"The Bottom Line"

The Democratic National Convention: A Recap

Coronation or calamity?

by Thomas Lindaman
08/01/04

I have watched a great deal of the Democratic National Convention and I have come to one conclusion.

John Kerry got hosed.

This was supposed to be Kerry's coronation, the opportunity for him to tell America who he is and what he represents. But what happened was that his fellow Democrats used the national stage not to talk about Kerry, but to promote themselves. From Bill Clinton talking about his 8 years as Commander In Briefs to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm comparing the Democrats of today to the Founding Fathers, it seemed John Kerry was the last thing on the speakers' minds. By my estimates, 70-75% of the time speaking was spent not talking about Kerry.

You know, Senator Kerry, with friends like this...

But this was to be expected. The Democrats have become a party of egotism in recent years. Look at who was at their helm for the 90s, Bill Clinton. If he were anymore egotistical, he'd call a 900 phone sex line that rang directly to the other phone on his desk. Need evidence of that? Read My Life, provided you can get a spotter or two to help you lift that 947 page tome.

But when you let egotism rule your party, you run into problems when one ego brushes against another. And this was evident throughout the Democratic National Convention. Al Sharpton ran 20 minutes over his allotted time, which meant the convention had to cut a tribute to George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis. (You know, that may not be such a tragedy after all...)

But aside from the cutting of tributes, there seems to have been the cutting of content. Kerry has this inability to articulate what he will do; only that he will do it. He claims his health care plan will make medicines cheaper, but he doesn't say what his plan is. You know, snake oil salesmen used to do the same thing. You can promise the moon only so many times before people start wondering where the deed is.

To make up for the lack of substance, Democrats added a lot of hypocrisy, especially as it pertains to religion. After spending three and a half years bashing George W. Bush as a religious fanatic, they cheered when Kerry or any of the speakers mentioned God. They stated they are the party that defends freedom of speech, while keeping protesters in a chain link cage surrounded by barbed wire. (Say, aren't they the same party complaining about similar conditions at Guantanamo Bay for prisoners of war?)

But the most surreal moments came during Kerry's acceptance speech. I was watching ABC's coverage and occasionally they would show a shot of the audience during some of Kerry's applause lines. I have seen people drunk or high with more lucid expressions. The delegates were not energized, save for near the end. They sat there somewhat placidly, like Anna Nicole Smith after drinking NyQuil and getting a taser shock. For all of the modern left's talk about Bush supporters being "mindless sheep," you sure couldn't convince me that the Democrats at the FleetCenter weren't pretending that they were in New Zealand

But the one moment that got me howling the loudest: ABC cut to a simulcast of Kerry's speech...as run on Al Jazeera.

Waiter, check please.

But what did Kerry gain from all of this? Was he any better defined now that he and his party had a chance to show him to the world? Not exactly. Party conventions don't tend to attract the undecided voters because, well...they're boring. Only the true believers, the opposition party, and people who can't find the remote control tend to watch the conventions. And it's a known fact of politics that most voters don't make up their minds until after Labor Day.

Having said this, though, the Democratic National Convention didn't help Kerry as much as hoped. We will have to see how much of a "bounce" Kerry gets, but I doubt it will be significant. In fact, on the Tuesday of the convention, ABC did a poll showing that Bush was ahead of Kerry by 2%...and this is during the convention, folks! Talk about getting stood up at the prom! Even with all of the positive response to Kerry's speech, the coverage prior to it focused on the negative aspects of Kerry and the Democrats.

So, I'd hold off on giving John Kerry the keys to the White House yet. If the Democratic National Convention is any indication of how the Kerry/Edwards campaign will be run in the next several weeks, Kerry may not have to clean out his Senate office just yet.

Not that it's cluttered by his being there, mind you.