Thursday, September 02, 2004
It's All Over....
It may have been a little long, but it was a really good speech from President Bush to close the Convention. He covered all his bases, stated clearly his position on everything from domestic agenda to foreign policy to fighting terror and firmly established his character as a decisive leader.
That said, much of the speech was class president content. He gave a nice laundry list of domestic agenda plans including increasing spending to community colleges and schools and improving health care for the poor and special economic zones in the lower income areas, however he also promised to make his tax cuts permanent and reduce government spending. When you factor in fighting terror and the war in Iraq, I don't see how he'll manage that and also reduce the deficit by half as he's promised.
All that said, most people won't be checking for that, the speech was powerful and I suspect will be very effective for the campaign.
Listening to the speech, once again it was clear just how well researched his material is as Bush hit every single point to please every member of a diverse audience. There was good news for the unemployed, poor, students, for small businesses, for big businesses. There was nice stuff for people interested in tort reform, deregulation and tax relief. And if you're worried about those bad people coming to get us, don't be George will protect us.
I did find (at least) one irony: Bush made a point of noting Kerry's relations with Hollywood stating that was one reason he couldn't be the "conservative value candidate". Kerry does have the support of many in Hollywood, but then again, so does Bush. Earlier in the week Ron Silver was kind enough to speak at the Convention. Let's not forget Arnold gave the keynote address and there was Freddy Thompson helping out with the Bush intro. And wasn't that Charlton Heston applauding (and looking really old)? Funny how if you are a conservative you can be in the entertainment field and have a political opinion, but if you are liberal it's invalid. That said, it still doesn't validate Ben Affleck as a Convention reporter. There are some things that are just wrong, that was one of them.
All in all the Republican Convention was a much more negative affair than the Democrats, but I have to think they did a good job of speaking to their base. Will they bring over the undecided voters? Maybe. Bush and Schwarzenegger will draw some people in, but nice guys like Alan Keyes and Zell Miller might make people think twice. And the angry tenor of the majority of the Convention might also be a turn-off. I guess we'll find out.
I will say this much. Kerry is going to have to kick some serious butt in the debates if he's going to have any sort of lead heading into November. After watching tonight I have to think that Bush will be hard to beat.
That said, much of the speech was class president content. He gave a nice laundry list of domestic agenda plans including increasing spending to community colleges and schools and improving health care for the poor and special economic zones in the lower income areas, however he also promised to make his tax cuts permanent and reduce government spending. When you factor in fighting terror and the war in Iraq, I don't see how he'll manage that and also reduce the deficit by half as he's promised.
All that said, most people won't be checking for that, the speech was powerful and I suspect will be very effective for the campaign.
Listening to the speech, once again it was clear just how well researched his material is as Bush hit every single point to please every member of a diverse audience. There was good news for the unemployed, poor, students, for small businesses, for big businesses. There was nice stuff for people interested in tort reform, deregulation and tax relief. And if you're worried about those bad people coming to get us, don't be George will protect us.
I did find (at least) one irony: Bush made a point of noting Kerry's relations with Hollywood stating that was one reason he couldn't be the "conservative value candidate". Kerry does have the support of many in Hollywood, but then again, so does Bush. Earlier in the week Ron Silver was kind enough to speak at the Convention. Let's not forget Arnold gave the keynote address and there was Freddy Thompson helping out with the Bush intro. And wasn't that Charlton Heston applauding (and looking really old)? Funny how if you are a conservative you can be in the entertainment field and have a political opinion, but if you are liberal it's invalid. That said, it still doesn't validate Ben Affleck as a Convention reporter. There are some things that are just wrong, that was one of them.
All in all the Republican Convention was a much more negative affair than the Democrats, but I have to think they did a good job of speaking to their base. Will they bring over the undecided voters? Maybe. Bush and Schwarzenegger will draw some people in, but nice guys like Alan Keyes and Zell Miller might make people think twice. And the angry tenor of the majority of the Convention might also be a turn-off. I guess we'll find out.
I will say this much. Kerry is going to have to kick some serious butt in the debates if he's going to have any sort of lead heading into November. After watching tonight I have to think that Bush will be hard to beat.
