Watching this thing (damn, what is my major malfunction in doing that?), something occurs to me. Huckabee’s speech was filled with things that ought to appeal to me. Lots of mentions of freedom, and liberty, and the dangers of government. I agree strongly with those things. But I know Huckabee doesn’t really mean them. He doesn’t believe that I ought to be free to eat a bacon-wrapped hot dog. He doesn’t believe I should be free to purchase a condom at any store that wants to sell me one. He doesn’t believe that a state-licensed pharmacist should be obligated to sell my girlfriend a state-controlled substance which will prevent her from getting pregnant. He doesn’t believe that I should be free to purchase television from channels like HBO that feature nudity, or for that matter, smoking. He doesn’t believe that I should be free to purchase books from Amazon without the government being appraised of what titles I buy. He doesn’t believe that should my government accuse me of a crime, I should have a right to have a lawyer present when I am questioned. He doesn’t believe the government ought to be prevented from forcing me to give evidence against myself. He doesn’t believe that the government has an obligation to produce evidence against me, or to let me go.
He believes in a small government that nonetheless gets to have input into how I masturbate.
When I watched the Democratic convention, I heard a lot of things that I thought were stupid, but which I acknowledge many Democrats strongly believe. Watching this convention, I here a lot of things that sound good. Right up until I realize that it is all a bunch of bullshit. Just another bright and shining lie.
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…they are booing the state of Delaware and the city of Chicago. Yeah! Fuck those guys! Delaware blows!
Or something. Seriously, this is a national campaign?
to do everything they approve of. anything else…not so much…
… “prosperity” a little too much.
Guiliani is now speaking, ridiculing Obama for insinuating (ha!) that Palin comes from a city that isn’t very “cosmopolitan,” where folks “cling to religion.”
Ok, Mayor of New York City. And quite a religious fellow.
Bleh.
… basking in the attention.
brrrrrrrr
… I’ll be able to watch this speech.
I’m already getting really bad vibes.
Argh.
Author
…they showed rows and rows of empty seats.
Man. Crowds line up for hours to see Obama. Not a good visual comparison.
to read the comments of people watching this stuff. heh. i had to give it up (the watching)… something about high blood pressure. 😉 so thanks. good review so far.
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…with the Republican speakers counting how many times Obama says each word in his speeches? Seriously? Um, who fucking cares about that? Would you be more likely to vote for him if he said “Victory” all the time? If he mentioned 9/11 in the same verbal tic manner that Giuliani does (which, I might add, didn’t manage to get him a tenth of the votes of Ron Paul)?
Author
What strikes me most about the RNC is how utterly exclusionary it is. A lot of the Obama speech was about reaching out to people, even if they didn’t agree with him about certain issues. Letting people know they are welcome.
The RNC today was the opposite. If you don’t hate Delaware, and Chicago, and community organizers in general, and the east coast, and California, well, you suck. Strange as it may sound, part of me wanted to like Palin. I admire people of sincere religious belief, even though I have no religious beliefs, simply because it is more honest to be strong in bad beliefs than to half-ass religion like most people, including George W. Bush, do. I admire her living out her beliefs, as wrong as they are; it is a rare quality in a politician. And I even admired the Alaska Independence Party stuff; I tend to distrust people who never held any radical views as fools. Alaskans really do have a lot to gain by seceding. Alaskans in politics who have never thought so are stupid.
But her speech, and the whole night, was more of the usual “Everyone who doesn’t agree with us is a shithead” schtick. And that shit is soo fucking tired to me. As I said in the post, it is the notion of “freedom” as nothing more than a catch-phrase. You are theoretically free, but only to do exactly the shit we approve of, and fuck you if you think different. Booing Hollywood is one thing. Who the fuck boos Delaware? Who says Chicago as if the third biggest city in America is a punchline?