JUL. 27, 2004: THEY DRONE ON
David Frum Blogs the convention
7:58 It’s being reported that Hillary Clinton reacted to Teresa Heinz’s “shove it” remark with: “You go, girl.” I bet she did! I bet Teresa can’t begin to do enough damage to this campaign to suit Hillary Clinton.
8:02. Robert Caro introduces Ted Kennedy. Well, he knows a thing or two about senators. But the speech doesn’t start well. I thought that line about giving John Kerry a “nice new home” was misconceived. I mean, the guy already has five.
It’s understandable that the Democrats would want to feature Edward Kennedy. He is the party’s second-most senior senator, after Robert Byrd – and the Democrats know enough to keep Byrd off the tube. Alas, the years seem to bear heavily upon Kennedy, and he delivers the dreariest speech yet broadcast. Endless too. So much for Democratic self-discipline and punctuality.
I do find myself wondering with Mickey Kaus why the Democrats would choose to feature their most Paleolithic liberal in prime time, without offering up a single word of praise or remembrance of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who devoted his life to restoring the Democrats’ credibility on national security. Boy does his party need him now.
What was all this talk by the way about emphasizing the positive? Kennedy has almost nothing positive to say about his junior colleague – but a lot of nasty insinuations about George W. Bush.
I notice by the way that much of the structure of Kennedy’s speech is plagiarized from Dick Cheney’s four years ago – the citation of John Adams’ prayer, “May none but wise and honest men rule under this roof”; the invocation of patriot graves. Did you notice though that Kennedy could not bring himself to quote the prayer accurately? That word “men” – unpronounceable! So he purported to quote, but instead surreptitiously reworked the prayer: “May none but the wise and honest rule under this roof.” As Hillary Clinton would say: “You go, senator!”
8:30. Kennedy’s speech finally drags itself to its ghastly end. I’d bet that tonight’s ratings turn out even worse than yesterday’s.
8:42. OK Gephardt’s speech is even worse. Still, when I see him, I can’t help thinking that John Kerry made the wrong choice for VP. Gephardt is no orator – but he takes the nation’s security seriously, and it shows.
8:45. Daschle up now, asking why gas is $2 a gallon in South Dakota and only a nickel a gallon in Iraq. Hey: I thought waging war for oil was a Republican idea?
I note though that former McGovern aide Daschle now says that “answering the call” during Vietnam was “doing the right thing.” You wonder where these proud patriots were in 1992, when Bill Clinton was running against Navy flier and war hero George HW Bush.
9:10. Howard Dean tells a heart-warming story about a girl who sold her bike for $100 to give the money to his campaign. Another ill-calculated anecdote: You’d need 80 Dean supporters to sell their bikes to raise enough money to buy just one of John Kerry’s!
9:15. Could Dean not find even one nice thing to say about John Kerry? Apparently not. The overwhelming impression that a viewer gets from this convention so far: The only candidate that gets this convention excited is George Bush.
9:50. An impressive show by Barack Obama. His speech was all cliché, 100% content-free – but delivered with conviction, force, and the faintest sprinkle of humor. He reminds me of that saying of Napoleon’s: Give me lucky generals. How many people had to drop anvils on their toes to make this guy the front-runner for Illinois’ open Senate seat? But yes, I do believe we are looking at Hillary Clinton’s running mate for 2008.
I wonder though what the people who write the Democratic party’s quota rules think of Obama’s critique of multicultural gerrymandering and appeal to national unity?
10:02 Ron Reagan’s appearance tonight just underscores one more resemblance between Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt: They both had worthless children.
10:45. Teresa has been speaking for almost 10 minutes and has not insulted anyone – so that’s an achievement. She’s talked about space exploration, energy efficiency, and America’s role in the world. And of course we’re all fascinated to hear her views. But there’s one supremely important subject on which she qualifies as a genuine expert: that is the character and personality of the man the Democrats are about to nominate as president. And on this topic, she offered nothing warm, endearing, or personal. Doesn’t anyone in his party have something nice to say about this guy?
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