RNC Night Two

Well, what to say? Arnold was lights out tonight. He nailed his speech and had his fellow Republicans flying. I suspect his speech played very well to independents as well. At one point during the speech I thought Arnold could take power in a bloodless coup. As a friend and I watched the speech, I did a lot of raving over it. I was surprised to hear liberals on TV and on the radio give it such high marks as well. I really think that that speech could be the tipping point. It's too bad for Arnold that he's ineligible for President, because I think we'd be talking about a third 2008 hopeful (not that I'm personally disappointed). The genius of that speech was "how do you know if you are a Republican?" A friend and I have discussed how people we know have Republican beliefs, but call themselves Democrats because they still believe that the Republican party is the party of rich, white, Northeastern business men. That small part of the speech may have helped create "Bush Democrats".

Arnold should have wrapped the night up, though. Laura and the twins did okay, but they'd have been better suited opening for Arnold. It was easy to see that all three Bush women were nervous-they have the same nervous laugh. The twins tried hard, but they just aren't natural at this yet. Just the same, for their first speech to a national audience at age 22 wasn't bad. As for Laura, the speech just didn't have the weight that previous speeches had. She had some tough acts to follow, though.

All in all, the signs that the media is starting to turn on Kerry are there. I think this lineup of moderates was very savvy. The media is having a tough time finding meaningful criticism of them, mostly because these Republicans are far enough left that they like them. Even if a big bump doesn't materialize, Bush is going to have a full head of steam coming out of this.

One thing that I'm surprised about so far is the lack of attention given to the protests. I thought that was going to receive major attention. I chalk that up in part to the professionalism of the NYPD.