Real Kato Blog: The Republican Convention, Day 1

I'm actually curious what these guys have to say. It's admittedly tough to listen to the message, though, without coming up with counter-arguments all along the way.

Just some rambling notes here.

Convention themes

"Strong leadership" is an oft-repeated message about Bush. Kerry is admittedly vulnerable here, and he certainly isn't helping himself (Edwards sometimes seems like he's doing damage control). Kerry needs to press his message that strong doesn't mean stupid, and strong doesn't mean stubborn. Or to put it more diplomatically, he could say, "There is strength having the wisdom to rethink our decisions in light of new information, and strength in using diplomacy to make new alliances instead of new enemies."

John Kerry is being called indecisive a lot. Maybe this would be a good time to trot out the "Fahrenheit 9/11" footage, where Bush sits there doing nothing (or, pardon me, "contemplating") for the crucial minutes following news of the 9/11 attack. There's decisive leadership for you.

There still seems to be lots of confusion between the Iraq war and the so-called war on terror. Still. Speakers are saying "we had to fight this war" and "we didn't ask for this war". Um, just which war are you referring to?

Or wait: are the Republicans now trying to portray the Iraq war as a humanitarian war? Is that the reason you gave us before we went to war? What about all that "WMDs" and "imminent threat" stuff? If we're justified in going to war to fight humanitarian causes, why wouldn't we invade Cuba, the Sudan, and North Korea?

The whole evening seems to be about troops and veterans, and the implication that Democrats do not support the troops (boooooo) because they don't support the war. I guess Republicans, as usual, have the lock on patriotism. Wow, look at all the pictures of fighter planes and helicopters and boats. Toys for boys. It's hard to believe that intelligent people fall for this wrap-oneself-in-the-flag nonsense. Oh wait: maybe intelligent people don't fall for it. And why do troops and veterans support Bush? He avoided combat, he's cutting veterans' benefits, and he's demanding more of our troops than they signed up for.

There's lots of talk about the importance of freedom. Say, does that include stuff like the Bill of Rights, maybe? Because it's one thing to talk about freedom, and another to use the Patriot Act to stomp on our liberties.

The Speakers

Bernard Kerik: talking about Bush's aircraft carrier publicity stunt as if it were a good thing; talking about increasing law enforcement spending (which was a Clinton initiative, as you might recall.)

Robert Khuzami: tries to defend the Patriot Act; even Republicans seemed uncomfortable with that.

Zainab Al-Suwaij is trotted out to condemn Saddam Hussein. Clever. Yeah, Iraq will proably be better off, eventually. Too bad that wasn't what the war was really about.

Jason Sehorn and Angie Harmon... ah, yes, let's start the Republican B-list celebrity parade. Oh man, they stink; they sound like they're presenting an Oscar. Wait, what's with the heroic troop stories? They sound like they're talking about Kerry in Cambodia.

Lindsey Graham: twisting Edwards' "two Americas" theme around. Says there will be no class warfare at this convention. The Democrats should respond, "we didn't ask for this war". Hah. Boy, he's doing a lot of John McCain ass-kissing... the far right won't like that.

John McCain: the featured event. Yes, we all like him. Why doesn't he run for president? He could run for both parties. McCain-Obama in 2004? He's talking about unity, open dialogue between parties, freedom. Geez, this could be a speech for the Democratic convention. He said the word "love" three times. Wow, he's actually the original premise for the Iraq war (the imminent threat thing). But still a good speech, all in all.

Rudy Giuliani: Is he drunk? He's slurring his words and rambling all over the place. Mostly he spouted the party sound bites: Kerry's a waffler, Bush is a great leader, blah blah blah. Says leadership is more important than ideology; wow. That sounds like something Stalin might say. He mentions the Sudan and gets applause, though no one thinks to ask why we haven't invaded there yet. Rudy says he's confident we'll win the war on terror. Um, Bush wasn't so sure in his last TV interview.

Miscellaneous Notes

What the hell is up with the purple-heart band-aids? Boy, way to "support our troops".

Jenna Bush is looking pretty slutty. Hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Funny that they don't mind her, but the religious right won't let Britney perform at the convention. I guess sluttiness is overlooked in the First Family.

Wow, Republicans are even more rhythmically challenged than Democrats! I never would have guessed, after seeing the Democratic convention.

I think we could make a drinking game of how many times 9/11 is mentioned. Sheesh, now they're trotting out 9/11 widows; this is super-cheap. But the Democratic convention had cheap gimmicks too. Odd; none of the widows has said anything good about Bush.

The floor interviews are exceedingly boring. The interviewers are overly perky shouters; perhaps they were cheerleaders. Or perhaps they are cheerleaders.

Everyone seems to pronounce Iraq as "eye-rack".

Darryl Worley: oh yes, let's please associate crappy country music with the Republican party. That'll help expand the demographic.

Hey, there's Triumph, the insult comic dog. They seem to be kicking him out. Darn.

Michael Moore is there, because he's writing an article for USA Today! Ha! He's getting booed loudly during McCain's speech. And he loves it!

The Score

The Democrats' Day 1 was clearly better. McCain gave a good speech, but Rudy was lousy; by contrast, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were just outstanding.

Coming up: Laura Bush versus Teresa Heinz Kerry. Arnold Schwarzenegger would be ridiculously outclassed by Barack Obama, so I'll compare Ahnult's speech to Ted Kennedy's instead. I'll save Obama for Zell "Turncoat" Miller. (Why on earth do Georgia Democrats keep him around?)

Then, of course, we'll have Cheney versus Edwards, and Bush versus Kerry.

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