Every week on Monday morning , the Council and invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week's question:What were your impressions of the two National conventions, and what impact do you think they'll have, if any, on the election?
Bookworm Room: The two conventions showed genuinely different visions of the United States. The Republican convention, which was a bit too bland and idea-free, nevertheless showed an America bound by a few overarching ideas: individual freedom, small government, and fiscal sanity. All people, regardless of race, creed, country of origin, sex, etc., can participate in this democracy, which focuses on individual achievement, rather than government diktat.
The Democrat convention, which swung wildly between boring and insane, showed a fragmented America, distinguished by myriad special interest groups -- and, quite often, as the "God" and "Israel" votes showed, these interest groups have significant conflicts. To the extent that the Democrats have shared beliefs those beliefs are (a) government is the answer and (b) abortion is the other answer.
Even though both conventions presented starkly different visions of America's future, I doubt either will have much impact on the election. They both satisfied their bases but, otherwise, Americans were more interested in Honey Boo Boo and football. That being the case, we will inevitably get the government we deserve, and it's not going to be pretty.
The Noisy Room: The RNC convention was dignified, energizing and patriotic. The DNC convention was ungodly, pedantic, condescending and freakish. It was like night and day - literally good and evil. I believe, barring interference from the Left, Romney and Ryan will win in a landslide and their convention aided them in that quest. The DNC convention by comparison was 'panic at the disco' as Tammy Bruce puts it and put on display just how radical the Democratic Party has become. The lines have been drawn - it is patriots and the religious majority against the atheists and the Islamic extremists of the DNC. Allen West says it best:
"If America reelects Barack Obama to a second term, we deserve all the pain and misery that will ensue."
America is not falling for Barack Hussein Obama's 'Hope and Change' any more. We can't wait to boot the Marxists from the White House.
JoshuaPundit: Both conventions had historically low ratings, and in fact appear to have been largely watched by the partisans on each side and people like yours truly who watch these things and analyze them so my readers don't have to.
That said, it was obvious to me that the Democrats, in balance scored more than the Republicans and the two to four point bounce they got, however temporary, shows it.
The GOP convention was patriotic, upbeat and with the exception of Clint Eastwood's brilliant satire and a few moments in Paul Ryan's and Marco Rubio's speeches, restrained.
The Democrat's convention, on the other hand, was one huge attack ad. From the unheard language in the party platform to each and every speech given, all of it was scripted to attack Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan fiercely and directly. It energized their base in a way the Republicans did not, and paved the way for the current 'Obama is winning' broadside from the usual suspects in the dinosaur media, designed to pump up Democrat turnout and enthusiasm while discouraging the same in Republicans.
The GOP convention committed an unforced error, first in failing to attack President Obama's record more directly from the podium and second in not responding to some of the Democrat speeches directly. Bill Clinton's speech, which was reviewed ecstatically by the media and the Democrat's base was a case in point.
Ex-President Clinton, think what you will of him, is an effective speaker who knows how to work an audience. His speech was littered with outright misstatements, exaggerations and half truths, but he got away with it because no one involved in the Romney campaign bothered to forcefully respond publicly and point it out to the American people.
The effect of the conventions will be limited with the election 60 days off, an eternity in politics.
But they were a good wake up call. Governor Romney and his surrogates are going to have to go on the offensive a lot more, or risk defeat.
The Independent Sentinel: Romney-Ryan had the misfortune of preceding the Democrats and I believe the bounce will go to the Democrats even though the featured speakers were liars, one womanizer, and several dingbats.
I better understand the Democratic view of democracy after the vote on G_d and Jerusalem. If you don't get the necessary votes, do it anyway.
The only person I respected at the DNC was Gabby Giffords.I think the clear choice before us was laid out well. We can pick the bigots who want to eliminate G_d and Jerusalem from the lexicon while wallowing in issues like contraception while our economy collapses, or we can pick the freedom-lovers who want to stop the wild spending and prevent unfair taxation.
The Colossus of Rhodey :I didn't watch a lot of either convention as they're so scripted, and hence, lifeless; nevertheless, my impression is that the GOP convention was much more positive. Even though they had a treasure trove of lame performance by Boss Obama to pounce on, they were rather restrained. The Democrats, on the other hand, were more aggressive against the GOP, and their falsehoods were more numerous and obvious. Debbie Wasserman-Dolt has to be the absolute worst head of a national party in the history of mankind.
Liberty's Spirit:The most important points of both conventions happened at the DNC convention when they tried to put God and Jerusalem back into their party platform. The fact that the democrats did not know what a hullaballoo it would cause to remove them shows that they are out of step with how the American people think. The ensuing undemocratic nature of their vote tells you that the Democrats are out of step with the US Constitution and democratic principles as well. They seem to not understand that the will of the people means just that…the will of the people no matter how embarrassing and hateful that will happens to be. We saw the hate of the Democratic Party in that vote. It is very telling.
The truth is both conventions actually outline two distinct versions for the future. The Republican version is built on American exceptionalism; the Democratic vision is built on jealousy, anger, hate and rage. Republicans see a country built as our founding fathers expected on the ingenuity and opportunity provided by this country. Each individual is responsible for themselves and their choices. The government does not control your destiny. You the American citizen controls and creates the government.Every convention speaker outlined his or her own individual success story.Republicans hold that our rights flow from God and nature. They are your birthright, not the aegis of government. You tell the government what to do and how to go about it, not vice versa.
The Democratic vision is built on government power and government control. The Democrats believe in the utter dependency of every person living within the boarders of the US. They see everyone as subservient to the government and slaves to government handouts. Their vision is government control (handouts) at every turn, whether in employment, healthcare, education or unfettered abortion on demand. They view people as ignorant and inadequate to care for themselves. They see liberty depriving conspiracies at every turn(except when it comes to the Muslim Brotherhood). They see financial success as evil. They see individuality as a sin. They believe what you earn belongs to the government, not to you. They believe there are no boundaries and that every choice made deserves equal respect and accommodation. Political correctness and cultural relativism are their Bibles. They freely throw around the Nazis analogy except at those who call for genocide against another 6 million Jews
I do not think the conventions actually changed people’s minds. Sadly they should have. Most people did not watch the conventions. It’s not because people do not care. I think people are tired. Tired of a horrible economy. Tired of politicians. Tired of lies. They do not believe anyone anymore. I think the lackluster rating shows that most people are not going to vote in this election cycle. The enthusiasm gap is huge. Republicans are excited for November and Democrats are not. This has not changed. But according to some polls upwards of 25% of the people could change their minds before November. That is the challenge for Mitt Romney. That is the starting point.
Gay Patriot: Perhaps, the greatest success for the Democrats came from the media coverage. They smartly put their least angry speeches in prime time and the legacy media dutifully ignored all the angry speeches that preceded that prime-time hour.
Polls show Democrats getting a bigger bounce. Time will only tell if this bounce is Obama's high-water mark -- or turns out to be his final tally.
GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD: Nope! The debates will be the deciding factor.
Ask Marion: The two National conventions, the RNC in Tampa and the DNC in Charlotte, back to back bookending Labor Day Weekend, not only highlighted the differences between the two parties but the great divide in our Country… and the deep differences could not have been clearer.
But the greatest contrast was perhaps the tone. Even before the conventions began the experts, Dems and Republicans alike, were warning: “Expect a very negative DNC Convention verses more uplifting and informational themes at the GOP Convention and that is exactly what we got. The RNC was overall hopeful and uplifting, while the DNC was overall dismal and disheartening. In fact, the attacks… the extreme focal issues… and the media bias for and by the Democrat party and their speakers were so overwhelming that even some lefties finally spoke out against it. Jon Stewart ran more than one satirical clip on his show focusing on the hypocrisy of the Democrat National Convention. And one of the most covered examples was the discourse between Anderson Cooper from CNN and the DNC Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, known for her lies and smears, over the issue of the DNC removing God and the support for Israel along with the designation for Jerusalem as their official capital from the DNC platform plus promoting abortion at any stage and for any reason. Cooper declared that Wasserman-Schultz was clearly in an alternative universe. Yet the liberal media overall derided the Republican platform as extreme for standing up for Life, the Constitution and against the using of International, especially Sharia, Law in our courts.
When you cannot ‘honestly’ get a 2/3 vote to reinsert the word God, into the Democrat Platform or to re-designate Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East (said to have been removed in this year’s platform in order for the party to align themselves with the President’s beliefs) as well as two other important provisions about Israel that have not been reinstated, and your delegates are seen on film booing God, you know you are looking at a party that has left the founding principles of our nation in the dust bin.
And one had to laugh at the unnoticed spoof by the Media Research Center who handed out ‘Journalists for Obama’ t-shirts that were gobbled up by media and visitors to their booth at the DNC convention. And we wonder why they don’t get things?
The RNC focused on a combination of look back to where we came from, highlighting the best and the brightest from within their tent and giving people a little closer look at their candidate and the party’s vision. They did what they needed to do. They gave America a more intimate look at Mitt Romney the man and showed that they are an inclusive party of ideas. They had black, white, Latino and speakers of all stripes within their party of true substance who really represented them, mostly GOP office holders, and they definitely gave women in the party an equal speaking role on true issues before our country. Unfortunately many of the networks, other than Fox, cut away whenever a minority face was shown in the crowd and cut their coverage in such a way as to only show Ann Romney, Condi Rice, and Marco Rubio as speakers that were not ‘white men’. One honest reporter even noted that one of the stations cut away for a 2-minute commercial break during Rubio’s speech and admitted that would never happen during the Democrat Convention coverage.
Even the difference in number and quality of the Latino speaker at the two conventions showed the RNC as a leader on that front, yet Geraldo Rivera (on FOX) tried to create a faux issue of the RNC being the party of white people and the DNC being the party of color. Shame on him!
The DNC was a cross between a love-in and a party for the faithful laced with smears, untruths and lies as their drug of choice, that left the Kool-Aid drinkers and media gushing but everyone else flat or angry. Their favorite convention favor was the t-shirt that was supposed to be a joke. And they highlighted Jimmy Carter, the worst president in US history until Obama, Ted Kennedy whose career was marred by the death (murder) of Mary Jo Koepeckne and Ted’s own judgment (at best), impeached womanizing President Bill Clinton who essentially dislikes Obama, and VP Joe Biden who kept saying fact-check me and when they did, he got all Pinocchios. I kept waiting for them to parade out John Edwards, but swift-boated Jon Kerry, who is the richest man ever to run for president (since George Washington) and only paid 12% in taxes and little to charity was disappointing enough.
I don’t feel that either of the conventions will have a lasting affect and therefore will have little impact on the election itself other than perhaps some of the positives of the RNC speakers and some of the negative feelings from the DNC might make some independents do some research on their own into who Mitt Romney really is and what the Democrat party really has become. We can at least hope. But in the end, I believe that the debates and each side turning out their base will be what makes the difference; there are so few undecideds, plus the ability of the GOP and independent sources to monitor and demand that the voting process and vote counting is honest… no matter how many re-counts, new elections or judicial reviews it takes to get it right before calling (or conceding) an election or seating a candidate. That is perhaps the biggest challenge for Election 2012; that and the awareness of the average voter.
Well, there you have it.
Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.
It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.
And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y'know?
No comments:
Post a Comment