An (heh, heh) Editorial

I told myself I wasn't gonna do it. I swore I wasn't gonna do it. If I dood it, I get a whippin'.

I dood it. this is the after-RNC editorial from Sunday, September 5th in the Winston Salem Journal. I just might find myself forced to add a little emphasis to parts of this, so any change in color or font size or shape ar mine - and damn proud I am!

Sunday, September 5, 2004

The New York Convention
Winston-Salem Journal

If President Bush doesn't get a healthy bounce in polls this week, it won't be because the Republican National Convention didn't go off as planned.

The GOP had four days to tell its story, and its prime-time players stuck to their scripts. Now the American people will decide whether to buy what they had to say.

The Republicans portrayed Bush as a strong wartime leader and his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, as weak. They projected themselves as inclusive of a wide array of political opinion and as compassionate conservatives. Their speakers were mostly effective and entertaining.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose popularity transcends party lines, spoke gently but forcefully on why he thinks America needs to be in Iraq. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani recalled the president's strength in the days immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Both issued bipartisan compliments and spoke of rebuilding the national unity of fall 2001.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California delivered the kind of feel-good, patriotic speech that ignites conventions. His personal immigrant-makes-good story may not have much relevance to most newcomers, but it made the Republicans feel good about themselves.

The GOP suffered two setbacks on the main stage. The president's daughters came across as just as "young and irresponsible" as they billed themselves.

More seriously, Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, a Democrat who fired Republican passions in the keynote address, was bitter and illogical. His protest that the Democrats were unpatriotic in opposing Bush was absurd. Miller's logic would have Americans surrender their right to a debate on national policy and this election because the nation is at war.

The Republicans stacked the convention's prime-time schedule with their best-known moderates. But McCain, Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki and Schwarzenegger do not abide by the hard-right policies of the approved party platform. They have little, if any, influence on national policy as exercised by the hard-right Republicans who run the Congress.

The GOP's "big tent" lovefest also belied the current tenor of intraparty politics both in North Carolina and nationwide.

North Carolina has just come through bruising primaries in which Republicans with moderate tendencies got pounded by the state party hierarchy. In Florida, the White House backed former cabinet member Mel Martinez for a U.S. Senate nomination while Martinez distorted his opponent's record on gay rights. In Virginia, a Republican congressman who was reported in a Web log to be gay gave up his nomination rather than face the expected outrage of his party's far right. And nationwide, far-right Republicans are opposing moderates, calling them RINOs for "Republicans in name only."

On Thursday night, Bush delivered a rousing speech that outlined some constructive ideas he has for the coming four years.

He wants to improve health care and retirement options, strengthen public education and provide new funds for community colleges. At the same time he promised to pursue extension of his tax cuts while blasting his opponents for "tax and spend" politics. Although his convention howled in support, fiscal conservatives must have shuddered. The president's budget is already a half-trillion dollars in the red and, by his own estimates, will remain a quarter trillion dollars so four years from now.

Bush was most poignant when relating the courage and honor of America's military personnel. But his invocation of patriotic themes in a prepared speech to a highly partisan audience does not prove that he is best qualified to lead America in the war against terrorism. For that, his record must be the test.

Bush's speech avoided many troubling questions. His speech did not offer much to undecided voters with questions about why the United States went to war against Iraq and how Bush plans to deal with the grave challenges that remain in Iraq.

He spoke passionately of how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, made him resolve to protect the United States from outside threats, but he did not mention how he would deal with such threats as Iran and North Korea or where his doctrine of pre-emptive war might lead next.

He missed a chance to acknowledge mistakes in the conduct of the Iraq war and its aftermath and to say what he might do better in the future.

In New York City this week, the GOP got the convention it wanted. In Boston in July, the Democrats also had a successful convention(???-GOC). But conventions are mostly theater.

Now it is time for the real campaign. Voters would be well served if the candidates would move past the show and on to the substance: their vision for the future and specifics of how they intend to carry out that vision.

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What can you add to that, other than is pretty much echoes the "Hard News" stories they love to quote from the Associated Press or Reuters. When you can no longer tell the difference between pages 1-4 and the OpEd pages, it's time to cancel the subscription.

ADDENDUM:

As a result of this, I have sent the following letter to the editor of the Urinal:

"I have really tried over the years to ignore the blantant bias and slant to most of your hard news, but it has gotten to the point that I can no longer tell the difference between the stories and your editorials.

The spite and bitterness that you displayed in your editorial - particularly towards Sen. Zell Miller and the 'Big Tent' was almost indistinguishable from the AP News story your printed that started with the sentence "Has Zell Miller Lost His Mind?"

Since you and your staff appear to be just proud and smug as can be about this, I would appreciate it if you would cancel my subscription immediately.

I'll miss the crossword."

(and just in case anyone wondered or cared, here is the link to the "Has Zell Miller Lost His Mind" story referred to above)