Monday, August 25, 2008

DNC Thoughts: First Night

I came away with a mixed view. Rather than try to build up to a conclusion, I'll just spit it out: she comes across as a tone-deaf, wide-eyed zealot. She's got a compelling story, she's cute, and she obviously loves her family very much, but it comes across as blithe. It was like watching slightly shy, earnest girl who's bright...but has been told that she's brighter than she is and has bought into it. Her line about Hillary Clinton delivering 18 million cracks to a glass ceiling was a little poetic, but it prompts the question: "What was it that prevented that ceiling from breaking?" The messianic language about how Barack doesn't care where you're from and so on continues to creep me out as being cult-like.

However, CNN loved it. Of course, they should: they had a hungry, murderous look in their eyes at the dullness of the night and were almost snarling as they cut away from the uber-boring former Representative from Iowa. Jesse Jackson, jr. doesn't have the same rhetorical skill as his father and comes across as a zealot (again, complete with messianic language).

The Ted Kennedy this was interesting, but I've got the sneaking suspicion that I got had. From the build-up, it sounded as though he was almost dead and I'll confess that I half-expected him to keel over in what would instantly become the most dramatic thing to ever happen at any convention. Instead, after a stilted speech by Caroline Kennedy, we got a Ted Kennedy who seemed to be, other than a little slow, in decent shape. It's possible that this was just a truly amazing event, but I just feel as though I got suckered by lowered expectations.

What I want to know, though, is this: is the praise of Barack Obama by senior Democrats, saying that he's revived their faith and hope and given them a role model, just talk or have they really drunk the Kool-Aid?

Monday, August 4, 2008

Brilliant Idea of the Day

You know those islands off the coast of Cornwall? They probably don't have a Chinese restaurant, and if there's anything tourists love, it's Chinese food. Why not open one and call it the Ministry of Scilly Woks?