RHC: Day Four: "Yes, It's True That I Kick Ass!"
The moment we have all been waiting for. Bush II gives his pitch for re-election to a large viewing audience, except for South Florida, where apparently only one news station broadcast the speech. The rest were busy covering Hurrican Frances (batten down the hatches Savannah J and KP!)
Last night I prepared for the speech by opening a bottle of Brancott Vineyards 2002 Marlborough Reserve Pinot Noir. I must say it was a great wine for a convention speech. The wine was smooth and satisfying, with a lingering taste of vanilla that made me smile....exactly the opposite of Bush's speech. Before I get into that, I must say that Pinot Noir's are flying up my list of favorite wines, making an assault on Zinfandel! This wine from New Zealand last night was exceptional!
So, now to George W., or "Bushy", his pet name from Laura that we learned from Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum the other night. Bushy had a real nice entrance. As a theatre buff, I appreciated the entrance that was suttle into the nicely constructed stage in the middle of the room. However, this was the most exciting moment of the speech....and it was an hour long.
Normally Bushy has a very nice delivery and speaking style. Last night I thought it was terrible. The first half of the speech flowed like one word at a time was appearing on the teleprompter so that Bushy would not mispronounce the words. We got through the family kudos and all the other intro crap and finally after three days got into policy initiatives.....or so I thought.
The policy initiatives laid out by Bush were some of the blandest political double-speak that I have ever heard. No specifics, just exciting buzz words to get people talking. The best was "I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code." First of all, Bushy is unable to lead a bipartisan hot dog roast these days. And what exactly does reform and simplify the tax code mean? Does it mean that instead of 150o pages of rules that we might get it down to 1146 pages? WOW! Another great one, " we will make our country less dependent on foreign sources of energy". Great idea...how exactly? Maybe his idea of this plan is to keep invading countries that have rich oil reserves...then they wouldn't be foreign sources anymore!!!!! Bush also had a lot of Republican buzz words: Health Care Savings account, lawsuit reform, retirement savings accounts. Nice ideas, but totally unrealistic considering many of the costs associated with them.
What did I want to hear from Bush last night? Well here is a list of what I wanted to hear and did not hear: 1) An apology for sending our troops to Iraq under the pretense of a hunt for WMD...he kept trying to justify the invasion 2) An apology to the families of the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for a lie....he came close, talking about tough choices he has to make...did he actually cry? 3) A specific plan for ensuring Iraqi security for the upcoming elections, how to get rid of the terrorists that are now in Iraq, and what we can do to begin a withdrawl plan 4) How he was going to reduce the defecit he created with tax cuts and wars 5) How compassionate conservatism works when you deny freedom to all citizens. He did actually speak out against gays, pro-choice folks, and used the worst line: activist judges. Side note: judges are supposed to be activist, they must interpret a document that was written 200 years ago and did not take into account modern times, to treat laws like they are 200 years old dooms us to irrelevancy.
So I thought most of the speech was pretty boring and pretty cut and dry Republican stuff. The end is what grabbed my attention, and this is what was supposed to grab the attention of all watching. This was Bushy trying to show his soft underbelly. This was the compassionate conservative plea....I didn't buy it. I respect the office of the President for the difficult decisions regarding life and death they have to make. Let's be realitic though, this President was hell bent on going into Iraq from the moment he took office. It has cost nearly 1000 American lives, and over 13,500 Iraqi lives. To use this as an emotional political plea to the populous, when you are unable to admit your mistake and apologize, that is the lowest insult I can imagine. Shame on you Bushy, shame on you. The soldiers you sent into harms way are the poorest of our citizens, the ones without power, without a voice. Yet they serve honorably, fighting for something that many of them do not have...liberty and justice. They entered the military because your fiscal policy is encouraging their potential jobs to move overseas. They enter for a paycheck, so that they can buy a home in a neighborhood where your No Child Left Behind legislation has not bankrupted the school district. They signed on to defend us from eminent threat, and you used them for politics. Shame, shame, shame. Will they ever trust us again?
Well, the convention is over and I have been feeling down because all the focus has been on the Republicans. Poll numbers are down for Kerry, because of this Swift Boat non-sense. It sounds like Bush may try and skip debates. Is it dark...no says this columnist, who encourages Democrats to hold their heads high. No matter what you think of the writer, some good points are made.
I am all pooped out from this week. Had lots of trouble sleeping because I am thinking too much. I am going to try and force myself to take a break...but I have a feeling I won't be able too. Leave a comment and tell me if you think I am a ranting raving lunatic, and have a good weekend! Less than two months to go for the election, seven months to go until Baby T and I have a Close Encounter of the Third Kind.
Last night I prepared for the speech by opening a bottle of Brancott Vineyards 2002 Marlborough Reserve Pinot Noir. I must say it was a great wine for a convention speech. The wine was smooth and satisfying, with a lingering taste of vanilla that made me smile....exactly the opposite of Bush's speech. Before I get into that, I must say that Pinot Noir's are flying up my list of favorite wines, making an assault on Zinfandel! This wine from New Zealand last night was exceptional!
So, now to George W., or "Bushy", his pet name from Laura that we learned from Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum the other night. Bushy had a real nice entrance. As a theatre buff, I appreciated the entrance that was suttle into the nicely constructed stage in the middle of the room. However, this was the most exciting moment of the speech....and it was an hour long.
Normally Bushy has a very nice delivery and speaking style. Last night I thought it was terrible. The first half of the speech flowed like one word at a time was appearing on the teleprompter so that Bushy would not mispronounce the words. We got through the family kudos and all the other intro crap and finally after three days got into policy initiatives.....or so I thought.
The policy initiatives laid out by Bush were some of the blandest political double-speak that I have ever heard. No specifics, just exciting buzz words to get people talking. The best was "I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code." First of all, Bushy is unable to lead a bipartisan hot dog roast these days. And what exactly does reform and simplify the tax code mean? Does it mean that instead of 150o pages of rules that we might get it down to 1146 pages? WOW! Another great one, " we will make our country less dependent on foreign sources of energy". Great idea...how exactly? Maybe his idea of this plan is to keep invading countries that have rich oil reserves...then they wouldn't be foreign sources anymore!!!!! Bush also had a lot of Republican buzz words: Health Care Savings account, lawsuit reform, retirement savings accounts. Nice ideas, but totally unrealistic considering many of the costs associated with them.
What did I want to hear from Bush last night? Well here is a list of what I wanted to hear and did not hear: 1) An apology for sending our troops to Iraq under the pretense of a hunt for WMD...he kept trying to justify the invasion 2) An apology to the families of the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for a lie....he came close, talking about tough choices he has to make...did he actually cry? 3) A specific plan for ensuring Iraqi security for the upcoming elections, how to get rid of the terrorists that are now in Iraq, and what we can do to begin a withdrawl plan 4) How he was going to reduce the defecit he created with tax cuts and wars 5) How compassionate conservatism works when you deny freedom to all citizens. He did actually speak out against gays, pro-choice folks, and used the worst line: activist judges. Side note: judges are supposed to be activist, they must interpret a document that was written 200 years ago and did not take into account modern times, to treat laws like they are 200 years old dooms us to irrelevancy.
So I thought most of the speech was pretty boring and pretty cut and dry Republican stuff. The end is what grabbed my attention, and this is what was supposed to grab the attention of all watching. This was Bushy trying to show his soft underbelly. This was the compassionate conservative plea....I didn't buy it. I respect the office of the President for the difficult decisions regarding life and death they have to make. Let's be realitic though, this President was hell bent on going into Iraq from the moment he took office. It has cost nearly 1000 American lives, and over 13,500 Iraqi lives. To use this as an emotional political plea to the populous, when you are unable to admit your mistake and apologize, that is the lowest insult I can imagine. Shame on you Bushy, shame on you. The soldiers you sent into harms way are the poorest of our citizens, the ones without power, without a voice. Yet they serve honorably, fighting for something that many of them do not have...liberty and justice. They entered the military because your fiscal policy is encouraging their potential jobs to move overseas. They enter for a paycheck, so that they can buy a home in a neighborhood where your No Child Left Behind legislation has not bankrupted the school district. They signed on to defend us from eminent threat, and you used them for politics. Shame, shame, shame. Will they ever trust us again?
Well, the convention is over and I have been feeling down because all the focus has been on the Republicans. Poll numbers are down for Kerry, because of this Swift Boat non-sense. It sounds like Bush may try and skip debates. Is it dark...no says this columnist, who encourages Democrats to hold their heads high. No matter what you think of the writer, some good points are made.
I am all pooped out from this week. Had lots of trouble sleeping because I am thinking too much. I am going to try and force myself to take a break...but I have a feeling I won't be able too. Leave a comment and tell me if you think I am a ranting raving lunatic, and have a good weekend! Less than two months to go for the election, seven months to go until Baby T and I have a Close Encounter of the Third Kind.
posted by GT at 7:18 AM
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