Phew. I've run into quite a few people over the past few weeks who've seen both conventions top to bottom, and the question came up last night after the last balloon settled: Which convention was the best? In my mind it can be answered on a couple of levels — which convention looked the best, or which was more fun — but when it comes down to it, I think the real question is: Which convention did its job the best?
My mom reported in after McCain's speech saying, "I was worried when McCain started, but was in tears at the end. Your grandpa wanted me to take him to the post office to sign up again." While that's a rousing testimony to be sure, they were solid McCain voters before anyone set foot in St. Paul. So what do you all think? You've seen our coverage of both conventions — which party's did its job with an A++ super-gold star?
DAY Birger et Mikkelsen
Benefit
Givenchy
neither and both.
glad they are done though.
God.
1I'm still waiting for the Green Party before I participate in this conversation.
Go Nader!
2well i am not and never will be a fan of the republican party so i found the DNC way more entertaining.
3It's true, if you're a fan of one party I don't think you could sit through the other party's convention. I found myself finding it very hard to listen to the Democrats, but I heard it was a huge spectacle.
4i was way more into FURCON2008... the furry convention. both of these conventions were a little lacking in fat guys dressed as simba dolls and humping each other whilst listening to clay aiken. just sayin'
5YY, that was the Libertarian Convention.
6I didn't watch either, to be honest. There's no real substance to any of the parts that are publicized. While I'm sure all the conferances that the press got to attend were very informative and fun for them, I find the rest of it to be distracting, whether it was the DNC or the RNC.
7Yeah, I think bias plays way too much into that question. Democrats will say the DNC was better and Republicans will say the RNC was better.
8I agree Brendel.
9The DNC was hands down more interesting! I did watch both conventions so I would be informed. I hate when people make assumptions and they have no idea what they are talking about. The only way to truly know what the candidates stand for is to research their beliefs and policies and form an opinion for yourself.
10I thought when the RNC sacrificed that bull by slitting its throat was a good throwback to their party's roots.
11I don't think watching either convention gets anyone much information. Again, conventions are to rally the base, not inform the voter. If you want information, you have to seek it out yourself.
12I'm partial to my party, naturally, but I actually think both sides succeeded at what they set out to do. They each featured rousing speakers who did a great job of energizing their base and constituency, they both defined their platforms in whichever ways they feel are effective (again, I'm partial to one side, but I can see that both were effective at that), and they both came out with their official nominees.
13dnc, i really didnt care for palins until yesterday when i watched mccains
14Thats what I meant by research haus!
15Agreed that it's impossible to answer this questioned unbiased-ly (is that a word?). What conservative is going to be like, oh, the dems put on a great show! or vice versa?
16DNC all the way, no contest. You can't beat 80,000 people and a speech from Obama that put many to tears.
17I'd be willing to say the Republicans put on a great show for their audience.
18I didn't get to hear Obama's speech.was it really that good?
19would bored to tears count. Ha
20who thought that protester that got her 5 seconds of fame was ugly as hell
was she trying
to rip her top off?
21those protestors really pissed me off. they need to go back to kindergarten and learn some manners.
22They teach peace,but then they kick police officers,break windows and ect. and when did hoodies and jeans become one of the dress codes for protesters.The ones I saw outside most of them looked like mad little emo kids.
23"mad little emo kids"
Well, at least that doesn't sound too threatening.
24they're gonna eyeliner you to death!!!!
25I'll break their skinny, twig-like legs in two before they get anywhere close enough to do that
Or I'll just make fun of them until they cry. That'd probably work.
26Okay, Steph. You would rise above.
But I don't think very many people would say the
other team's convention was better.
27I thought it was hilarious when they had the big build up for McCain and then out he comes, walking like a turtle
I watched both to be fair, but the obnoxious "Drill, baby, drill" chanting made me want to vomit
28nice!
29Regarding the protestors, I feel like I saw more protestors in the actual convention hall at the RNC than the DNC. Citizen, was that representative? Did the RNC ones just get more camera time? I didn't get why the camera kept panning to the veteran protestor at the very opening of McCain's speech. I would have thought they'd be more regulating of the coverage. I mean, the pubs left nothing to chance, they even made their own hand made signs!
30I'm glad to know which party values "par-tay" over content.
I think the vote count on this poll explains why some of the commenters here get beaten into submission, though. Kind of like Gulliver and the Lilliputians.
31I thought the culture of victimization was a liberal thing.
32Beaten into submission? I think most everyone can hold their own...
33don't know how to post an image, but copy/paste the link
http://www.cwyohba.org/noexit/net/party.gif
hehe
34That was funny, desidesi!
35"I think most everyone can hold their own..." That's curious, because when I pointed out the sexism in our own party Torg, my comment got inexplicably removed.
36And yet, you manage to persevere! An example for us all.
37I'm a fighter.
38I'm glad they are over--not a big fan of conventions. I can't even get fired up for my side. I felt obligated to listen to Obama's speech, but for everyone else I just heard about it on NPR the next morning and read people's opinions on CS. I'm just too cynical to get excited about politics.
39I really hated Giuliani, Palin and the 9/11 video...so the RNC was bad to me, just factually incorrect and offensive. To be fair, I only watched Obama and Clinton at the DNC, maybe they played some offensive video on how if you didn't like books you weren't a liberal!
40I thought the lack of humility and aggressive stance of the Republican convention was distasteful given their party's record over the last eight years. Guiliani was particularly smug and insulting.
41i thought the RNC was just very tasteless.
42I posted this a few hours earlier but the post it was on turned into a very ugly mess.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/westmoreland-calls-obama-uppity-2008...
It's really the unspoken agenda isn't it?
43Incredible ceej - thanks for the link.
44that robot cindy mccaint spent almost a million dollars on her yellow outfit....isnt that uppity???
45"I thought the culture of victimization was a liberal thing."
Glad to see it acknowledged, too--thanks!
I think it's very American to recognize the odds, and hold firmly to your principles in the face of them.
I think the best example of "lack of humility" this whole election season is Obama's prophet of change persona.
And I love the fact that any criticism of Obama has to fall into a narrowly-defined range, or it's termed racist. It's apparently perfectly permissible, though, to freely state that Sarah Palin should stay home with her children, though, because she's a wife and mother. Double standard?
46lorena: The figure I have seen quoted by some biased sources is that Cindy McCain's outfit cost aroud $300,000. That included her jewelry, and I'd like to know how they set a price on her diamond earrings, because I'm sure no one saw the receipt. Did they assume she paid shopping-mall regular prices? What if they were a family heirloom? That's just a completely bogus argument, intended only to characterize Republicans as wealthy and out of touch, which is statistically untrue. This is a childish, uninformed, incorrect argument and an ad hominem attack.
47ah yes but who in the media said this? the only person I can find is Laura Schlessinger
http://www.drlaurablog.com/2008/09/02/sarah-palin-and-motherhood/
and I'd say she is fairly conservative in her views.
In fact her own campaign can't come up with any concrete examples.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-accuses-o.html
48i think that they offered different things to the public. they each held the convention in their particular fashion and had their own stance.
for the DNC, a lot of it was about entertaining, and luring in the younger voters in conjunction with speaking their piece, announcing to the world that Hillary was supportive and all that. i think that they achieved their goal - the speeches were 'good' and they were very clear and pointed about their issue positions.
for the RNC, well they got off to a rough start, but they were there more to position themselves on the issues, and to debate Palin's nomination. i think that Mcain knew that there was going to be chatter, and it's one of the best ways to get more attention on your party. i was very impressed with some of the speeches, and well...not so impressed with others.
all in all - i can't say that i've ever paid attention to any of them in the past, but this year i did.
49Who, besides Dr Laura, has said that Palin should stay home because she is a wife and mother. Please don't say the liberal media - name names that we would recognize.
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