Bit o' Nifty

Conventional Wisdom

Setting the convention in NYC might not be the best thing for either party. What with peaceful protests in the streets on Sunday, a NYC cop getting a concussion on Monday, police clashing with thousands and arresting hundreds of protesters on Tuesday and, on at least two occasions, wrapping unruly groups of them up in orange plastic mesh, the hostilities outside of Madison Square Garden threaten to escalate. I hope not, but the pattern seems to indicate it.

Barbara "Barbs" Bush and Jenna Bush have been trotted out to make their parents look in touch, saying that (and I shit you not this is a quote), "[t]hey do know the difference between mono and Bono." I'm not sure it's such a good idea to bring these two Secret Service dodging, beer-bonging, trashy lushes up on stage. I'm certain that many in the audience at the Republican National Convention find these Hilton sister wannabes cute and charming; I'm guessing that many in the party leadership want to stuff them back into whatever black SUV they came staggering out of; I'm positive that Larry Flynt and every college-age, hormone-driven kid just wants to see them naked. Kerry's daughters were smart, well-spoken, and, well...adults. Does the GOP really want the electorate to draw comparisons? Or perhaps, as in the previous election, the Bush machine is counting on the electorate to remember only those images put forward by the campaign. Frankly, this picture of Barbs and Jenna surrounded by the warm and familial glow of "Uncle Dick" Cheney's visage is going to stick with me. Creepy.

It's going to be a long Wednesday and Thursday--two more days of boredom punctuated by moments of tacky smear-jobs and stilted prose, leading up to the wooing of the American electorate on Thursday night. I hope the electorate knows just where they're going to get it if they jump into bed with this crowd again. And I hope we know how to respond.