The Party Convention Phase Is Over

"Opinion"

09/05/2008

Paul Munnis


The Convention phase of the 2008 election has ended and with it comes several key political observations.

McCain has admitted that Washington is all screwed up and that the GOP is the cause of it.

He has also acknowledged that he needs to separate himself from his Party for they are a failed Party.

His “Stay the Course” message is abandoned as totally unacceptable.

McCain has been forced to shift to a message of “Change” with all that such a shift implies.

In shifting his message he is admitting he is weak and that the Obama message of change is what Americans are demanding. To discover and to act on this just 60 days before the election is dangerous and allows the obvious comparisons with yesterday’s message to be made with McCain’s now flip-flopped positions.

When the American people watched the two campaigns side-by-side the results were quite visible. Democrats ran a crisp campaign with everything well organized and coordinated – just as they govern.

By contrast the Republicans put up a show looking more like a Chinese fire drill than a campaign designed to illustrate their ability to govern our nation. Indeed the GOP Convention was a mess just as their governing has been.

Democrats had high quality top notch experienced speakers with lots of new young vital Party workers available and by contrast it was obvious that the GOP speakers were tired, worn-out, old, and most of them are politicians at a dead-end in the careers and with no place else to go. A McCain election would mean retirement employment for them. Examples are: Giuliani, Thompson, Bush, Chaney, Palin, McCain himself, and Pawlenty. The GOP is full of such politicians now and after more than a decade of total control of government they have damaged America badly and yet they want to be returned to office so that they can live on political welfare. Voters are expected to turn them away in large numbers.

Palin was chosen to a chorus of disbelief and controversy. The GOP spin machine has been working on her ever since. She is quite vulnerable and she is not the choice of GOP stalwarts. They are forced to make do with her. Even if she materializes as the Queen of Hearts she is still a point person for a failed GOP and a failed candidate. To lead the parade fo a failed Party is a dubious distinction.

McCain’s negative ratings were sampled by pollsters and the result was a big drop in voter support for him. He was down in the 30-40% range of viability, at least a 10 point ratings drop. That has caused Palin to be used as a lightening rod and to even have to do quarterback work throwing Hail Mary passes in an attempt to take the spotlight off of McCain. She has done that and the spin-doctors had to paint her as if she were the candidate for president rather than McCain who is now just about out of the running.

It was thus bizarre to see McCain take the stage last night and it vividly reminded people who is running for the presidency. As he took the podium many flashed back over his campaign, thought about the failed Party and the failed leadership, and the dead-end politicians and they sensed that the GOP is dead and moribund and that Palin cannot rescue it. By contrast Obama has the optimism and strength of character of youth and that is something America needs badly right now.

By the time this weekend is over with Democrats will have new polls, we will see some bump for McCain as a result of their Convention, the campaign workers and activists whom the GOP mocked in their speech will start to knock on doors, deliver literature, appear in local candidate forums, put up campaign signs, and build grass roots support for Democrats.

That is what the next six weeks will be for Democratic Party field workers here at the local level. It will be a grass roots drive. At the national level the Parties will work on making their candidates look presidential and the GOP will play their war card in an attempt to make Democrats look weak on military matters. That has already begun. Democrats will bring to a close much of the investigation they have been doing that shows GOP incompetence at governing. The House and Senate will wrap up their 110th Congress. The White House will start to empty and the Administration will begin to wind down their tenure.

The last two weeks will be a frenzy of “Get Out The Vote” drives mixed with community Halloween and Thanksgiving pre-events. Parents will be going to their first PTA meetings as the kids get settled into school and the weather will turn crisp as the apple days of fall begin their warm day and cool night cycle. Football will resume and so will Church activities and Sunday School and support for the local cookie and library book sales. Then it’ll be time to vote and afterwards Democrats will count their gains while the GOP will count their losses.

After a couple of weeks of election post-mortems when the contested states become settled then the electoral votes will be in and we will officially know the winners.

We expect that when the election is over with that the GOP will become an extinct Party.

McCain said so last night as he vowed to try to reform it. One doesn’t reform a dead Party – one holds a funeral for it and that is what the GOP is doing now – they are recognizing that the patient is dying and that they need a new Party to replace the dead neo-con empty shell that was once a popular Party in America. The problem of how to reinvent a Party that is moribund with just two short months before the vote is a problem of unprecedented and perplexing proportion.

Democrats – please mark your calendar for September 9th and then come out to vote for we need to assure our ballot for the November general election.