"We own this place."
Clint's appearance wasn't Obama in 2004, or Palin on 2008, but it was a breath of fresh air and - considering the lack of talent on display so far - I was grateful for it.
Now this was an actor practicing his craft!
Marco Rubio has performed this speech so often, his simple tale on the virtues of sacrifice comes off as slick, and false, and as manipulative as a puppeteer. Sorry - I got that wrong - his speech didn't, HE did in the telling, and all of a sudden I found myself disliking someone I've admired quite a bit.
You know that moment when someone, maybe a friend, finds fortune of some kind and they start making changes to accommodate it, until you're forced to tell them "you've changed - and not for the better"? That's what is happening to Marco. He's acquiring too much polish for his own good, reducing the best thing about him - that he can clearly and plainly articulate what this country is all about - to calculation, revealing his dark side once the authenticity is gone.
He'll never be Antonio Villaraigosa, thank goodness, but, ever so slightly, he's moving in that direction.
And the pandering - good God, man, make it stop! FOUR YEARS OF THIS SHIT?!? Paul Ryan loves his mom? Really? Never woulda caught that without you pointing it out (and Ryan laughing, pretending to not know the line was coming - jeez). Mitt also mentioned all the women speakers over the course of the entire convention and, though I
Romney gives a better speech than Paul Ryan, which is a surprise, but he was most effective when he went after Obama. (The pause after saying, "President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans" was especially good.) He wasn't mean, but on-point, which is a fine approach for him. His 5-point plan is a natural rebuke, though not a stroke of genius, but that's not what is called for, to fix the economy, anyway.
The foreign policy section was also good. I heard it while driving in my truck and had to give him a nod.
All-in-all, it wasn't a great speech, but it wasn't bad, and left me feeling (as long as his cult stays out of the way) I can hope he succeeds - because I want our country to - though I still can't vote for him. The LDS's success is tied up in his and I can have nothing to do with that.
Will the Democrats go there? Get desperate and drop the depth-chargers?
Dolan's benediction was pretty good too (it had me smiling at the end of it).
ReplyDeleteOf the entire convention the only two speakers that had any political flair and sophistication. Bravo for them.
PW
the rest of it was a snoozefest, like going to an art gallery that was full of overly mannerist "artists" copying Mannerist artists -- like having to eat Postum for breakfast, lunch, dinner for a week...egads
Oh, and Ann Romney's speech was absolutely horrifying -- and I say that as a woman (who supposedly is supposed to know this super secret sisterhood/woman stuff that Ann was talking about).
ReplyDeleteShe sounded like countless scores of rabid, deranged feminists who, as a woman and thus a member of this secret society of sisterhood who just "know" these "truths", I've been marched off, lined up, and forced to listen to at various times in my life as part of my development as a young woman (one reason college or any club can be hazardous to one's health and sanity if one is not careful).
Egads.
PW
My favorite Eastwood line: "When somebody doesn't do the job, you gotta let him go."
ReplyDeleteAnd will the Donks go there? I don't think attacking his faith will fly, after the stories told by the members of Romney's church.
Well, since Mitt said he liked firing people, and this was supposed to show what a tough, smart, businessman he was (and thus a perfectly inevitable president), I suppose they could have some fun with that.
ReplyDeleteBut they won't, because they're just as vapid and robotic as the GOP is now.
I wish I wasn't just a poor peasant; I'd run ads to the effect of agreeing with Clint that the people need to know when to fire the bad help...so let's give them both pink slips on election day; let's tell them they need to reconsider their commitment to the company; let's tell them that they both were failures to adapt and not considered suitable for further employment at this time!
PW
OK, I laughed at least three times reading this.
ReplyDeleteWell written =)
Thanks, Dante - that's very big of you.
ReplyDeleteDo you seriously think that if Romney-Ryan win that Romney will precede every action as president with a "slightly tilted head and wan grin" or that Ryan will preface his official duties with a reminder of how much he "loves his mom"? Your analysis is too simplistic and trite. They are campaigning and are defining themselves to the electorate. This is necessary because of the leftist media which uses invisible ellipses to contort their true statements in caricatures.
ReplyDeleteCrack,
ReplyDeleteI saw the speeches very much as you did but especially Rubio's. I'm tired of pols whose primary talent is delivering speeches, and Rubio has clearly given this one a few too many times. The Ryan pick is looking better by the day.
scrubjay,
ReplyDeleteMY analysis is too simplistic and trite? Ann Romney:
"We're the mothers. We're the wives. We're the grandmothers. We're the big sisters. We're the little sisters and we are the daughters. You know it's true, don't you?"
That's how you define yourself to the electorate to avoid the leftist media's invisible ellipses to contort true statements into caricatures?
It IS a caricature! And a stupid one at that! I thought she was either retarded or on drugs!
Try again,...
"Thanks, Dante - that's very big of you."
ReplyDeleteThis could easily be read as sarcasm. But, that doesn't matter. You called me a "Shruggie," and you were right. I am a "Shruggie." I have to make choices in an imperfect world. But, you opened my thoughts about the Mormon Church. To me, it's good to see people caring about their own, and also caring about others, as I've seen Mormons do. You (seem to) reject that part of it, but I don't. I've seen it first hand. I've also seen the big hand of the church come down to do things that don't make sense (I worked for Novell, and watched its destruction as Ray Norda bought WordPerfect at the advise of the elders).
Now, this whole life/society thing is a big challenge. I sometimes wonder, "Is the pope a religious man, or is he merely someone trying to hold something together, that's incredibly hard to hold together? And if he is, is he a bad man, and what the hell does 'Bad Man' really mean anyway?"
In the world of physics, it's hard to imagine things like "morality." Lightening does not care where it ends up: it just does, and if there happens to be an infant and her mother under the tree, that's the way it is. Perhaps the answer is "Good things are those that can attract enough people, like minded or sheep, to make a go at it." That's the depth of MY cynicism.
So, in the course of wandering, when I meet someone also trying to seek truth, even when we come to points of disagreement, they aren't visceral, or even important, at least from my perspective. There are too few seekers in the world. I'm not saying I measure up to your expectations either, nor assuming that.
In any event, I leave you with a thought from a poem that stuck with me from college. "Rage, rage, against the dying of the light." And I add, at least, do the best you can.
Amen. (An Atheist's Amen, that is).
Love you Crack. Goodnight.
"We're the mothers. We're the wives. We're the grandmothers. We're the big sisters. We're the little sisters and we are the daughters. You know it's true, don't you?"
ReplyDeleteEverything looks fine to me but the last line. Do you think she wrote that herself, or merely read a speech?
Hard to know, in this world of indirection.
Dante,
ReplyDeleteThis could easily be read as sarcasm.
Nope - not a shred. And I enjoyed reading the rest of your thoughts, too. In some ways we're a lot alike (minus the shruggie bit.)
I, too, care about people (hopefully, obviously) but I'd rather be Captain James T. Kirk than Joseph Smith or any of his manipulative "prophets." There's a BIG difference there, with morality and ethics, front and center, in a physics-based world.
Do you think [Romney] wrote that herself, or merely read a speech?
It doesn't matter - she didn't reject it as mindless pablum, which is all we need to know:
Hey, D, I've got a penis - "You know it's true, don't you?"
Do me a favor and just take my word for it,...