My Impression of the Conventions

I finally watched those conventions. I usually just like to stick to the debates and news articles to learn about the candidates because conventions seem to be just one big rally to get the faithful excited. It seemed to me more like a propaganda device rather than an informative device, but I have never seen or watched a convention so what do I know. I only know what I’ve seen on TV: lots of people in a big convention hall with their hats and color-coordinated clothing and party blowers and balloons, cheering their candidates on, as if in a football rally.

But with the pandemic and the need to do the convention virtually, I decided to see what they do in this new format.

Starting with the Democratic convention, I was pleasantly surprised. It was still propagandistic but only in a really mild way. I thought they handled the virtual aspect really well. I liked seeing average Americans waving from their Zoom screens and I loved the roll call showing each state’s landscape view. Both gave a nice panorama of the American life. Seeing regular Americans participate in this process was heartwarming. The whole convention seemed to go by fairly quickly since it was not just a person speaking from a podium. There may have been some people, outside of Biden and Harris, speaking from a podium but I don’t remember. For me, the podium aspect is an attention killer for some reason.

It was good to hear Kamala Harris. I knew from watching her grill Kavanaugh and William Barr that she was sharp and not to be messed with. She didn’t disappoint me. I was even more pleasantly surprised at Joe Biden’s speech: he certainly did not come across as senile or doddering. He still has a lot of energy and presence in the now to reassure me that he still has a few more good years (cross my fingers). Senile we can’t call him.

I also liked the “big tent” aspect: (some) Republicans, moderates and progressives were all there to fight for democracy. There were white, blacks, Hispanics, Indians and Asians in the mix. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are trying really hard to reach out to various groups in society to pledge working for all Americans and not just the base. At least that is how I read it.

Also, there was definitely an effort to do social distancing and wearing masks during this pandemic era. The roll call showed efforts at social distancing. When Joe Biden came out to greet Kamala Harris after her speech, they stayed at least 6 feet apart, even though you could see that Joe Biden wanted to walk over to Kamala to “hug” (I’m guessing). When both Joe and Kamala went outside to see some fireworks, the Democratic supporters were outside, separated in their cars and wearing masks, so I saw the effort at being together through social distancing and masking.

Now, the Republican convention was different: it was more of a podium style, which tended to lose me. (It might also be I had already gone through a week of conventions so I may have been reaching my limits.) The speakers were all speaking from a podium, addressing an empty auditorium, which must have been very difficult to do. I would imagine speakers need feedback from their audience to gauge interest.

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s speech was interesting. It was actually kind of frightening: all of that screeching, being a great American and rising up to fight for our freedom or whatever she was yelling. That was pretty bizarre and frightening. I got confirmation later that she was yelling and that it was an “event”. Interesting considering she used to be married to Gavin Newsom, a Democratic governor of California, and used to be a prosecuting attorney. I wonder what made her flip.

There were a lot of blacks, a lot of them, speaking about how non-racist Donald Trump is. And there were also a lot of women speaking, especially the long-haired blonds, to give testimony on how Trump gives women chances to show what they can do; in other words, he is not misogynistic.

They doth protest too much.

All of that didn’t ring true, considering what we seen over the last four years: the bullying, the name calling, the siding with the white supremacists, the lies. I don’t know – something is missing. Yes, the women were able to do some things in office but I wonder if they were truly able to make change or if they were just a token. Those blacks might have been able to be friendly with him, but considering all of the other behaviors, I’m hard pressed to believe it.

And then there was zero or little attempt at social distancing or wearing masks. That was probably the biggest difference for me between the Republicans and Democrats. As far as I can remember, the non-podium speakers for the Republicans were Melania, Mike Pence and those speaking on Thursday night at the White House (Ivanka and Trump). These speaking events were outdoors so that may be the ameliorating factor. But the audience didn’t look like they were seated 6 feet from each other and they most certainly weren’t wearing masks, so I’m wondering what the next few weeks will hold. Will they contract the virus and will some require hospitalization (a la Herman Cain)? And on Thursday night, there were some chanting – “four more years”. The next few weeks will be interesting. (By the way, that motorcycle festival at Sturgis, South Dakota has produced infection cases spreading throughout the Midwest/west. And South Dakota is facing rising infection cases.)

I will admit that by the end of Thursday, I was bored with it all – Thursday night is actually a hazy memory. Trump’s speech was too long. And I worried about all of those people sitting in the audience, being unprotected. I do wonder about the fall out from that unprotected stance.

Will I watch another convention? Probably not, right now I’m OD on the conventions.