Election Commentary #2

[tealin]

Dear Audience of the Republican Convention,

If you cheer and applaud after every sentence the speaker utters, you will be there all month. At least save it for the people on the ticket, mkay?

Thanks,

A Concerned Citizen

Comments

[stupidhero.livejournal.com]

I concur.

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

How very true. I heard it on the radio while cooking dinner, and it sounded almost like a religious revival.

By the way, since I know you like to post Discworld in real life references, I found this recipe article in the Christian Science Monitor. Quite interesting: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0903/p17s01-lifo.html

This is the same paper that coincidentally printed a recipe for toffee pudding just when "Making Money" was published.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! Doubly so, that there is a homeschooler who reads Pratchett. My hope for the homeschooled masses has risen, fractionally.

I can appreciate enthusiasm, but ... if you interrupt the speaker with cheering for the husband of the vice presidential candidate being a snowmobile champion, does that leave any meaning for when you're actually excited about something important? And, to a lesser degree, how do you expect anyone who has a sense of irony to stay tuned in to your important conference when you're so relentlessly ridiculous that you leave no room for satire? I tried, I really did.

[thefordmustang.livejournal.com]

I agree with your comments. Even today reviewers of Palin's and McCain's speeches said that neither one had much substance. That does not bode well for them. I was so hoping to learn a bit more about their agenda. I get the impression that many of these politicans don't have a good sense of the ironic or a dry sense of humor. Those of us who do, I think, tend to stay well away from going into politics.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't think there are enough voters with a sense of irony to make much of a difference to the campaign or the result. Objective self-appraisal seems to be entirely lacking in American politics. [grump]

I wish I could believe a lack of substance would make any difference at all to the people listening to the speeches...

[(Anonymous)]

As a homeschooler who reads Terry Pratchett with semi-obsessive fervor, may I add a fraction more? We're mostly pretty sane, it's just that the loonies get the attention. The friends that I had when I was homeschooled were pretty similar to the band geeks I'm around now in a public high school.
I think the point of the cheering is the core of why Sarah Palin is appealing; she's one of them, and it's obvious. And that _is_ important. It's the same principle as Barack Obama talking about how his mom worked long hours to get him through school.
Eureka! I have it! They're just making up for their hat-repression by cheering more! Republicans and Democrats should join together and halt this tide of obnoxious clapping. Stand Strong, America.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I admit I didn't know that many homeschoolers growing up, but the ones that I remember were varying degrees of isolationist fundamentalists (or at least their parents were). I suppose it comes down to the reason people opt for home schooling – lack of faith in the public school system to deliver one-on-one attention and personally tailored education, or desire not to have their children brainwashed by liberal wackos or exposed to anything that might be even slightly upsetting. My experience has been entirely with the latter.

They weren't cheering Palin, though, they were cheering the governor of Hawaii who was merely talking about her (not very well, I might add). It didn't even sound like she was working the crowd, either, it sounded like she was reading lines out of a picture book called something like 'My Alaskan Mommy' and they were a 'cheer' track that the audio engineer was indiscriminately turning up and down.

'In the fall, she picks blackberries!'
[cheer fades in and out]
'She likes to make them into pie!'
[cheer fades in and out]
'Sometimes she freezes the pie for later!'
[cheer fades in and out]
'My best friend Aurora likes to come over and eat the pie!'
[cheer fades in and out]
'Then we play on our roller skates!'
[cheer fades in and out]

And on and on and on and on to the point where it sounded like they were mocking the format. Add the sheer lack of content and the patronizing dumbed-down speeches, and I had to turn it off before Palin even took the stage. I can't relate to any aspect of Obama's background but at least he doesn't talk to me like I'm in the second grade.

[(Anonymous)]

The closest we got to isolationist wackos was Mormons. They were the best of the bunch, just generally kind people.
Oops, sorry. I thought you meant Palin's speech, which was the only one I saw in entirety. It's true, that is lame if it comes from someone else.
I stand by my assertion that if they had fancier hats they would cheer less.

[mollykami.livejournal.com]

I think, though, that the purpose of Palin's RNC speech in particular was to enagage and rile up the fans. Which she did, to be honest. Friends who were there told me the energy was great and that's why everyone was cheering non-stop. Obama appears so self-righteous and sounds so "elite" that for Palin to actually be "just another hockey mom" is refreshing. Whether or not she'd make a good VP is a different debate, I suppose.

But you are 100% correct, I was really interested in hearing what she and John McCain were going to say but the endless cheering sort of... interrupted that.