The non-prime-time part of the DNC, the part the major networks don’t air, was horrid. Any time your convention boos God, it’s time to think long and hard about the constituency you’re cultivating. No matter whether one is an atheist or a believer, any follower of politics knows that booing God is a losing proposition among the electorate. The Democrats made a highly damaging mistake of taking an internal squabble among their factions, and dragging it out into the public light for all to see. As ironic as it might be for a blog, who often highlights internal squabbles among People of Gun, I’ll still say it’s a losing strategy. The GOP, and more importantly their related PACs, now has the DNC booing God on camera. Way to go!
It was all pretty much horrid until Clinton came up, and showed why he’s still the person most fit to lead the Democratic Party. Hell, even I felt a little nostalgia. Those were good times. I was just starting out in my career, and since it was the dot com boom, companies were just throwing cash at anyone who could spell UNIX. Additionally, if it wasn’t for Bill Clinton, I might have never been outraged enough to buy a gun, and you might not be reading this blog right now. Since I met Bitter through this issue, you could say Bill Clinton brought us together.
But the nostalgia didn’t last as long as Clinton’s speech. Not nearly as long. He was clearly enjoying himself, stomping on the nighttime news broadcasts, so folks turning in for local news would see ol’ Bill, I can’t believe wasn’t intentional. The Republicans are probably lucky he overstayed his welcome, and laid it on a bit thick. People think of Clinton as the great moderate — the man who out republicaned the Republicans — but Clinton governed as a lefty for the first two terms of his Administration, and caused a backlash enough to lose Congress. It was the Clinton who got soundly beat in 1994 that we saw last night, and for far too long.
Cue springsteen’s Glory Days.
The only reason they put “God” and “Jerusalem” back into the Platform was that they got caught, and they want to get every Vote they can. Remember, this is the Modern Democratic Party, who’s Spiritual Philosophy is Marx’s “Religion is the Opiate of the Masses.”
People who acknowledge, albeit obliquely, that there is no “God” in the constitution, and that where the capital of Israel is located is none of our business? Unthinkable! How Marxist!
Maybe the delegate were booing the pandering, more so than the issues themselves?
It’s a good point, but it doesn’t fly with the electorate. See polling that shows people think more lowly of the idea of electing an atheist President than a Muslim President. I don’t think religion in public life should matter either, but it does.
Oh, I agree that politically it was a very bad move and a dumb thing for the delegates to do; but the parties certainly are staking out their constituencies more rigidly than ever, aren’t they? And all the time the boundaries of “respect for rights,” “respect for national sovereignty” and “respect for the constitution” grow foggier and foggier.
I forgot to add that I’m glad that, at least for now, it remains legal not to belong to either party; though of course in states like Pennsylvania you have to surrender some rights, not to.
Actually, we make where the capital of Israel is our business when the country says its their capital and we refuse to recognize that and put our embassy in another city.
You have a stronger constitution than I do. Just catching glimpses of the DNC in Charlotte was enough to cause me to gag.
My only hope is that since “weather concerns” have moved the coronation from Bank of America Stadium (or Panthers Stadium as the Dems try to call it) to Time Warner Arena that a few stray NRA bumper stickers from the 2010 NRA Annual Meeting might still be there.
I think the weather concern there was probably more like the DNC didn’t want the cameras to catch how much Hurricane Barry cleared the seats the night after everyone was packed inside to sun themselves under the light of Clinton.