http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession en rapp@wjar.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-04T22:23:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/something_from_nothing/#When:22:23:00Z Drill baby, drill.  It seems like every convention comes up with a new chant.  Sometimes contrived, sometimes spontaneous.  The drill, baby, drill phrase appears to have been written to be mimicked.  But one that might have come from the screaming fans without a speechwriter’s contribution, is reminiscent of Fenway fans with their mocking lilt of the name of Yankee’s captain, Derek Jeter. Jee-der, jee-der…we’ve heard that echo through Fenway Park.  Last night it sounded familiar when the 45,000 delegates and guests began ringing the halls of the Xcel Center with Zee-roh, zee-roh.  As in, how much executive experience does Barack Obama have?  Zee-roh.  Zee-roh. 2008-09-04T22:23:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/electrifying/#When:22:13:01Z I was at Hillary’s speech in Denver, which was the best speech there.  I heard the longest ovation at the Pepsi Center as the crowd welcomed Bill Clinton.  Barack’s extravaganza at Invesco field was untoppable.  But for raw enthusiasm, Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech in St. Paul last night was far and away the most exciting of this convention season.  You’ve heard the phrase red meat, as in throwing out tasty phrases that the crowd eats up.  She delivered a banquet to this Republican crowd, hungry for a charismatic leader who sems like them.  Bragging about her family, proud of her small town, challenging the establishment press; there was much that this roaring crowd swallowed down whole.  And when she combined a swat at Michelle Obama with her own lifelong pride in America, the chants of U-S-A seemed like they’d been unwillingly stifled for ages.  Sarah Palin let this gang loose, and they felt their own power, and are ready to follow her and her running mate into battle: anywhere, anytime. 2008-09-04T22:13:01-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/wanna_fight/#When:07:06:00Z If you thought the new kid was going to quietly come onto the playground and try and fit in, you were wrong.  If you thought Sarah Palin was going to shy away from having a teenage daughter with child, she sure smacked you down.  This lady was looking for a fight and she wanted everyone to know it.  Between ridiculing Obama for speaking differently in Scranton than he does in San Francisco and reminding him that being mayor is like being a community organizer, but with responsibility, this self-described pit bull with lipstick bared her fangs tonight.  This fighter showed her fierce love too, winning in one line, the votes of everybody who has a special needs child like she does.  She challenged the elite, left-wing media, and told them to keep their big city opinions to themselves.  She’s small town, and what’s it to you.  Small towns, she said, are where the people who grow our food, work in our factories, and fight in out wars live.  And they’ve always been proud to be Americans.  A lilne that brought the night’s biggest applause, and was an in your face slap at Michelle Obama’s famous quote about her husband’s campaign making her proud of America for the first time in her adult life.  Governor Palin brought it tonight, like a school girl meeting a rival in the parking lot.  Obama seeks the Presidency as a continuation of his journey of personal discovery.  Obama’s cloud of rhetoric will blow away, along with his Styrofoam Greek columns, and self-desinged Presidential seals.  She was dirt under your nails blue collar, versus book learned smooth talking lawyers.  She satisfied the men by displaying her loyalty.  First, to the high school sweetheart who, twenty years and five kids later is ‘still her guy.’ And then to the former POW hero candidate, who she idolized.  Family values, mean even a gun toting, corruption fighting hunter, is not going to upstage her male partner.  And watch out if you try to mess with her man.  Of the speeches I saw in Denver, and so far here, this was the best received.  The audience most primed, the anticipation the highest, and the reception the most enthusiastic yet of the two weeks.  Maybe missing a day here wasn’t so bad.  And John McCain has a high bar to clear. 2008-09-04T07:06:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/cancelling_mondays_convention_good_news/#When:22:32:01Z Delegate Steve Kass, the former radio host and current state employee, says of the cancellation of speeches tomorrow, “It’s a blessing.  It certainly doesn’t hurt the McCain campaign that both Bush and Cheney will not be speaking.” What organizers plan to do for the rest of the week will be decided as the storm in News Orleans plays out.  Kass did say he hopes some of the speakers, like Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Senator Joe Lieberman, will get a chance later in the week to speak in prime time.  But he said cutting out all the speeches on Monday isn’t all bad.  “Have you ever heard some of these people?”, he quipped.  When asked if he thought the party would suffer from reduced television coverage, he said, “ If we get Tuesday and Wednesday in, it won’t make that much of a difference.” The RNC has said it is considering making one of the days of the convention a fundraiser for potential victims of the hurricane.  So there may be little political speechmaking here in St. Paul, other than the acceptance speeches by the two candidates.  Given the millions of dollars, 18 months of preparation, the scheduling smack up against the Democrats; all intended to counteract the positive impression the speakers in Denver projected across the country, it must be a huge disappointment to the party strategists.  At least an unexpected development.  Perhaps it plays into their hands, as they scramble to come up with a Plan B.  No Bush, as Kass pointed out.  A chance to show how much they care about poor people.  Show real disaster management expertise.  And what says concern more than money, and the party is talking about turning the political fundraising masters into relief agents.  And if McCain-Palin are on TV in Louisiana, it makes the contrast with the unpopular incumbent even more dramatic, and more real to the voters.  The more circumstances are played up as inconvenience, the more credit the ticket gets for compassion.  2008-08-31T22:32:01-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/wipe_out/#When:21:46:00Z i sat with the Rhode Island delegation as they watched the news conference announcing the grand kick-off of the Grand Old Party’s quadrennial campaign showcase will be cancelled.  No George W Bush.  No Demkocrat turned Independent Joe Lieberman. No bodybuilder turned Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger.  That’s a lot of star power wiped off the slate.  And no saying whether they’ll be rescheduled later in the week.  But tomorrow is business only.  Delegates reporting in, establishing a quorum, and doing the procedural stuff that is part of the nominating process, which is what the convention is ostensibly about.  This has to be a hit for the party’s plans to bounce back after the hugely watched Denver display by the Democrats.  The delegates are disappointed, but not complaining, because of the sensitive issue of the hardships coming towards New Orleans.  And who knows, they may find these multi-million dollar stageshows called modern conventions, may be overrated.  Maybe McCain-Palin will do betterl by showiong up on the Gulf Coast.  Maybe this will be the end of lthe corporate sponsored week long adult camps with liquor that these conventions have become.  Would that be a loss?  2008-08-31T21:46:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/workman/#When:07:34:00Z Remember when Hillary Clinton was at RIC and delivered her memorable criticism of Barack Obama..."Celestial choirs will sing,the skies will open up...” Mocking the soaring lyricism of her primary opponent.  You couldn’t say that about his speech tonight.  Instead, Barack Obama stepped out onto the stage wearing his tool belt.  Like a demoliton expert, he tore down, one by one, the criticisms that have been pinned on him by the Republicans.  Not patriotic.? He scolded McCain by name and said we all put this country first.  Weak on defense?  It was McCain who claimed he’d follow Bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but didn’t even have the wisdom to follow him to the cave where he lives.  Encouraging dependence on government?  Obama said it’s not Big Brother, but parents who have to turn off their children’s television and make them do homework.  This was not a night of lofty reach.  It was a gritty, methodical construction of a refutation of the charges that have been plastered on him.  A far different speech than the one he used during his victorious primary season.  He didn’t try to elevate, he stayed right on the ground.  And shied away from nothing.  He dove headfirst onto the three charged rails of American politics: abortion, guns, and gay marriage.  And displayed the secret of his politics by staking out the common ground that none of us can deny.  We all want to avoid unwanted pregnancy.  Even gun owners don’t approve of AK47’s in the hands of urban thugs.  And who would deny a lifelong partner’s right to console a dying lover on their sickbed.  It was not ethereal; it was sturdy.  2008-08-29T07:34:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/its_all_about_the_party/#When:13:37:00Z the problem with working at these national conventions, is that i have missed the main part of the occasion.  The parties!  i arrive at these delegate breakfasts all bright eyed, sitting with slow moving and heavy lidded delegates and guests.  Sure they want to discuss the speeches from the day before, and yes, there’s quite a bit of chatter about how the strategy of the campaign is reflected in the show at the Pepsi Center...but the good stuff is the huddled conversations about who saw who at which party..."oh Harold Ford was at the club..did you see James Taylor?...we went to the Massachusetts party, but it was a dud...did you get into the sold out concert?” We’re out of town.  The delegates are away from their jobs.  During the day, they’re lining up what they’ll be doing at night.  No deadlines for these folks.  Now I’ve got that off my chest, I’m going up to the delegates’ breakfast.  To find out what I missed again last night.  2008-08-28T13:37:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/bottled_pepsi/#When:12:39:01Z I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the delays in getting into the Pepsi Center…so I was prepared on the four block long walk into the building last night for the Hillary speech.  I groaned internally when I saw the line outside the security gate backed up with hundreds of people, and despaired that I had no chance to get in for the start, scheduled for twenty minutes from then.  Then I heard a cop say the busses lined up on the adjacent road would take us to another checkpoint.  Big choice…take a chance on whether that unknown entrance would be a quicker option…plus the bus ride.  I made the decision, got in line, and waited anxiously to board a bus, while watching the other line, and second guessing myself.  But the bus came, drove about three minutes to the other side of the Pepsi Center where there must have been twelve rows of metal detectors and attendants, and bang bang, I was through, inside the perimeter, and walking briskly toward the Center.  I’d heard it was tight going into the front door…but I stepped right in with the crowd, climbed on an elevator, and next thing I knew, I’d found a seat on a stair in a jammed stadium in time to hear Governor Deval Patrick and Montana’s Brian Schweitzer before the Clinton introductory film, and then her speech.  It was actually easier than getting into the conventions in New York and Boston four years ago, when hundreds or more were locked out hours before the main speeches.  So give the organizers here in Denver kudos for getting the crowds into the building.  2008-08-27T12:39:01-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/three_wheelin/#When:00:35:00Z Denver has a strip where a median attracts street performers and skateboarders, and restaurants and bars line the edges.  Between the sidewalks and the middle, there are lanes for bicycles, and a transportation alternative that we don’t have in Providence.  Bicycle powered rickshaws.  They’re doing booming business with the tired delegates who aren’t driving in the restricted city streets and are tired of walking or trying to find a taxicab.  2008-08-27T00:35:00-05:00 http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/blogs/rapp_session.html http://www.turnto10blogs.com/index.php/rappsession/rhody_loves_barack/#When:00:33:00Z Mark Weiner promised today he could raise more than a million dollars for Barack Obama in a Rhode Island record breaking fundraiser next month.  It would depend, though on Obama coming to the Ocean State.  A number of the delegates here in Denver say that’s never going to happen, not even for a million dollars.  Just as it is a delicate dance between the Obama and Clinton campaigns, if what the delegates told me is ture, there are some hard feelings from the Obama camp for Rhode Island, which voted overwhelmingly for Senator Clinton in the presidential primary.  2008-08-27T00:33:00-05:00