Many missing elements from the GOP last night, including current Republican politicians
Submitted by Chad on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 10:07am.
Be-Elected
I watched an Oscar-winning performance last night. No, not Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" but Fred Thompson as Fred Thompson in "Rally around the Old Guy."
This wasn't a Thompson we saw during his hiccup of a presidential campaign. As I was watching his speech last night, I figured out why that was. Yes, we all made jokes about his need for naps, but there was something different.
When Thompson was running for president, he was Fred Thompson, politician. Last night, he was Fred Thompson, actor. Despite his extensive catalog of movies and TV, Thompson tends to play similar characters: conservative, Southern, stodgy. It could be said that is because Thompson has limited range, but no no, Thompson is so convincing as a right-wing prick that he gets typecast.
And last night, the GOP needed Thompson, the actor, to step up.
After all, the Republicans need to sell the John McCain that may have existed back in 2000 and pretend this is the same McCain in 2008. This requires great acting chops. Thompson gave the best speech of the night, and it still wasn't that great. The speech was the highlight of the night, and that wasn't saying much.
George W. Bush spoke for about 8 minutes via satellite and not in prime time TV. Just enough to whet the appetites of the white (mostly) people gathered, but not too much so it would be severely mocked.
The setup was also a sharp contrast to the gatherings in Denver. It looked like on TV that Cindy McCain was being crowned queen and her in-laws, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, were there on hand to support her.
So what was missing from the pageantry last night? Rudy Giuliani. The GOP had a crazy thought to give the keynote address to a pro-choice, anti-gun guy. Then Gustav washed that away, but you had to imagine a collective sigh of relief from the few in the party who happen to be anti-choice and pro-gun.
And the other thing missing were actual politicians: the number of current Republican politicians that I saw last night were Bush and Norm Coleman. And Bush wasn't even in St. Paul. You had the feeling that Coleman had to be there, being the former mayor of St. Paul, and representing the state where the convention is. But Coleman is in a grand fight with Al Franken for his Senate seat, and likely didn't want to be anywhere near the convention.
And let's not leave out Joe Lieberman, an "Independent Democrat" who spoke last night. Republicans wanted another Zell Miller speech. If Lieberman were classy, it would have been a Jim Leach speech from last week. Nobody was happy.
Lieberman spoke as a partisan without the actual label. It wasn't so much that he was in St. Paul. He could have felt really at home, since there are a few pro-choice Republicans left in the party. Jim Leach felt uncomfortable but looked great. Lieberman looked way too comfortable last night, and that was the biggest problem of all.
But he did offer up one key point last night when he made this request:
Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel 2008 race John McCain Fred Thompson Joe Lieberman RNC St. Paul
This wasn't a Thompson we saw during his hiccup of a presidential campaign. As I was watching his speech last night, I figured out why that was. Yes, we all made jokes about his need for naps, but there was something different.
When Thompson was running for president, he was Fred Thompson, politician. Last night, he was Fred Thompson, actor. Despite his extensive catalog of movies and TV, Thompson tends to play similar characters: conservative, Southern, stodgy. It could be said that is because Thompson has limited range, but no no, Thompson is so convincing as a right-wing prick that he gets typecast.
And last night, the GOP needed Thompson, the actor, to step up.
After all, the Republicans need to sell the John McCain that may have existed back in 2000 and pretend this is the same McCain in 2008. This requires great acting chops. Thompson gave the best speech of the night, and it still wasn't that great. The speech was the highlight of the night, and that wasn't saying much.
George W. Bush spoke for about 8 minutes via satellite and not in prime time TV. Just enough to whet the appetites of the white (mostly) people gathered, but not too much so it would be severely mocked.
The setup was also a sharp contrast to the gatherings in Denver. It looked like on TV that Cindy McCain was being crowned queen and her in-laws, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, were there on hand to support her.
So what was missing from the pageantry last night? Rudy Giuliani. The GOP had a crazy thought to give the keynote address to a pro-choice, anti-gun guy. Then Gustav washed that away, but you had to imagine a collective sigh of relief from the few in the party who happen to be anti-choice and pro-gun.
And the other thing missing were actual politicians: the number of current Republican politicians that I saw last night were Bush and Norm Coleman. And Bush wasn't even in St. Paul. You had the feeling that Coleman had to be there, being the former mayor of St. Paul, and representing the state where the convention is. But Coleman is in a grand fight with Al Franken for his Senate seat, and likely didn't want to be anywhere near the convention.
And let's not leave out Joe Lieberman, an "Independent Democrat" who spoke last night. Republicans wanted another Zell Miller speech. If Lieberman were classy, it would have been a Jim Leach speech from last week. Nobody was happy.
Lieberman spoke as a partisan without the actual label. It wasn't so much that he was in St. Paul. He could have felt really at home, since there are a few pro-choice Republicans left in the party. Jim Leach felt uncomfortable but looked great. Lieberman looked way too comfortable last night, and that was the biggest problem of all.
But he did offer up one key point last night when he made this request:
"So, tonight, I want to ask you, whether you are an independent, a Reagan Democrat, a Clinton Democrat, or just a plain-old Democrat, this year, when you vote for president, vote for the person you believe is best for our country, not for the party you happen to belong to."What Lieberman doesn't realize is two things. First, he doesn't know what Democrats think since he hasn't been one for a long time. And second, more Republicans will vote for Barack Obama than Democrats for John McCain. So when Lieberman says "vote for the person you believe is best for our country, not for the party you happen to belong to," for a lot of people, that isn't the person he was promoting Tuesday night.
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technorati Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel 2008 race John McCain Fred Thompson Joe Lieberman RNC St. Paul
