The road to Charlotte

[veronica_rich]

Last week was amusing from Tampa; this week, it's time to see what entertainment can be wrung out of the Democratic Convention. Although I know something embarrassing will come of it - it always does - I reserve the right to feel if a gaffe or cock-up isn't on the same level as boners from the RNC. Most people on both sides may mean well, after all, but only one's platform is willing to sacrifice the many for the few.

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I just hope they don't lie. That's all I ask. NO LYING. Also, did you see that the Democratic platform is going to embrace gay marriage?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

How do I say ... I don't think you're going to get away from lies in politics, from any candidate. The trick is to figure out how bad the lie is, the reason for it, the content of it, and how deliberate it is. A candidate might say "I'm going to get us out of this war" - well, is he really going to try to do it, and if so, what is likely to intrude upon that effort? And is that intrusion worth NOT keeping that promise instead? Technically, even if the candidate intended to withdraw and never did it, it was a lie - but if there was a good reason or other things that needed more immediate attention were done instead, it wasn't necessarily a deliberate or horrible lie. (I'm just using a general example.) Like, there are things Obama hasn't done, but they are things I think he could do given another term, or get started at least; and I think he's tried to do some of these things already.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Well, there's spin and I think that people are savvy enough to know that part of this is about getting out the general message. Ryan crossed several lines with his speech in terms of acceptable spin. Salon has a fascinating article on how the media usually gives politician's a total pass on their speeches because it's usually in the "spirit" of the election. However, they were so incensed by the level of mendacity in that speech that they threw convention out the window and went berserk with the fact checkers. I think that his statements about Erskine Bowles, while neglecting to mention that he was on the fucking committee that voted it down takes unbelievable chutzpah. Or the auto plant in his state that was essentially closed during the final days of the Bush administration but he lay on Obama. That's what I mean by lying.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I see what you mean. People listening who don't know the facts either way and who might simply be persuaded by rhetoric might buy the load of shit Ryan and Co. were shoveling their way.

(On a related but different angle on all these politics, I was chatting with someone recently and she was making macros of Biden looking kind of silly in front of a fire engine, we were both having a laugh. I pointed out I think this is a moral advantage a lot of us liberals have - we're willing to make fun of those who we even support AND criticize them as needed. I can't remember seeing one Romney supporter ever poking fun at the guy. I mean, honestly.)

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

He doesn't really lend himself well to that, kind of like Obama early on. It was much easier to mock Bush Jr.