(World News Trust) -- One certainly can’t say that the Republican Convention doesn’t bring
divergent individuals together. Sometimes, they’re the strangest of
strange convention bedfellows.
After the preemption of Day One of the RNC extravaganza by Hurricane
Gustav on Monday, the GOP was finally off and running on Tuesday. And
this time it wasn’t necessarily running away from George W. Bush. They
actually let him start the evening. Sort of. One of the network anchors
noticed that Bush’s video appearance from the White House was talked
over by other TV figures. Ouch.
You got the feeling all night long that everyone had just sat down to
dinner, biding their time talking over the standard meat and potatoes
while waiting restlessly for the Baked Alaska. The big event was still
ahead. But for the first time in a long time, the culmination of this
convention won’t on the last day, when the nominee is formally anointed
and delivers the traditional “speech of his life.” The climax of this
convention comes the evening before that, when Sarah Palin makes her
first big formal speech. I imagine everyone in the arena on Tuesday
night was looking around and wondering if the Xcel Energy Center, would
be fuller on Wednesday for Palin’s appearance. Granted, most of the
vacancies were probably results of Hurricane Gustav. I’ll give ‘em that.
This was a most interesting way to reintroduce one’s party and by
extension, oneself and one’s campaign. Yes, John McCain was mentioned
throughout the day, but what hung over everything was Sarah Palin. Was
it perhaps because we already know McCain’s story? Fred Thompson, who
was the warm-up act to Joe Lieberman, began with an accounting of
McCain’s early days in the military. The memories were glowingly
recited, only accentuating the positive. For example, we heard about
the Naval Academy alright, but nowhere was it mentioned of McCain’s
poor placement as a graduate -- 894th out of 899. I went downstairs to
grab a piece of my husband’s homemade garlic bread and wound up having
to appease our demanding dog for a few moments. When I finally
returned, Thompson was still painfully intoning his way through a
litany of every bruise and broken bone sustained during every long day
in the Hanoi Hilton.
Look, I’m not trying to be glib or trite here, but I’ve heard this.
I’ve heard the P.O.W. tale both described in all sincerity, and sold
like a used car. I’ve heard it pulled out as a Magic Ouch-Away to
silence any question or critic, as though it were the ever-present
Neosporin tube that some moms keep in every purse to smear on their
kids’ new boo-boos. I know there’ll be a veritable orgy of P.O.W.
references throughout the convention’s finale, with liberal (pardon the
pun) references to both 9/11 and the word maverick added in for extra
zest.
We were called upon, at least by Fred Thompson, “to put country first
with John McCain.” A little while later, odd-man-out Joe Lieberman got
a big applause line by asking “what’s a Democrat like me doing at a
Republican convention like this” and then answering that it’s to
support McCain because McCain put country over party. They both,
however, made those Grand Assertions after an entire day of open
questioning throughout the media coverage -- wondering exactly what
McCain had put first by his unsettling and increasingly controversial
selection of Palin.
She hung over everything, alright. I’m guessing that’s why there were
some downright militant references to Subject A for the anti-abortion
faithful. Evidently, it’s a priority to reinforce the GOP’s radical
base and throw live chickens and pro-choice virgins at their crowd of
carnivores along with the standard red meat. Thompson and Lieberman
seemed determined to present a “bad cop/good cop” tag-team for the
Tuesday night crowd. Thompson was the one talking blood, guts, and
Rambo, while Lieberman sought to be the kinder, gentler emissary.
Accentuate the positive, and try to cover the backside by talking nice
about Bill Clinton and praising the wonderworks Barack Obama has the
potential to do sometime farther down the road. Lieberman must think
that’s all it’s going to take to be re-embraced in what looks like an
increasingly Democratic Senate chamber when this is all over – and he
has to face one of those big surnames again week after week.
I thought I’d be more offended by Lieberman’s cross-over act at the
Republican convention, but I’m not. We all knew this was coming. We’d
seen months’ worth of preamble with Lieberman at McCain’s side as
consistently as the word “trainwreck” attaches to Amy Winehouse. We
already knew he would show up in St. Paul and give a speech, just a
little mellower in tone than the slobbering, vein-popping Zell Miller
belched out four years before him. It should have been more galling
than it was. Perhaps, at least to me, that’s testament to how
irrelevant Joe Lieberman has become. He reset the bar awfully low since
the days when he seemed more reliably Democratic -- even one of our
leading good guys. Now, at least for me, he’s how passing aircraft are
described once they’re out of range: no longer a factor. It’s sad when
I think back to what he used to mean to me by the end of 2000.
Everyone in attendance at the convention might be forgiven for feeling
a bit melancholy on the night before the big new day. They were served
a study in jarring contrasts of Glory Days versus – Um – Hey, Let’s
Just Forget About That Part. A fleeting tip of the hat to George
Senior, Barbara, and Laura, and a video visit with George Junior
changed the subject to a short film about Ronald Reagan. The film
featured a leapfrog moment to presumed heir-apparent John McCain.
George W. Bush wasn’t mentioned. But whether you were
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or the Great Communicator, it didn’t matter.
High or low, everyone on the bill on this night was basically a warm-up
act for Ms. Great Unvetted. All these tough guys evidently don’t mind
being upstaged by a girl, especially one they hope is the new political
Angelina Jolie.
The First/Second/Other-First Night of the GOP convention was a night of
somehow-connected disconnects. And we’ll likely know whether it all
connects to John McCain before he even has his big night.
***
Mary Lyon
is a veteran broadcaster and five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who
has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio
Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations
including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional
media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal
activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and
helped spearhead a regional campaign, The Power 18," to win the right
to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes,
responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and
support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to
World News Trust, Mary writes for Huffington Post, OpEdNews, Democrats.us, WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting
expert, having written and llustrated the book "The Frazzled Working
Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood.