The big news on Tuesday night of the Republican Convention was Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)’s speech (both video and transcript available). I just did a web browser find on Lieberman’s speech for the word “Democrat.” The final count: 15. You could have played a drinking game on the convention floor – take a shot every time Lieberman says the word Democrat – and not made it home.
Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat! He lost the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2006, and was able to win the general election as an Independent. I respect Lieberman’s ability to win the election as an Independent – we need more Independents in this age of partisan politics. But for him to say that he is a Democrat is a big, obvious, bald-faced lie.
Joe Lieberman is not a Democrat!
Ignoring that big, obvious, bald-faced lie for a moment, it was a great speech. It was exactly what McCain needed to bring out his message to Independent and Democratic voters. His key statement, in answer to his question about why he was addressing the Republican convention instead of the Democratic convention, was “The answer is simple. I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.”
“Country First” and its corollary, “country matters more than party,” are the McPalin campaign’s answer to Obama’s “Yes we Can!” slogan. “Country First” is a powerful message in patriotic America – I’m not sure that even the McCain campaign has realized what a powerful message it can be. Lieberman’s speech was a good testbed for the message. Tomorrow, September 4th, polls are coming out in the swingstates*of Nevada, New Mexico, and Iowa. We’ll see if this message is resonating in the polls.
What fascinated me about Lieberman’s speech was the varying levels of applause it generated from the crowd.
Almost no applause at all: “If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have led the fight to fix our broken immigration system or to do something about global warming….But he did.”
Wild cheering: “As a matter of fact, if John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I’m Michael Moore’s favorite Democrat. And I’m not.”
It’s normal for a convention to rally the party’s base, and that’s what we’re seeing with the applause. But the convention-goers should remember that there are millions of undecided voters watching on TV outside the hall, and they can hear the applause just as well as they can hear the speeches. There’s no way to tell how much effect that has on the polls, but surely it must have some effect.
Tonight’s big speech was by VP nominee Sarah Palin, whom Republican blogs have already anointed as a rock star, apparently without the tiniest hint of irony. More on that speech tomorrow, after I see a transcript.
*Swingstates is hereby declared to be just one word.
