Watched some of the RNC speeches last night. Fred Thompson went to great lengths to create a vivid image of how bad the torture McCain suffered in Hanoi was. Lieberman sounded like the good 'ol boy and Bush gave an ackward speech that, when stacked up against those two, revealed just how poor of a public speaker he really is.
That said, one striking difference I noticed between the DNC and the RNC themes are that the RNC spends much more energy rallying around the people, whereas the DNC rallies around their party. Perhaps this is because the Republicans have had the office for 8 years and Democrats need to "rally for the cause". Who knows.
What was painfully obvious is that the GOP is VERY good at mobilizing their base. Other than Ron Paul, they don't have issues with getting the party unified. There is no "Let's get republicans united!". It seems like all they have to do is pump up their candidates and the buy-in just sort of happens. Fred Thompson was there for the sole purpose of making people feel warm and fuzzy about John McCain (and/or put a tear in their eye).
Why does this matter? Because these people VOTE. Those old folks to like listening to Fred Thompson talk like some old southern Matlock-ish dude will be at the polls front and center. Always have, always will be. There's no concern about that. Just make them feel 'proud to be an American' and they do their civic duty.
The democrats have a problem here. Specifically, their base are liberal, typically a younger demographic and most of all, MOST of 'em don't vote. Sure, there's probably more of them, but what good is it when they don't vote?
Thus leads me to my point. And let me go ahead and say right away that I have no stats or research to back this up. This is total gut feeling. But I believe all the 'hate bush' and anti-GOP rhetoric that comes from Hollywood is actually contributing to the low voter turnout.
So let's say you need to reach young voters. Maybe the 18-21 demographic. Now, as we all know, when you are 18-21,you're basically a giant tool. If you happen to be that age, don't feel bad. I was a tool when I was that age, and someday you'll be my age looking back at what a giant tool you were when you were that age. 18-21 year old kids are exposed to TONS of media. The entertainment industry is most decidedly liberal (and anybody who thinks otherwise can just go ahead and shut the fuck up because you don't know what the fuck you're talking about). Furthermore, EVERYBODY has to have an opionion on the political landscape (regardless of how qualified or informed it is).
Let me just go ahead and say I think ALL of the entertainment industry is politically retarded. Michael Moore is a good propagandist, but he's not interested in facts. Bono doesn't know any more about how to rid the world of poverty than you or I do. And Al Jourgensen and Moby's hatred of George Bush has more to do with looking like a rebel than it does anything based in real facts. Most of these people not only do not have college educations, but live pampered lifestyles and haven't felt the pinch of a recession or had a son, daughter, brother or sister go to war in their lives. So that's how I feel about about that.
Nevertheless, these people and their ilk are VERY influential to young people. They are the faces and voices that tell kids what's cool, how to dress, who to emulate, and what are the cool things to say. This is basically the essence of pop culture. Now, when that pop culture spends an inordinate amount of time (such as hollywood has) giving interviews about how terrible Bush is, or how terrible some particular plight of some people is and how it is directly caused by Bush is in Rolling Stone, MTV, the Daily Show etc etc what are these kids supposed to think?
Here's what I think they think. They think (remember, they are tools) "gee, if PDiddy thinks Bush is an asshole and a terrible guy, EVERYBODY probably thinks like that! I better think like too!" This is why so many people hate Bush but can't name a specific policy, veto or law he signed in that instigated their hatred (HE WENT TO WAR FOR OIL!).
That leads me to my next point. If you grew up in an era of instant gratification, email and unprecedented accesibility to everything...voting is a huge pain in the ass. You have to register, take time out of your day and go to a poll (as far as I know you can't vote online), or actually "snail mail" (god remember that?) a ballot back to your precinct. Now put yourself back in the mind of this 18-21 Tool demographic. If the voting time rolls around, and all you are exposed to (what? You think most of these kids get their news from actual news or journals?) are what pop-culture influencers of your generation are sayin (BUSH SUCKS! FUCK BUSH! OBAMA IS THE WHITE KNIGHT SAVIOR, BUT STILL FUCK BUSH!)...what are you going to think? Are you going to think "gee I better get my ass out to the polls and make sure I get my say" or "Well, Obama has to have this thing shored up so no point in getting involved"? Tell the truth now
Paris Hilton was a microcasm of this very thing in 04. She was a spokesperson for Rock the Vote and talked about how "Voting is hot" (or whatever idiotic slogan she had) and how she "didn't like the war, and thought Kerry was a good choice" but then after the elections, it turned out she hadn't even registered to vote? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
So to the entire entertainment industry. Just shut the fuck up. No really. Stop it. You're not helping. If you feel the need to express your political views, say nice things about Obama. Talk about how great you think he is. Give examples of policies he's initiated in Illinois or in the senate that you're happy about. Make a case for how great Obama is. The GOP WILL get their base out. They will vote in droves. Their base is a generation that doesn't live in a world of instant gratification and doesn't give a shit what Moby, Rage Against the Machine, PDiddy or Paris Hilton think about, well, anything. If you REALLY support Obama, then you need to mobilize the young demographic. In fact, as this race is in a deadlock, that untapped resource of potential voters are your ace in the hold (provided you stop fucking things up). Stop giving them this false sense of a reality that the Republicans are so evil and vile that nobody in the nation would ever actually vote for one.