I watched the first night of the Republican National Convention tonight (Monday). Well, I watched some post-RNC highlights of John McCain and about 30 minutes toward the end when Rudy Giuliani spoke. I'm sorry but has this guy lost his mind? No, seriously. I respected Giuliani until about oh...30 minutes ago. Let me tell you right off the bat I consider myself in the middle of the political landscape with a slight tilt toward conservative values. I'm a registered Republican and (begrudgingly) voted for Dubya in 2000. But let me tell you, I'm not making that mistake again. And the spin these GOPers are putting on 9/11 is making me sick.
I'd make a Michael J. Fox Spin City joke here but it seems too easy. Seriously, do the Republicans have anything else to talk about...and by talk about I mean spin, besides 9/11? Giuliani said stuff like "we don't elect a conservative or a liberal - we elect a leader." Hey Rudy, how about talking about how Dubya led the Texas Rangers baseball team and an oil company into bankruptcy, huh?! (Though I suppose Cheney's a good leader. Yea no, he's good at leading Haliburton to a kagillion oil contracts with Iraq. Does that count?)
Giuliani started yakking about Kerry being a flip-flopper by saying "Kerry voted for the war...and then later he voted against it!" Yea, let's be really vague about what those votes were for, shall we? What John Kerry voted for was the president's power to wage war on Iraq if undisputed evidence warranted it. What he voted against was going to war on the basis of the evidence the CIA had given them. See the distinction? Yea, it's called responsibility. Every politician would want to give the president the power to wage war on a country that justly deserves it. But any smart one would know it's stupid to go to war under the wrong pretenses. Only dumb people get fooled by this spin.
Then Giuliani said that we can't just be defensive about terrorism, we need to be on the offensive as well. Wow, way to say something no one can disagree with you ass. To be fair, John Edwards did a similar thing at the Democratic National Convention when he said, "you cannot run, you cannot hide, we will destroy you." Yea, thanks Johnny. I don't think anyone's going to be against destroying terrorism. However, Giuliani's entire shtick was about this whereas Edwards's was about terrorism, fiscal responsibility, healthcare, social security, employment, and more. By the way, when you go on the offensive you usually need good correct evidence to support your attack. Hmmm.
In keeping with the "let's not say anything people can disagree with" theme, the delegates in the crowd were holding signs that said, "A Nation of Courage" and "We Salute Our Troops". Whoopty freakin' do!! Does anyone disagree with that? NO!! Who's going to say that they don't wish our troops safety and all that? We can support the men and women over there but still disagree with the purpose for which they're fighting. No die hard conservatives get that distinction. "Either you're with us or against us." God, how incredibly stupid is that comment? So you're saying that if I don't approve of the way the president is conducting war matters that I automatically hope all the soldiers die and that I'm unpatriotic and yada yada yada?! Dude, who are you - Joseph McCarthy!?!?! Jesus F-ing Christ.
Now can we talk about something completely rude for one second? How about using the city of New York? These Republicans parading around Madison Square Garden with 9/11 victims' families seeking sympathy. So you're telling me that only Republicans felt bad for that disaster? That only the Republicans were the ones that wanted to fight back and seek justice? No! Everyone wanted those things. But the smart ones wanted to do it correctly and intelligently with allies and facts and help from the rest of the world. Not "let's start throwing punches and if our allies get in the way then they must be against us!"
I also find it amusing that the GOP feels it must get the most liberal Republicans to speak at the RNC. Giuliani is pretty middle of the road. There was talk about John McCain switching sides to the Democrats in the past few months. The man has many differences with Bush. And how about good old Arnold? I don't think anyone knows how Governer Schwarzeneggar is registered as a Republican. He's so liberal it's not even funny. I mean, I guess this is smart on the GOP's behalf because they need the middle-of-the-road voter. But it also goes to show how few Republicans really believe in George Bush. The Republicans have been spending more time attacking Kerry than defending Dubya this entire campaign. What does that say? (Um, for those that can't infer, that means there's nothing worth defending.)
In closing I'd like to give you a quote from one Bush supporter among a family of liberals. He's the star of such films as The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Bio-Dome. Here is his answer to the question "What would it take to convince you to vote for Kerry?" from Joseph Scarborough on MSNBC: "He'd have to make all his decisions solely behind his belief in God". A strong statement that completely ignores a 228 year old rule that is, of course, the separation of church and state. I give you...Stephen Baldwin - voice of the Bush-Cheney campaign. God save us all.
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