terms. I worry that making too big a promise that can't be kept will make the backlash even worse.
But there were two lines in particular that warmed the cockles of my wee little heart, and made me go squee! -- one toward the beginning of his speech, and one near the very end:
Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities -- and I do -- because some issues just aren't all that simple.
Finally! Someone in the public arena who admits that being smart and thoughtful is actually a good thing. You know how long I've waited to hear this?!
and this line:
What if we have a president who believes in science . . .
I've yet to hear pundits and commentators say anything about this line, but ... is it just me, or is this a dig at the Evangelical Right? Taken with his earlier line about not not wearing his faith on his sleeve, I think it just might be.
If so, how cool is that? To say to Pat Robertson and friends: "I am neither seeking nor want your support." If he gets in the White House, maybe he'll start mending that wall between Church and State. It's taken quite a beating in the last 25 years,,,
I know the Bushites will attack as relentlessly as a swarm of hornets. But if we fight back, we just might make it there.
I must admit: after watching the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, I had some trepidation about how Kerry would come across last night.
However good the speeches that others made on his behalf, they all hit the exact same talking points, with almost the exact same wording. I knew it was getting bad when I could mouth the words along with the speaker when he or she got to the line about the swift boat in the Mekong Delta.
If a convention as a whole is a reflection of the candidate, I had fears that Kerry really would be this over-cautious, afraid-to-fight-back wooden puppet who doesn't have the passion to inspire passion in the voters, and that Limbaugh and O'Reilly and their ilk would still have all the power in shaping the nature of the debate.
And then his daughters came out to introduce him. Here were all the warm fuzzies the pundits had complainied was missing from Teresa's speech on Tuesday. And they sounded so much better coming from his daughters than they would have coming from his second wife. The writer-ly part of me loved the choice of stories that Vanessa picked for childhood memories...The story of how he saved the hamster from drowning was a wonderfully lighthearted paralell to his rescue of a fellow soldier in Vietnam. He just has a thing for saving people from the water -- whether they are little, furry, four-legged people, or big, burly, two-legged people. ;-)
And then came himself, and his speech in his own voice. I agree with
tomfodw that the failure to mention Osama bin Laden (the guy who really did attack us) was a major miscalculation and missed oportunity. And the more he made promises about his healthcare plan, the more I thought: that's fantastic, and the idea is right, but there is no way that one president can make that come to pass, and keep those promises -- not even one who's elected to two terms. I worry that making too big a promise that can't be kept will make the backlash even worse.But there were two lines in particular that warmed the cockles of my wee little heart, and made me go squee! -- one toward the beginning of his speech, and one near the very end:
Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities -- and I do -- because some issues just aren't all that simple.
Finally! Someone in the public arena who admits that being smart and thoughtful is actually a good thing. You know how long I've waited to hear this?!
and this line:
What if we have a president who believes in science . . .
I've yet to hear pundits and commentators say anything about this line, but ... is it just me, or is this a dig at the Evangelical Right? Taken with his earlier line about not not wearing his faith on his sleeve, I think it just might be.
If so, how cool is that? To say to Pat Robertson and friends: "I am neither seeking nor want your support." If he gets in the White House, maybe he'll start mending that wall between Church and State. It's taken quite a beating in the last 25 years,,,
I know the Bushites will attack as relentlessly as a swarm of hornets. But if we fight back, we just might make it there.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-30 03:21 pm (UTC)(I've mostly followed this whole thing by what people have written on line. I'm English and though I think we've had some coverage, but I haven't been tuning in. So thanks for your part in the broadening of my political knowledge:)
You're welcome!
Date: 2004-07-30 03:38 pm (UTC)