By Bree Hocking
Democrats take a lot of flak for rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite, but maybe they’d be enjoying a more comfortable margin in the polls right now if they started electing them — damn, can these actor types get a crowd of white, middle-aged business people going or what?
Ex-Sen. and erstwhile presidential candidate Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) of “Law and Order” fame just wrapped up a classic political stemwinder at the Republican National Convention full of rich cadence, heart-string pulling tales of John McCain’s heroism, and enough deft sucker punches — his candidate, Thompson noted, didn’t spend his time giving speeches “designed to appeal to America’s critics abroad” and wouldn’t be the sort of president who thought “the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade” — to make the Obama crowd wince.
Thompson, standing against the image of an ever-present waving American flag on the screen behind him, painted McCain as a bad boy with a heart of gold, who might have dated an exotic dancer and drove a Corvette but was redeemed by sacrificing every inch of his body – Thompson left no gritty detail of the POW experience untold – for the country he loved.
He boasted that McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, had taken on the “political establishment in the largest state” of the union. (Only true if you’re talking about area by the way, Alaska is actually 47th in population. And columnist Maureen Dowd recently compared the state of less than 700,000 to “an oversized igloo.”) He raved that Palin alone in the political firmament knew how to “properly field dress a moose” and the crowd went wild. It was a tremendous case for putting this woman in the White House. Where else will she make use of this magnificent skill set?
This is the kind of old-time political theater that while disingenuous and even demagogic wins votes. It also kinda makes the Democratic convention (with the exception of Obama’s acceptance speech) look rather stiff and stale, like yesterday’s press release.
Bottom line: Obama didn’t have anyone with Thompson’s aesthetic and stylistic political heft giving this kind of speech for him. In retrospect, Obama seemed on his own in Denver, with Democrats consuming much of their energies wrestling with internal disorders instead of championing their man.
Score one for the Republicans in the clash of the conventions.
Yes the part I particularly loved was when he blamed Dems for fiscal irresponsibility, commending Republican’s for bringing about a balanced budget, venturing right up to the cliff’s edge of the Congress & White House being controlled by Republican’s, then completely ignored the record deficits & doubling of the National Debt that they brought with complete control!
Well done! Seriously are these people in the audience so stupid or brainwashed that they cannot understand reality and how things really are?
The blood boils when I hear straight up lies and complete disingenuous speeches like this!
Bree! I hate to disagree with you here, but I thought Fred Thompson’s speech was the most boring, stilted, ineffective speech I’ ve heard in some time.
I thought Joe Lieberman was more effective. I don’t think Thompson appealed to anyone except the right-wing base of the Republican party. He certainly didn’t appeal to me.
And if I hear it stated that McCain was a POW one more time as proof of his qualifications to be commander in chief or as an excuse for some sort of gaffe that are all to frequent in McCainland these days, I’m going to scream. I know he was a POW.
Its like the Obama was a “community organizer” or Edwards “son of a mill worker” comment.