Are Democrats Giving The Game Away With Their Radical Non-Primetime Speakers?

The Republican convention was relentlessly on-point, perhaps too much so.

That's not true of the Democratic convention, which has a decidedly schizophrenic nature. "Centrists" speaking calmly of "conservative values" in primetime -- and red-meat radicalism in all the hours before 10 PM.

As a rule, Democrats win when they run as mainstream conservatives — not as radicals. Thus, a born again Christian from Georgia named Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976 — and a “new” Democrat from Arkansas named Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Even Chicago’s Barack Obama — who made sure you knew he wasn’t against all wars (just the bad one) — was able to pull off the maneuver.

But if the first night of the Democratic Convention is any clue, the ruse might be up.

To be sure, there were several speakers who could appeal to mainstream Americans watching at home (Harry Reid and Tammy Duckworth were both compelling), but also, several who won’t play well in Peoria (for example, Nancy Keenan, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Rep. Rosa DeLauro.)

During the 10pm EST prime time hour, of course, they trotted out the TV-friendly marquee speakers — who furtively stressed conservative values.

Paul Ryan said he wanted to give voters a crystal-clear choice in this election.

It seems the Democrats agree with him -- except when they're being nationally televised. Then they want to blur the lines some.

posted by Ace at 05:05 PM

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