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September 01, 2004

Get Ready For Tonight's Spin

Rudy Guiliani was outstanding, but few people saw his speech, as the networks did not cover it. (Remind me if I'm wrong-- aren't these usually the same goo-goo bunch who are forever claiming they hate political ads and favor some sort of government-funded advertising regime? If they're against paid ads and in favor of candidates and parties giving free-media speeches on television, why the hell are they not, you know, covering candidates and parties giving speeches on television?)

Hopefully the Bush campaign will run a lot of ads using his speech. But his speech had too many good points to cover in even a series of ads.

I didn't think anyone could top Guiliani, but of course Schwarzenegger did just that. I think Guiliani's speech was more helpful to Bush, but Schwarzenegger's speech had more appeal to moderates and could end up being helpful to the Republican Party generally.

Even Chris Matthews seemed thunderstruck at the strength and star-power of the Repubican speakers. He asked a panel if anyone at the Dem convention had come close to equaling any of the Republican speakers, and a Newsweek editor could only offer, "I thought John Edwards was good," which didn't really answer the question directly.

So far, this has been one of the best political conventions in the modern era. The first two nights of conventions usually may not move votes, but the Guiliani-Schwarzenegger one-two was pretty much the closest we'll ever to achieving that. If those two guys didn't move any undecided voters, then we'll just have to conclude that no speech by a non-candidate can move an undecided voter.

Which sets up the spin for tonight.

Having acknowleged the obvious about the first two nights of the convention -- i.e., powerful speeches -- the liberal media can now use that as the new bar for success in the last two nights, the nights that really matter.

Can Cheney and Bush match Guiliani and Schwarzenegger? Not even on their best days. The President and Vice President may deliver the speeches of their lives, but the liberal media will only say "After the first two nights, this is a major letdown."

And to some extent that may be true. I don't expect that either man can actually top what has come before, but I think that's the wrong metric for evaluation. You can note that their speeches didn't top Guiliani's or Schwarzegger's while also noting that they gave strong speeches, but I don't expect Chris Matthews to emphasize the latter point. (Assuming they give good speeches at all-- which they may not.)

The other spin -- especially tonight -- will be that only now do we see the "true face of the Republican Party," all anger and bitterness and nasty partisan attacks, as if this is the first time a vice president ever gave a tough speech against the opposing presidential candidate. The "reasonable, cheerful moderation" of Guiliani and Schwarzenegger will be contrasted with the "venom and rancor" of the Cheney/Miller pairing.

Sure, Zell Miller is actually a Democrat, but nevermind that. The storyline is too compelling to let a few niggling details get in the way.

posted by Ace at 02:32 PM

Comments

...and the spin on such RINOs like McCain and Snowe is that they present a principled and reasonable opposition to the extreme right-wing nutjobbery of President Bush, whereas Zell Miller is a traitor and dishonorable former Democrat kicked out of his own party in disgrace.

Posted by: Nathan on September 1, 2004 02:59 PM

Hot off the wire!

"Julion Bond of the NAACP has filed a formal protest against the web-site: "Ace of Spades" for highly provacative use of the word "niggling".

Oliver Willis has also entered the frey, saying : "See I told you! I told you! Ace has been attacking me for years, and this clinches it, HE is a racist!"

StreetGOP

Posted by: Arvin Wallace on September 1, 2004 03:16 PM

Darn, Arvin, ya beat me to it. At least Ace didn't use the word niggardly!

Posted by: Nick on September 1, 2004 03:30 PM

Good points Ace.

BTW, have you seen Andy Sully's latest today? I spit out my Dr. Pepper when I read this, in response to an "Email of the Day" talking about how hot Republican women are:

"Yes, the few times I have attended these shindigs, I've noticed that the Republicans are usually much sexier than the Democrats - especially the men. The people running the show are hipper as well. Odd, I know, given the religious right dominance. But striking nonetheless."

How closed off from American society *IS* Provincetown? Hell, I live and work in Washington, DC, the same as Andrew, but somehow I seem to understand that the rest of America isn't flyover country-- and surprise, surprise, Republicans aren't all of the same stripe. They're not even of two camps-- "wacko religious right conservatives" and "moderate Republicans." To borrow a popular word these days, there's a lot of nuance in these categorizations.

Sullivan so desperately wants a party that looks just like him. Problem is, to paraphrase Jonah Goldberg's recent columns, such a party would have exactly one member-- Andrew Sullivan. Out here in the real world, you have to make compromises. That doesn't mean Republicans have to look like Democrats-- but conservative Republicans and moderate/liberal Republicans have to look like Republicans, at least on game day.

Anyways-- long intro to my complaint, but I know some Republicans who are cool. I know many who are dorks. I know some who praise God at every meal. I know some who are atheists. I know some who are Darwinists. I know some who are Creationists. I know some who are pro-choice. I know some who are anti-abortion. I know some who listen only to country music. I know some who listen to Goth industrial death metal. I know some women who where sun dresses. I know some women who wear, well, as little as possible.

A party that polls 50 percent of the people in America either means one of two things: either 50% of America are easily fooled, or that party's appeal actually is just as broad as the OTHER party that gets 50% of the vote. I guess I'm in the former, because I just don't see this "religious right wing dominance" that Andrew Sullivan keeps referring to-- and even when I see its influence, I don't see it as nefarious, I see it as, oh, representative of the beliefs of a major segment of America. But Andy is as much a bigot as he accuses others of being, and is long overdue for his own Derbyshire Award.

Keep up the great work,
Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: Dave on September 1, 2004 03:32 PM

Ace,

Was hoping to get your thoughts on the Bush twins? I thought they were hot and charismatic but wish they would have hired you or Allah to write the jokes.

Posted by: Golden Boy on September 1, 2004 04:01 PM

Re: The Bush Twins.

I was a little worried, they're not polished speakers, and their schtick seemed more appropriate for a gathering of their peers than the entire RNC. But when they made the hamster crack -- I lost it.

Posted by: Brian B on September 1, 2004 04:15 PM

I thought they were hot and charismatic but wish they would have hired you or Allah to write the jokes.

I think Sullivan, Willis, and "Al-Sadr is the Iraqi John Belushi" jokes would have been a little too "inside" for most delegates.

Just kidding guys, love ya. In a non-Sullivan way.

Posted by: Joe R. on September 1, 2004 04:56 PM

Dave: I wish you would start your own blog because I usually enjoy your comments. Right on.

Posted by: Kerry Is Unelectable on September 1, 2004 05:03 PM

Kerry is Unelectable:

Why thank you, I write them just for you!

Alas, I'm not so sure my employer would be happy if I ran a blog at work (think "potential Jessica Cutler situation," and not of the "let's have fun whoring" variety), and where's the fun in being unable to update a blog all day long whenever inspiration strikes? However, posting comments and asking questions on someone else's blog usually satisifies my jonez, and if my boss complained, I can always argue "Back off man, it's my right to free speech! Smell it!"

Besides, why blog when we can let Ace do all the hard work? HTML is for people who still own their Crown Royal bag full of multi-sided dice ;-)

Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: Dave on September 1, 2004 05:31 PM

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