Since I suffered through enough of the GOP convention last night to send out a few tweets, I might as well share them here (one of these days I’m going to figure out how to seamlessly integrate Twitter into this blog in real time; until then I’ll have to do this).
And “suffered” is the word. After listening to several speakers spout the same, repetitive, intelligence-insulting nonsense for even a few minutes (waiting dutifully for Nikki Haley’s few minutes), I was fulminating in protest to such an extent that my wife threatened to go watch it elsewhere rather than listen to me. So I settled down, and fumed silently.
Speaking of waiting for Nikki, did you see this? We were watching PBS, the only network airing the whole thing, and as Nikki came on, they cut away and took a break. Fortunately, CBS — the first network we hit leaving PBS — had just picked it up, so we caught most of it. Anyway, here are the Tweets, starting a few minutes before that (9:53 p.m., to be exact). All are by me unless otherwise labeled:
- If anyone at this convention said ANYTHING thoughtful, original, anything unlike a bumper sticker, I might die of shock. But I’d be happy.
- I wonder whether, this time next week, I’ll be as utterly sick, tired & disgusted with the Democrats as I am with the GOP now. Most likely.
- TIM KELLY: me, too. And I’m a Democrat.
- Nikki sounds like she’s going over like a lead balloon. Oh, wait. Big cheer on Voter ID…
- Her timing’s not right… Nikki’s actually a better speaker than this. Do you think she over-rehearsed this?
- Nikki seems to be settling down a bit now. The usual stuff is flowing out more smoothly now.
- Did Nikki Haley just say, “We deserve a president who will strengthen our military, not destabilize them?” I think so…
- Nikki kind of went out with a whimper at the end there. Low energy. When they cut away, CBS people were talking about something unrelated.
- AMY WOOD: For those who saw it.. thoughts on Nikki Haley speech ?
- I’m not sure that actual THOUGHT is in order, after any of these speeches. And after this, we have another week of it with the Dems.
- TIM KELLY: Ann Romney confirms that we’d have no America without women. Cause, you know, they give birth and stuff.”
- I agree! That’s one…
- @PeterHambyCNN: Mitt Romney will join Ann on stage at the conclusion of her speech
- Like HE doesn’t get enough time in the spotlight
- THE DAILY BEAST: Ann Romney: A story book marriage? Nope, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.
- That, and well over $200 million. So, you know, who needs a freakin’ storybook?
- TODD KINCANNON: The one what has Mexicans down yonder from it. RT@ShaneEthridge: ??? RT @tcita: Ok, exactly which border is South Carolina worried about?
- We have to seal it. If not, we’ll have to keep on hearing ’em talk funny in the Food Lion…
- Everybody said Christie was really good. He IS. First speakier tonight who doesn’t sound like a bumper-sticker machine. Regular guy…
- Christie has that rare gift among politicians — these days — of sounding like a regular guy leveling with you.
- Christie’s like a regular guy sitting around talking it over with Tony & Paulie at the Pork Store. I mean that in a good way…
- Aw, now he’s descending into that trite “they want you to be mollycoddled by government” twaddle. Oh, well. Nobody’s perfect…
- SAM JOHNSON: Christie: “We believe its possible to forge bipartisan compormise” Where have y’all been the last four years?
- Yeah… but it sounds real when he says it. He’s good…
- “Real leaders don’t follow polls. Real leaders change polls.” Absolutely. I wonder if anyone there, besides Christie, believes it.
This morning, I noticed that Howard Weaver had replied to that last, saying, “well, for one thing it’s not true.” I replied, “It is if the words have meaning. A LEADER doesn’t join people where they are; he leads them someplace else. He changes minds.”
Poor Nikki. First, the hurricane. Then, she gets rescheduled, and PBS doesn’t air her speech. They were not alone. Adam Beam reported that “NBC not airing @NikkiHaley‘s speech. Brian Williams is interviewing Marco Rubio instead.” Adam had a rough night. He tried the Web, but “the YouTube feed died on me right as Gov. Haley took the stage. Not cool.”
I learned later that C-SPAN had it all without interruption. Of course they did; I just didn’t think of it (I don’t normally look at the non-HD channels, which is where that comes in on my service). Good to know going forward…
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She was focused on her teleprompters, not on the audience. When delivering her punch lines, she’d stare directly at the camera, nudge-nudge wink-wink. It all seemed very mechanical and awful.
I have not watched one second of the Republican convention and do not intend to do so. I will not watch the Democrat convention either, not one second of it.
I have had enough of the never-ending robo calls from both parties, the endless pleas for donations so the calling party can stop the other party from destroying America. A pox on both parties at this point.
As for Nikki Haley, who the hell really cares what she had to say anyway because everyone who watched it could probably have written the speech she apparently delivered. I read about it in the paper this morning and I am grateful I didn’t waste my time watching her.
The same can be said for the guest speakers at both conventions. We already know who is running against each other so why waste the time, money, and energy to have a convention?
I am finally fed up with the anger, lies, vitriol, politician’s broken promises, incompetents in control – both parties, and in general, the sewer our political system is swimming in today.
Roe v Wade will not be repealed and Medicare and Social
Security will remain with little or no changes. The public doesn’t really care except when it comes to how their wallets are affected. The politician whose promise is believed about making things better will win the election.
If you have an empty cupboard, you are going to vote for the one who promises to fill it again, no matter who pays for it, just as long as it is filled. We waste our time over non-issue issues such as voter ID bills that do nothing but create opportunities for both sides to spew anger and lies about each other’s intent.
The slightest slip of the tongue by a politician on either side is taken as something akin to Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with one of the Ten Commandments having a misspelled word.
Now, we are to endure months of debates hosted by the news media who have their own agenda and afterwards, focus groups discussing how well each candidate did and so on and so forth until election day arrives. Then, the idiots who see voter fraud – both parties – as a threat or non-threat will drive around to see if voter intimidation is taking place at various polling places. I know, I talked to one of the jerks during the last election. The only thing he was missing was his tin foil hat with an antenna so he could talk to the mother ship.
The day after the elections cannot get here soon enough for me.
@Burl – You mean she wasn’t as polished at teleprompter reading as Obama is? Well you can’t blame her, he has much more experience… I suspect after he’s booted from office he’ll go work for NBC as the new news anchor.
“I suspect after he’s booted from office he’ll go work for NBC as the new news anchor.”
He will not want to guide prompt construction of his presidential library, SD II, because he will have to immediately confront two embarrassing problems:
Omissions thus far in his educational history, and;
Like other construction projects he has touted, his library will never be “shovel ready”.
I read the transcript of SC Governot Haley’s speech. I don’t think that I can watch and listen to it without hurling.
But did she really say that Boeing builds “mac daddy airplanes”?
She misread her copy in at least a couple of places — either that, or it was a really atrociously written speech.
For instance, at one point she referred to “my governors” when she meant “my fellow governors.” Then there was the really goofy pronoun-antecedent problem in the sentence I cited above: “We deserve a president who will strengthen our military, not destabilize them…” What, pray tell, does “them” refer to?
Brad, do you hit every word in your written speech when speaking at Rotary?
There was another point when I almost tweeted out that she sounded a lot like Forrest Gump. But I wasn’t sure how to explain what I meant.
It was when she said of Romney: “And by the way, he balanced his budget.” I don’t know what Gump line that reminded me of, but something about the cadence, the tone, or the slightly OFF emphasis on certain syllables really made me think of him. I could really him him saying it: “And bah thuh way — he BAL-unced his BUD-jeyut!” With a little rise in his voice at the end, like someone bragging on a child: “HE tahd his own SHOES!” Or something. Hard to explain…
Steven, I don’t know what I sound like, but I do know that I feel really awkward as long as I’m following a text. I vacillate between wanting to depart from it entirely, and clinging to it like a drowning man clinging to a flotation device.
When I speak, I keep the prepared part as short as I think I can get away with, and go to Q and A as quickly as possible. Once people are asking me questions, and I’m just answering them as the words come to me, I feel MUCH more comfortable, and I know I’m doing a better job as a speaker. It all just flows so much better, and I can feel the connection to my audience.
Brad does a great job when he speaks.I wonder if this is Nikki Haley’s turn to be Bobby Jindal. Thing is, though, apparently Jindal is actually quite intelligent, just a poor speaker. Haley is usually all sizzle and no steak, so when she fails to sizzle….it’s a fizzle.
Well put.
Fo shizzle
Meant ironically; no pretense of street cred here.
Thank you.
Mr. Snoop Dogg, ladies and gentlemen…
So you admit to stumbling through prepared speeches, yet find reason to belittle someone else who stumbles through a prepared speech. I believe there’s a word for that.
Markey Stew!
By the way, that bit about assuming I’ll be just as disgusted next week when it’s the Dems’ turn is not just me being intentionally even-handed in my criticism, as Bud is always accusing me of being.
Just today, I was reminded of the disgust-filled column I wrote four years ago during the Democratic Convention, headlined “Yelling at the television.”
Here’s how I tried to explain my ire:
“What sets me off? Oh, take your pick — the hyperbole, the self-importance, the us-against-them talk, the stuff that Huck Finn called ‘tears and flapdoodle.'”
As I read on, there’s a lot of good stuff… I often enjoy my own writing, years later. I wish I didn’t have to wait so long to do that.
As Molly Ivins would have pointed out, Gov. Nikki’s speech probably sounded better in the original German.
“We deserve a president who will strengthen our military, not destabilize them…” What, pray tell, does “them” refer to?
-Brad
You rant about a trivial grammatical mistatement but fail to address the absurdity of the intended meaning of the comment. It what way is the president trying to “destabilize” the military?? What a ridiculous comment even had it been grammatically correct.
The day after the elections cannot get here soon enough for me.
I agree that it is a good time to tune out.
Bud, you call it trivial, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. As for underlying meaning — well, what she said made no sense, but I’ve come to expect that.
Did you listen to Ryan’s speech last night? Do you think Biden (the drunk uncle at Christmas) will even try to debate him?
I’ll say this, if Romney does win the election, be prepared for 16 years of Republicans in the presidential office. 8 years of Romney, 8 years of Ryan.
No, I missed it. If I get time, I’ll try to watch it, or at least some of it, today. But so far it’s not looking good for finding the time.
This is one of those situations in which the difference between working at the paper and not really stands out. When I was at the paper, I’d come in the next morning and set aside an hour to watch a speech from the night before, in search of column fodder. But back then, I was paid to do that — and while I had a lot of other things to do, setting them aside to do that was justified. It’s different now.
@Steven: Only if they reinstate the property requirement for voting and rescind the 14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, and 24th Amendments to the Constitution.
@Steven–Brad is a print journalist, not a politician selected to speak as a VIP. There’s no hypocrisy in criticizing Nikki Haley for a poor speaking job.
I am well capable of criticizing literature and professional musical performances without having to be able to perform at the level I am expecting the pros to be at.