Musings Over Morning Coffee

post from Daily Kos on 05 September 2008 07:41:42 AM. © Daily Kos

Well, I watched the John McCain speech from the relative safety of my living room. It was something to see, I must say.

At times stuck up against a (White House) lawn green background reminiscent of that disastrous green jello speech, McCain was sometimes maudlin, sometimes rambling, but always, inevitably, boring. it's unfortunate, really. Set speeches are just not his thing. His strengths lie elsewhere, mostly in an artificial image of a maverick, which really means everyone who's an establishment Republican in DC now despises him even more than they used to after this convention.

Why should that be? Because McCain is openly running against them. Does that mean he's really not Bush II? Of course not. With the pick of Sarah Palin, McCain's told the world he's more conservative than anyone feared, and if he wins, he'll do everything he can to appoint Supreme Court justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, overturn Roe v Wade and restart the culture wars and re-fight the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, and by the sound of the speech last night any other war he can get his hands on. He wants a base election not because he believes in it, but because he will do anything, anything, to win, including sell his soul on live television to the religious right. This is a man that puts ambition over country and over family, and it was as plain as the humorless and mean-spirited speeches throughout the convention.

But he didn't have the guts to choose Joe Lieberman, the guy he wanted, so he took the Governor of Alaska, who's made a splash, but has done nothing to prove her qualifications to stand next in line to a 72 year old who doesn't radiate health. In doing so, he's appeased the social conservatives and exposed his naked ambition. People know that. The voters understand it. The party of Lincoln can't fool all of the people all of the time.

So this man who has been a creature in and of Washington for decades, who voted with Bush 95% of the time, who supported him on Iraq and on the economy, now wants to convince the country that the problem is Republicans (yes, we know that, Senator), and so therefore the solution is - wait for it - Republicans. Riiight. That will go over well with the country. Easy sell.

See, but that's what the convention is for. You build slowly, make your points each day with a themed approach, and then reach a crescendo of emotion, peaking at just the right time to celebrate, well, Sarah Palin, the new kid. Compared to yesterday, the entire evening seemed like a let down. And as for the "bipartisan" reach across the aisle we were led to expect, well that was sort of missing , too.

And not just bipartisanship. Graciousness was in short supply, along with any discussion whatsoever of solutions to our economic woes, our standing in the world, our competitiveness, our educational needs, health care... you name it and it was missing.

For all the good responses (some of which were decidedly mixed), Republicans still have to be hoping they didn't move Sarah Palin up to the big leagues too soon. She showed off her promise Wednesday, but that story has yet to play out. But however well she performs, the fact remains she's not the top of the ticket. She does seem to share the naked ambition of McCain, and may well see herself there, but in time she'll learn to hide it better.

What I learned, though, from watching the convention, is that we can solve all of our problems, whatever they are, by drilling and also striving for victory. Who knew? He should have told Bush that eight years ago, and maybe we wouldn't be in this mess today.

So basically, you can ignore problems and they will go away, because after all, we've been a nation of whiners up until now. And you can trust that just because the Republicans have been in charge and gotten us here, they will be the agents of change and lead us to the future because they've been so right about everything up until now.

We also learned you can party like it's 2002 with the lobbyists, but if you declare a day of Gustav service, just for show, you can fool the American public into thinking you care about our problems.

If you believe that, vote for McCain. If you don't and want to be part of the reality based world that thinks that upholding the Constitution is a necessity, and driving us into a ditch is not qualification for four more of the last eight years, and if you believe in science and stem cell research and affordable health care (which will take long, but which must happen), and restoring our place in the world, and in treating everyon with respect and dignity and not just half the country at a time, then you will say Enough! and vote for Obama rather than change-lite.

The Republicans think you're stupid enough to fall for their sales pitch again. The Democrats think you understand what real change means. In two months we'll find out who's right. But this was not a convention and not an acceptance speech that strikes fear in the hearts of Democrats everywhere. In the real world, outside the convention hall, the Republican base can't win by itself. Thank God for that.