Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
On no less than three listserves on which I lurk the pitiful performance of our so-called “opposition” party mouthpieces has been noted this morning. I didn’t see it, so I can’t confirm first hand. But the plethora of disappointed voices makes me confident in thinking that Daschle and Pelosi sucked. Big time.
Well, Calpundit has a marvelous idea.
I think that's what the response needs. The Democrats should have rented a ballroom or something, invited a few hundred party stalwarts (at 500 bucks a pop!), and delivered a real speech to a real audience. Instead of a deathly quite soundstage and an unblinking camera, they could have used the energy of the room the way any good speaker does.
Yeah, give it some of the energy of a stump speech, but inclusive of a broader audience and… well… Presidential. It's not like the Democratic Party doesn't have plenty of telegenic speakers. The Democratic message is a good one; stop apologizing for it or watering it down and figure out an effective way to get people charged up and feeling optimistic about it.
Charged negativity will not work on nurturing a progressive culture or winning immediate elections. But a boring tempo won’t either, no matter if the tune is a positive OR negative one.
I was completely convinced that she was one of those Disney animatronic robots. She looked surprised *all* the time and every time she paused, you could almost see the hand reaching up from behind the chair to put the new disc in the back of her neck. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought the Democrats had subcontracted out the SOTU response to the Raelians.
The Daily Show is gonna have a field day with this. Bad showing, Democrats, bad, bad showing.
Posted by: apostropher at January 21, 2004 10:28 AMit wasn't QUITE as bad as jeered, but it certainly wasn't a warm crowd-filled speech, either. i was concentrating on the words, which is the first time i've heard ANYONE put the platform together in one package for 'all' democrats, though. solid speech, if poorly delivered. i agree. let's rent an audience (hopefully, we'll win and won't have to).
Posted by: doug at January 21, 2004 10:46 AM