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Tuesday 6 January 2009

The Republican convention gets under way

There is no denying that this convention in St Paul is a smaller and less charged event - not just compared to Denver last week but the Republican convention in New York in 2004. But, in effect, it’s only opening night. Sarah Palin’s up tomorrow, and I can’t wait.

As Gustav fades, the first real night of the real convention has started. The signs, funny hats, even hesitant dancing (to Johnny B Goode). Guests were there: George HW Bush, his wife and Cindy McCain, to whom the cameras kept going back. She sat there looking like she’s escaped from a Stepford Wives remake. She will, I suspect, compare badly to Michelle Obama (whom I’m completely sold on).

First up tonight was Laura Bush, who was a smash hit. One forgets what an asset she’s been for him – pretty, graceful and not Teresa Heinz Kerry. She listed his greatest hits -  “The most important education reform in a generation” and the highest SAT results for minorities and 2m being treated for Aids in Africa. “That’s change you can believe in,” she said, taunting Obama. The crowd loved it..

Next came George W Bush on the video speech screen, a method that didn’t work well – just as well, then, that McCain didn’t decide to use it. The panto act is a large part of these American convention speeches, yet Bush couldn’t do any of it without hearing the crowd. The television monitors would switch the audio from either him, or the floor so the applause came instantaneously and sounded like the laughter in Happy Days. A few words of praise for McCain – how he refused the offer of early release as a POW. “For that he suffered five more years of beatings. For that his arms were broken but not his honour. If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve to do what’s best for his country, you can bet the angry left never will.” Then even more usefully, distance between himself and McCain. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know”. He could have done a little more of that, I thought. Of course being the president, Bush could have taken his advisers with him if he wanted. He stayed away because he’s toxic to McCain’s reform message.

Third up was Fred Thomson, doing character appraisals. I wasn’t going to blog this, given how dire he was in the primaries, but his speech was surprisingly good. Here are some extracts:-Sarah Palin – “She’s from a small town, with small town values. But that’s not good enough for some people who are attacking her and her family”. The crowd were not so much booing as baying for blood. A trick from Thomson: there are enough well-funded Republican-haters out there to produce enough bile to flood the blogosphere with rumours. I doubt they were the work of the Democrats.

“Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Washington talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit”. Crowd went wild. “I say give me a tough Alaskan governor of the largest state in the union who has taken on the establishment and won over the beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.” She has “got the media in a state of panic,” he said. “She’s run a municipality and a state. She’s the only nominee in the history of any party who knows how to field wrestle moose.”  Then silence as he described McCain’s torture in prison. Beatings, cracked ribs, a story which would without doubt tug every American heartstring. This is why Obama salutes McCain before every time the lay into him: it’s incredibly powerful. “Being a POW doesn’t qualify anyone to be president. But it does reveal character. This is the kind of character that civilisations across history have sought from their leaders: strength, courage, humility, wisdom, duty, honour. There are two questions we’ll never had to ask ourselves: how is this man and can we trust him with the presidency.” Roar.

Finally, Joe Lieberman. Watching this ageing windbag on stage, it was hard to believe he was touted as vice president candidate. Yet he’s totemic: a self-described Democrat who had to stand as an independent coming asking non-aligned voters to go McCain. “What is a Democrat like me doing at a Repulican comvention like this?” they answered with the ‘Country First’ slogan. “I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.” His speech was billed as being revolutionary and raucous - but I found it lifeless. He even called 9-11 a “great natural disaster” before correcting himself. He kept making weak jokes, then laughing at them. He had such little zing, he made Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of Obama last week look enthusiastic. There is no denying that this convention in St Paul is a smaller and less charged event - not just compared to Denver last week but the Republican convention in New York in 2004. But, in effect, it’s only opening night. Sarah Palin’s up tomorrow, and I can’t wait.

P.S. There was a brief tribute to Ronald Reagan. “The media hated him,” said the narrator. “Some dared breath the word ‘maverick’” – remind you of anyone? The intention was to tee up McCain as a successor. “He inspired the Reagan Revolution. One of its footsoldiers was soon to be a congressman: John McCain.” Not the best quality video I’ve seen, but redeemed by this line: “He hated inflation, taxes and the Soviets.” Class.

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