Democratic Convention
Topic: Politics
Politics is interesting, fascinating in fact. But still it's hard to watch the Democratic Convention for the same reasons it will be hard to watch the Republican Convention. There is no drama as to who the nominee will be. There is no real newsworthy, interesting activity happening. The commentators provide more smoke than clarity, the people interviewed speak from whatever agreed upon 'talking points' they are given and so listening to one is the same as listening to any of them. It's a horror, a insipid exercise in the end of democracy. Which of course is really no different from what it was in the past, just a different type of nondemocratic activity. In the past, political conventions were run by 'bosses' who came together from their own private fiefdoms to battle each other and decide who we would have for candidates. The old anchors and commentators fondly harken back to the days when there was excitement at the conventions, when the kingmakers did their backroom wheeling and dealing and democracy was like a colorful madonna carried out once in a while for every one to marvel at. No excitement, the decision as to the candidates was made a year ago by the money people who put their money behind whoever. We get to choose from those few and think we have some sort of choice. Money makes the choice before you get a chance. The complaint that you will always hear is the one where we ask where are the candidates we would like to vote for? Sorry, those people were selected out a long time ago.

Having said that, I still do watch. I wanted to see what Hillary would say about having been dissed by the Kerry people. I wanted to see how well she hid her bitterness at not getting the vice presidental nomination. It's all right behind the eyes and interesting to watch. The possibility of her achieving her ambitions is fading and you can see it in her face. She knows that If Kerry wins then John Edwards will get the backing of the money people in 2012. She knows that if Kerry loses then the biggest player in the 2008 elections will be John Edwards. Either way she is screwed. But she knows that Kerry will probably win against Bush and you can see it in her crestfallen, gloomy face. Politics is so very interesting when you have some idea of the backstory.