RNC

Last week we talked about the Democratic National Convention in Denver. So, to be fair, let’s talk about the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul this week. Honestly, this is actually the first time that I’ve really paid attention to anything that the republicans have had to say since the Bush dynasty started to fuck up the world. However, probably due to my morbid sense of curiosity, I sat down and listened to the RNC speakers this time around.

The entire mood of this convention was different from the convention last week. The DNC seemed to be filled with hope and actual suggestions about how the candidates might affect change in the nation. The RNC seemed (to me, at least) to be condescending and a complete affirmation that the party isn’t going to move us in a direction that changes anything at all. There were two main recurring themes throughout every speech that was made. Oil and fear. The speakers were often laughing, joking, and pointing to the back-slappers in the crowd. They constantly pressed the domestic oil drilling button, to which the crowd eagerly chanted, “Drill, Baby, drill!” That’s not very thinly veiled is it? Geeze, I wonder if they are really looking out for the middle class and the poor like they say they are? They repeatedly mentioned that we are in danger from our oil dependence on nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela…but there was no mention about Canada…I wonder why? Oh, yeah, the Canadians aren’t brown people, so we can’t bomb them without feeling bad about ourselves. Terrorism was repeatedly brought up as the #1 threat to our way of life. It’s an obvious scare tactic that the republicans used to win the last election. All it really does is prop up a false and faceless boogeyman that has his hand in the pocket of the American economy. It propagates a war machine and makes the fat cats fatter. Like James Madison said 200 years ago, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” Oddly enough, there was no mention about the economy at all in any of the speeches. There were more than a billion references (slight exaggeration) that bashed and mocked the dems, most of which were false and half truths, but no real mention about the economy or what can be done to fix it. It was almost like it’s a dirty little secret that they expect us to forget. Well at least the war on the middle class is going well.

The highlight of the convention was that we, as a nation, were introduced to the new republican V.P. candidate. The first female candidate in history, Sarah Palin, turn’s out to be quite a spitfire. Take a look at her pic (it's probably a fake, but who cares, really). The first ever Veep Milf? A song comes to mind. What is it? Hmmm, oh it’s...AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! In her speech, she laid out a barrage of dismissive attacks on Barack Obama while loading up on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the attacks and the praise stretched the truth. I guess that’s to be expected in a political convention. I’m sure she will do a fine job as V.P. (whatever it is that they actually do). However, the presidential candidate, John McCain, looks...well…he looks bad. It always seems like he just wandered out of the retirement center looking for his slippers. I half-expect him to fall asleep with his mouth open in the middle of a speech. Frankly, I’m not sure he’s going to make it another four years, and I doubt that Palin is ready for the big show after McCain assumes room temperature. Also, there is one thing that bothers me about McCain that people seem to think is taboo to bring up. Everyone acknowledges that he has served this country honorably, and they are quick to tout the fact that he was shot down, tortured, and imprisoned in a POW camp. And? Somehow this qualifies him to be the president of the U.S.? The office of the presidency isn’t a trophy that someone gets for their merit-of-service. Besides, the last time I checked the Vietnam “conflict” wasn’t a popular effort, and, like Iraq, one that certainly doesn’t go in our “win” column. The fact that he voted with GW 90% of the time as a senator is grounds for telling him, “You voted with who?!? How often?!? Thanks, but no thanks, Bud.” He should be kicking back at the Cabo Wabo Retirement Center with his wife, sipping Mai Tais, celebrating a long life of service, playing with his grandkids, helping to build war memorials and giving occasional speeches at college campuses. The republicans shouldn’t be propping him up in front of the world in order to continue more of the same BS that’s gotten us where we are today. I don’t know; it just seems disrespectful. Am I the only one that sees it this way?

So, overall I was not impressed with the convention. Sure, the candidates accepted their party’s nominations, but no real ideas about how they are going to change anything were offered. The entire theme of the convention was “Country First” which to me means that they want us to sacrifice everything for this abstract idea of the American dream without actually giving us (middle class and poor) anything tangible like jobs, healthcare, retirement, equal pay, etc. I could be wrong, but it just seems like McMore of the McSame.