Monday, August 30, 2004
Republicans Get Their Chance
Well, day one just wrapped up and it's always interesting to ask... if politicians speak and it's not on television do their words reverberate with the general public?
John McCain and Rudy Guliani hit the podium tonight, both speaking highly of W and the war in Iraq.
They spoke of freedom and the fact that terrorism grows from governments that oppress which is why we needed to take care of Saddam now...strange that no one mentioned that most of the terrorist were Saudis and that the government there oppresses as good as anyone, but that probably wasn't the point they wanted to make.
They both spoke well, McCain was very much on message while Rudy was a bit less formal and spoke with more bravado. Guliani attacked Kerry with verve on his changing of his mind on support for the war and told some wonderful anecdotes about Bush and 9/11.
There was plenty of reminders of 9/11 and a number of family members of the victims spoke. I'm still not a big fan of this attempt to use the families to promote a political party, but clearly the families have every right to express their views however they choose.
Probably the most important aspect was that both Guliani and McCain are moderate Republicans, both expressing their support for the President (despite the fact that he is anything but moderate.)
I'm looking forward to the rest of the convention. I'm sure at some point they'll bust out the far righters who will speak of the constitutional amendment against gay marriage or the plank in the platform that seeks to create a constitutional amendment giving embreyos equal rights under the 14th Amendment.
This is an interesting issue. The way the law is written, abortions of all kinds would be illegal. There would be no exceptions for mother's health, rape or incest. However, when questioned about the issue, Rick Santorum (a big republican supporter of the amendment) said that if a mother's life was in danger a termination probably could be performed in much the same way that if you were being attacked you could act in self-defense. Essentially saying that it's still murder, but it's self-defense so it's ok. The problem with that is if you run into an over-zealous prosecutor trying to make a name for himself, who doesn't believe the mother's life was truly in danger, he could prosecute both the mother and doctor on murder charges.
On top of that, who doesn't seek a return to the days of backroom abortions?
John McCain and Rudy Guliani hit the podium tonight, both speaking highly of W and the war in Iraq.
They spoke of freedom and the fact that terrorism grows from governments that oppress which is why we needed to take care of Saddam now...strange that no one mentioned that most of the terrorist were Saudis and that the government there oppresses as good as anyone, but that probably wasn't the point they wanted to make.
They both spoke well, McCain was very much on message while Rudy was a bit less formal and spoke with more bravado. Guliani attacked Kerry with verve on his changing of his mind on support for the war and told some wonderful anecdotes about Bush and 9/11.
There was plenty of reminders of 9/11 and a number of family members of the victims spoke. I'm still not a big fan of this attempt to use the families to promote a political party, but clearly the families have every right to express their views however they choose.
Probably the most important aspect was that both Guliani and McCain are moderate Republicans, both expressing their support for the President (despite the fact that he is anything but moderate.)
I'm looking forward to the rest of the convention. I'm sure at some point they'll bust out the far righters who will speak of the constitutional amendment against gay marriage or the plank in the platform that seeks to create a constitutional amendment giving embreyos equal rights under the 14th Amendment.
This is an interesting issue. The way the law is written, abortions of all kinds would be illegal. There would be no exceptions for mother's health, rape or incest. However, when questioned about the issue, Rick Santorum (a big republican supporter of the amendment) said that if a mother's life was in danger a termination probably could be performed in much the same way that if you were being attacked you could act in self-defense. Essentially saying that it's still murder, but it's self-defense so it's ok. The problem with that is if you run into an over-zealous prosecutor trying to make a name for himself, who doesn't believe the mother's life was truly in danger, he could prosecute both the mother and doctor on murder charges.
On top of that, who doesn't seek a return to the days of backroom abortions?
