The Republican National Convention: "We're Americans, You're Not" - Civil Discourse? Fuggetaboutit!

Partisan as defined by Merriam Webster39s is a familiar term to anyone with a fifthgrade education quota firm adherent to a party faction cause or person esp one exhibiting blind prejudiced and unreasoning allegiancequot While Wednesday night39s RNC hewed to this usage it also veered into the territory of the more archaic second definition quota member of a body of detached light troops making forays and harassing an enemyquot Such was the jingoism displayed A friend termed the evening quota Nuremberg Rallyquot At the week39s outset we were told that Gustav necessitated a convention shorn of its politics Well someone forgot to notify the speakers of such changes to the gameplan On Tuesday night Pres Bush was beamed via satellite using the full weight of his executive office literally and figuratively to take potshots against quotThe Angry Leftquot Wednesday night saw speeches by the Governors Four Romney Huckabee Giuliani capped by the VP nominee Sarah Palin who it seems has spent the last five days in a safehouse To my ears it seemed that Bush speechwriter Mike Scully had his fingerprints on each and every speech of the evening particularly when it came to any of the predatory phrasing liberally sprinkled throughout the texts of Wednesday39s speakers While Gov Huckabee has otherwise shown dignity and class throughout the election cycle I might not share his creationist views but he seems to value civil discourse some of his message quottackier than a costume change at a Madonna concertquot seemed to be out of character When has he otherwise played the zerosum game If the last RNC in 3904 had the makings of a drinking game for each time quot911quot was uttered quotPutting Country Firstquot is this year39s call to arms and shot glasses So why was Obama39s work as a community organizer ridiculed by not one but three of the speakers Surely someone who attempts to rebuild infrastructure and mentor the next generation without political benefit is to be lauded If he had been employed by a Church or a quotfaithbased organization doing the same social service outreach how then might the same work be derided It appears that the RNC of 2008 has ideologically returned to its Grover Norquist roots wanting to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub Only that thought seems to be at odds with its actions During the last eight years the party of Law and Order hat tip to Fred Thompson has shredded the Constitution and increased its reach into our personal lives Less Law More Order The Democratic Party might be argued as the party of the quotNanny Statequot but it39s the Republican Party sorry Mitt that has proven itself in lockstep with being the party of quotBig Brotherquot he said it I39m just redirecting But don39t take my word read up on FISA and the Military Commissions Act So while Sen Joe Lieberman asked that Independents and Democrats join in and vote for his good friend John McCain on Tuesday night Mitt Romney decided to return to themes of both culture and class war beginning with quotLiberals don39t have a cluequot And this theme was reverberated with relish first with quotMayor of the Worldquot Giuliani and that selfprofessed pitbull with lipstick VP nom Sarah Palin And what of Gov Palin39s remarks Slate39s Tim Noah had it right Wednesday afternoon predicting that her speech would be acclaimed Again I suspect that Scully had everything to do with crafting Palin39s rhetoric Here39s a choice nugget from the entire text It sums up the evening39s strategy I guess a smalltown mayor is sort of like a quotcommunity organizerquot except that you have actual responsibilities I might add that in small towns we don39t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren39t listening We tend to prefer candidates who don39t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San FranciscoTrouble is that39s the nature of the political beast Here39s Peggy Noonan after earlier in the day praising Gov Palin in print as transformative Original link scrubbed by the WSJHere39s her somewhat tortured mea culpaShould we actually turn our attention to the substance of her remarks we39d find that quotindependentquot Alaska is basically a state subsisting on Federal welfare Tim Noah of Slate again on how Alaska is a socialist39s paradise receiving 184 for every dollar it pays into the US Treasury getting about 14000 per citizen from the federal government more than any other stateMcCain acceptance will benefit from the same low expectations that Palin engendered I actually don39t think he39ll surpass these Meanwhile In a bit of counterprogramming Keith Olbermann nemesis Bill O39Reilly has an interview with Sen Obama scheduled for 8pm an hour before McCain strides across the podium The segment was taped earlier today in Dover PA and Fox has leaked some of Obama39s statements including the concession that the surge has quotsucceeded beyond our wildest dreamsquot But what about going into Iraq on false pretenses to begin with Let39s try and break through Karl Rove39s quotrealitybasedquot community shall we

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The Republican National Convention: "We're Americans, You're Not" - Civil Discourse? Fuggetaboutit!

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Jerry Weinstein

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The Republican National Convention: "We're Americans, You're Not" - Civil Discourse? Fuggetaboutit!

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