Mitt Romney was good. Not great, just good. He was somewhat
successful at humanizing himself (though Ann Romney did a better job of
that Tuesday), but vague on policy details. Which likely doesn't matter;
the thin sliver of undecideds aren't looking for position papers. I still think this election will be a land war of getting out the base vote, rather than an air war of persuading a nonesistent middle.
Paul Ryan was bad. As in bad cop, the traditional attack-dog running mate role. Which can be done without playing as fast and loose with the truth as he did.
And
Clint Eastwood? Just plain ugly. A brief, scripted speech could have
been powerful, but instead he embarrassed both the campaign and himself. And speaking of empty chairs, O. Kay reports there were quite a few in the Ron Paul dominated Iowa delegation Thursday.
Other
than that, we saw a parade of rising stars and barely restrained 2016
hopefuls who focused on their own messages and shoehorned the name
Romney in somewhere toward the end of their speeches.
For me, though, the important part of the convention was the rules and calendar fight.
Republican rules have a ripple effect into the Democratic calendar as
Iowa fights to stay first. For now at least, the GOP is protecting the
quartet of designated early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South
Carolina. Iowa Republicans and Ron Paul supporters are bothered by the
new requirements that delegates be awarded in proportion to vote, but
Iowa Democrats already had that rule in place.
4 comments:
John,
You're looking at things through a liberal perspective, not a layman/independent perspective.
America is ready for no nonsense and quite frankly I think that was delivered on Thursday night.
Sure, my partisan glasses are on, but I really enjoyed Clint's improv and I watched the convention audience eat it up. I also watched the MSNBC hosts voice their disdain, which tells me it was much more successful than the likes of Maddow, Schultz and Sharpton would have us believe.
The in hall audience loved it because they hate Obama. I've heard lots of better and funnier critiques of my guy. This was one of the most bizarre moments of a bizarre cycle - and that, considering that Herman Cain was at one point a front runner, is really saying something.
In the end this will have little effect on Romney's campaign or on Eastwood's well-earned legacy. Marlon Brando melted down worse and more often in public, but that's not what's most remembered, is it?
America's response to liberal attempts to poo-poo Clint........ Crickets.
John, couldn't' agree more with your Clint Eastwood analysis...it was a complete disaster. I am shocked so many Republican pundits are sticking up for it. I saw it as inappropriate, unsteady, and unnecessary.
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