Day After Convention (Updated)
It's a full day after the GOP convention, and time to review it's success and some of my own predictions.
First off, Bush got a nice bounce, and I expect his lead to increase by a few more points over the next several days as Bush's speech sinks in. Bush presented his vision for the future within the first half hour of his speech, and devoted the second half mostly to the War on Terror and in Iraq. In addition, Bush mentioned Kerry only a few times, and mostly to use him as a joke. Overall, the speech was very emotional according to some at the convention, and I believe it’s positive response will continue to resonate over the next week. In that time, Bush will be on a campaign blitz to sell the speech.
Kerry resumed his campaign at midnight, an hour after Bush's acceptance speech. Interestingly, that speech was little more than an attack against the right wing for phantom (mostly imaginative) claims. Kerry has yet to present his vision for the future. I believe these delays in presenting his plans will cost him precious voters, and the poor quality of his midnight speech will take a few days to recover from, if he realizes his mistake, that is.
There is one other character whom turned out quite interesting, Zell Miller. Not only is he a democrat, and made the most aggressive speech, but I believe he ripped Chris Mathews (host of Hardball) a new one. here is the text of the interview, just scroll down to about two-fifths of the page. I’ll quote some of this, so you could also search the page for part of the quote and find an exact line.
Transcripts don’t carry the mood and expression of a conversation, but they do show a bit of it. I highly recommend finding a tape of the interview and skipping to the interesting parts, if you are interested in the bickering of this interview.
Update: In poll numbers, both Time magazine and Newsweek show Bush with a double-digit lead. Those polls were conducted either during the GOP convention or during the last days of the convention and the day afterward. Earlier pools showed Bush with a lead of only a few points. In addition, the Newsweek poll showed that Bush's followers support him more strongly than Kerry's followers support Kerry. Here is the Newsweek poll, and here is the Time poll. And, as I've stated earlier, I expect Bush's lead to increase over the week. That swell may be most noticeable in a positive reassessment of how well Bush is handling terrorism, as I believe the events in Russia will heighten the issue.
First off, Bush got a nice bounce, and I expect his lead to increase by a few more points over the next several days as Bush's speech sinks in. Bush presented his vision for the future within the first half hour of his speech, and devoted the second half mostly to the War on Terror and in Iraq. In addition, Bush mentioned Kerry only a few times, and mostly to use him as a joke. Overall, the speech was very emotional according to some at the convention, and I believe it’s positive response will continue to resonate over the next week. In that time, Bush will be on a campaign blitz to sell the speech.
Kerry resumed his campaign at midnight, an hour after Bush's acceptance speech. Interestingly, that speech was little more than an attack against the right wing for phantom (mostly imaginative) claims. Kerry has yet to present his vision for the future. I believe these delays in presenting his plans will cost him precious voters, and the poor quality of his midnight speech will take a few days to recover from, if he realizes his mistake, that is.
There is one other character whom turned out quite interesting, Zell Miller. Not only is he a democrat, and made the most aggressive speech, but I believe he ripped Chris Mathews (host of Hardball) a new one. here is the text of the interview, just scroll down to about two-fifths of the page. I’ll quote some of this, so you could also search the page for part of the quote and find an exact line.
MATTHEWS: OK. Do you believe now—do you believe, Senator, truthfully, that John Kerry wants to defend the country with spitballs? Do you believe that?
MILLER: That was a metaphor, wasn‘t it? Do you know what a metaphor is?
MATTHEWS: Well, what do you mean by a metaphor?
MILLER: Wait a minute. He certainly does not want to defend the country with the B-1 bomber or the B-2 bomber or the Harrier jet or the Apache helicopter or all those other things that I mentioned. And there were even more of them in here.
You‘ve got to quit taking these Democratic talking points and using what they are saying to you.
MATTHEWS: No, I am using your talking points and asking you if you really believe them.
MILLER: Well, use John Kerry‘s talking points from the—from what he has had to say on the floor of the Senate, where he talked about them being occupiers, where he put out this whenever he was running for the U.S. Senate about what he wanted to cancel. Cancel to me means to do away with.
MATTHEWS: Well, what did you mean by the following.
MILLER: I think we ought to cancel this interview.
MATTHEWS: Well, I don‘t mean...
MATTHEWS: Well, that would be my loss, Senator. That would be my loss.
…
MATTHEWS: What does Jim Jeffords say to you?
MILLER: Wait a minute.
MATTHEWS: Jim Jeffords switched parties after getting elected.
MILLER: If you‘re going to ask a question...
MATTHEWS: Well, it‘s a tough question. It takes a few words.
MILLER: Get out of my face.
MILLER: If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Senator, please.
MILLER: You know, I wish we...
MILLER: I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel.
MILLER: Now, that would be pretty good.
Don‘t ask me—don‘t pull that...
Transcripts don’t carry the mood and expression of a conversation, but they do show a bit of it. I highly recommend finding a tape of the interview and skipping to the interesting parts, if you are interested in the bickering of this interview.
Update: In poll numbers, both Time magazine and Newsweek show Bush with a double-digit lead. Those polls were conducted either during the GOP convention or during the last days of the convention and the day afterward. Earlier pools showed Bush with a lead of only a few points. In addition, the Newsweek poll showed that Bush's followers support him more strongly than Kerry's followers support Kerry. Here is the Newsweek poll, and here is the Time poll. And, as I've stated earlier, I expect Bush's lead to increase over the week. That swell may be most noticeable in a positive reassessment of how well Bush is handling terrorism, as I believe the events in Russia will heighten the issue.
posted by Chris at
12:45 AM
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