But Jenna and Barbara really did steal the show. The word “sex” emanated from the stage. No, this wasn’t an ad lib. The marketers who are promoting the policies of James Dobson and Rick Santorum were making jokes mocking the prudery of people who think “Sex and the City” is something only married people do and never talk about. Like the president’s gaffe about not winning the war on terror, this could never have been uttered at a Democratic convention without the Dems being described as out-of-touch metrosexuals. But the delegates, knowing that this kind of front is necessary to win over the American middle, didn’t seem to mind. Compared to the earnest, mature, almost somber Kerry daughters, these two were upper-class brats, giggling, cooing, pointing to friends in the crowd, giggling over their lines, and generally showing the maturity of the average “American Idol” contestant. I have to say I loved it – if only for its authenticity, for the sudden interruption of an actual reality into the sometimes surreal script of this convention. So we have an Austrian-American bodybuilder with a history of orgies and a couple of spoiled, hard-drinking party girls fronting for a party whose platform is inspired in large part by Biblical fundamentalism. Yep. It would be hard to convey a more vivid reflection of our fractured culture than that.
LAURA: I’m one of those people who believe that the spouses of candidates should have no role at conventions or in government and are best seen and not heard (that goes for men as well as women). But Laura Bush is easily a more appealing character than a woman who has long forgotten that the only reason anyone is interested in what she has to say is her money. Laura’s speech was boilerplate and that hideous, pink, cut-glass thingy they shoved behind her was distracting. My only real quibble is that it seems logically weird to argue that embryonic stem cell research is an abuse of human life and yet brag that her husband permitted the first federally-funded studies. If it’s an abuse of human life, shouldn’t it be deplored in all cases?
DIVERSITY: Another theme was the alleged ideological diversity of the GOP. See – we allow our dissidents prime speaking spots, they argue. But the test of diversity is whether those speakers can actually dissent from party nostrums, and speak their own minds. But McCain, Giuliani, and Schwarzenegger all avoided any mention of domestic disagreements and merely vouched for Bush’s character and qualifications to be a war-leader. That’s not diversity. On the real issues that divide the party – the spending, the deficit, stem-cell research, the incompetence of the Iraq occupation, the FMA, immigration – there was and will be no dissent allowed. The platform is the most hardline religious right document ever put together by the GOP. In that way, the dutiful appearance by one dissident after another, all of whom merely express confidence in the blessed leader, comes off as actually quite creepy. Yes, they are welcome as Republicans. But only if they toe the line in public and help re-elect the ticket. Will their views be accommodated after the election? Are you kidding? And the real leaders of the party, and its intellectual inspirations, are kept off-stage. Yes: politics as usual and no big deal. But please spare me the diversity crap. In that respect, so far, this convention has had as much variation as Bob Dole’s hair color.
The Dish 