Friday, September 7, 2012

What I Got Out of the GOP and DNC Conventions

Both conventions gave me goose bumps.  Here’s why:

The GOP Convention gave me goose bumps because I didn’t expect it to be so raw in terms of outright hatred  for President Obama; outright disrespect for the Office of the Presidency,  and outright disdain for the truth.  That surprised me because I thought the GOP would at least pretend that the Tea Party wasn't running the show being in the national spotlight but, sadly, that wasn’t the case.   It’s a shame that Romney, Ryan and their Super Pacs crucified the few remaining moderate Republicans who were willing to compromise with vicious ads and robocalls in the GOP congressional primaries. Now the Party of Lincoln no longer exists and the Republican Tea Party reigns supreme!  .  


Another aspect that gave me goose bumps about the GOP Convention was how they cold-heartily dismissed President Bush particularly since he gave them everything they asked for - a war, deregulation, tax breaks for the wealthy, conservative Supreme Court and federal justices.  I am no fan of President Bush’s economic or commander-in-chief policies, but I respect President Bush for refusing to stoop to the gutter politics of the Republican Tea Party since leaving office.  By not allowing President Bush to speak at their Convention, the GOP committed another assault on the Office of the Presidency and on convention protocol – it was the first time in history that a political party, deliberately, dismissed the most recent, living past President from their speakers’ podium!  


During the GOP Convention, a lot a time was spent on the past going back to the Founding Fathers and how great Republicans got along with President Clinton. As a matter of fact, they got along so well with President Clinton that they impeached him!?!? -  One more fact the Convention speakers forgot to check!  The truth of the matter is that patriotic Republican leaders of the past fought long and hard for their beliefs but when it came down to what was best for their country – regardless of race, religion, party affiliation, gender, age or financial standing – they pulled up their sleeves, made tough decisions that might not make them popular with their base, and they compromised!  That was not the tone of the GOP Convention.


Pundits from all the major networks, openly admitted that the GOP Convention was rather low-keyed.  My impression is that the GOP Convention was dark. That reality gave me major goose bumps!


The DNC Convention gave me goose bumps because it was lively, enthusiastic and the participants were charged up! That surprised me because the general consensus of all media pundits was that Democratic voters showed a “lack of enthusiasm for Obama”?!?  The standing room only crowds inside and outside the Convention Hall along with their passionate response to Convention speakers and the truth proved those pundits wrong!  


Another DNC Convention aspect that gave me goose bumps was that the DNC, finally showcased everything that was accomplished by the President since coming into office; finally exposed the GOP’s massive voter suppression fraud, and finally exposed the Tea Partied Republicans’ Block Obama campaign started the night of his inauguration!  (huffingtonpost.com – dailybeast.com – Do Not Ask What Good We Do Inside the U.S. House of Representatives by Robert Draper)


Some of the Obama Administration’s  accomplishments noted throughout the Convention were the President's  executive order allowing  women equal pay for equal work; passage of the Affordable Health Care Act after a  90 year battle to do so;  the nomination of  two women to the Supreme Court including the first Latino member of the Supreme Court; the elimination of  don’t ask don’t tell;  saving the country from a full-blown economic depression;  reversing  a 750,000 a month job loss to a 4.5 million jobs gain in two and one half years; the elimination of  Bin Laden;  weakening  the strength of Al Qaeda across the globe; bringing our troops home from  Iraq; setting  a timeline to bring our troops home from Afghanistan; eliminating  the back-breaking burden of getting student loans and facilitating the means of paying back those loans. The list goes on and on, but you can view a more comprehensive summary of those accomplishments from President Clinton’s presidential nomination speech at http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7420710n  or  www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUZuEbZ6lOU



Note: I searched and searched for a comparable GOP Convention link, but I  couldn’t find one GOP speech that outlined what the GOP has, actually, done to uplift the women, children, the middle class and the poor since 2009 or any speech outlining the specifics of what they would do over the next four years to uplift women, children, the middle class and poor.  The only GOP Convention speeches I could find were based on attacking President Obama and on what they would repeal?!?!



Another Convention aspect that gave me goose bumps relates to Convention coverage by news networks.  During the Conventions, I switched from channel to channel to compare how the conventions were being covered by varying networks. The best uninterrupted coverage for both Conventions was on C Span.  The network with the most interrupted coverage of the Democratic Convention was not FOX as I had anticipated - it was CNN!?!?  If you watched the DNC Convention on CNN, you missed out on a lot of coverage of everyday people, veterans, and small business owners who talked about the benefits they received under the Obama Administration from affordable health care, educational opportunities, veterans support to tax relief, but CNN kept on interrupting that coverage with attacks on President Obama and commentaries defending Romney, Ryan and Tea Partied Republican political principles.  CNN even interrupted Democratic Convention speakers with an actual real time interview with Paul Ryan – another Convention first!    



In conclusion, the GOP and DNC Conventions convinced me that this election will definitely be an election of choice.  Join voter registration drives and exercise your right to choose at the polls on November 6th.  


It will be your one and only chance to do so for the next four years!




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