Three Men and a Baby

George W. Bush, Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman all spoke last night at the Republican National Convention. First, I want to mention the stage. I love it. The stage is only about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and 3 sides of it are in the crowd. The speaker is part of the crowd; a very interesting arrangement for an event such as this. The back of the stage is an incredible 51 feet by 30 feet high-def LED screen. I wonder if knowing they could never compare to the Invesco Field stage from last week’s convention, the campaign decided to go for an entirely different affect. The affect here is sparsely practical and modern (the good kind of modern). I watched the screen used effectively as relevant photos faded in and out during Thompson’s speech, and a Minnesota senator gave his speech in front of a panoramic view of St. Paul.

Bush gave a very short speech via video that hit exactly the notes needed to satisfy the party faithful in attendance but created no opportunities to tie McCain to Bush (apparently one awkward hug per year is enough). Bush was on video, but the perfect delivery made me suspect it was not a live feed. After watching that short speech on video, if I were McCain’s people, I would scrap the idea I’ve heard that McCain will give his speech via satellite. Bush felt dramatically removed from the room and the thousands of people. Because of delays, you cannot interact with the crowd in any way without appearing very awkward (see the Obama family moment from last Monday). Without interaction and standing in a silent room, the speaker is totally removed from the crowd. Nearly the exact opposite affect the stage creates for live speakers. In many situations I could see that not an issue, but this is one of those times McCain would want us to see him being embraced and cheered by thousands. He’s not exactly a charismatic guy; he doesn’t need to create a situation to make him seem even more removed. Of course, after the love fest I expect for Sarah Palin tonight, maybe he doesn’t want the comparison. But I’m way off the evening’s speeches now… Bush was warmly received, which was fine but did create for some bizarre moments later when the crowd cheered with equal passion for how screwed up things are “in Washington.”

Fred Thompson gave McCain’s life story from the Naval Academy through his POW time in Vietnam. McCain’s years as a prisoner of war is an incredible story, no doubt about it. It’s interesting to me how we can all so easily disconnect an individual from the atrocity of war. We can feel awe and respect for McCain’s behavior after being shot down, without ever considering the women and children on the ground being terrorized and killed just moments earlier. Fred’s telling of the story was good, but he was glued to the teleprompter! As an actor, I really expected him to be engaged more with the camera and crowd. Fred then moved into McCain’s political career with basic generalized statements designed to highlight McCain as a “true” reformer instead of just “a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad.” (I’m wondering, does this mean McCain will not be using a teleprompter on Thursday? I’m confused…) This typified Fred’s attacks on Obama, which were all pretty generic and seemed ineffective. Fred did give a very practical line or two about how taxes affect us all, ending with a good line: “They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the ‘other’ side of the bucket! That's their idea of tax reform.”

I give credit to the convention organizers for scheduling Joe Lieberman. Joe started his speech calling for national unity, not partisan politics, on issues like gas prices, health insurance and threats from enemies abroad. I like the appeal and the unifying message of having a well-known Democrat say it at the Republican convention, but I was disappointed that Joe gave zero examples of anything specific about these issues. What is it that partisan politics has prevented McCain from doing about gas prices, health insurance and enemy threats? Off-shore drilling is the only semi-specific issue related to these topics that McCain is “for” that the Democratic congressional leaders have opposed. Anyway, I thought Joe’s presence alone spoke highly of McCain’s willingness to at least not criminalize anything Democratic. Lieberman slipped from this track, though, when he attacked Barack with a generic argument summarized by him as “eloquence is no substitute for a record.” I’m not sure when in America it became a point of contempt to be smart and communicate well, or when intelligence and the ability to motivate no longer became foundational qualities of a president.

In final comment, I did chuckle several times as the convention crowd created moments of dissonance. Having cheered President Bush and McCain’s long record in Washington, they equally cheered McCain’s apparent ability to “drain that swamp” and to end the
“self-serving ways of Washington.” Joe met with tepid applause when he touted McCain’s work on immigration and global warming. The funniest (most ironic) moment of the night came when Fred Thompson and the crowd cheered President Clinton’s ability to work with the Republican Congress to reform welfare and balance the budget! Especially that budget one, THAT was funny!

Oh yeah, the baby. Watching delegates and party spokespeople being interviewed about Sarah Palin’s expecting daughter, and hearing them offer such defense and gracious comments, I couldn’t help but remember Dan Quayle and these same people’s outrage at fake person Murphy Brown pretending to have a baby as a single woman…

P.S. I cannot WAIT until tonight's speech when we get to see Sarah Palin's speech, which apparently includes skinning a moose, drinking the blood and grinding some moose burger all while she breastfeeds Trig, teaches Bristol some Lamaze and rips Joe Biden a new one!