After returning home yesterday from the CD3 GOP Convention, I turned on the Northern Alliance's radio show on the Patriot. Michael Brodkorb was lashing out at me [though not by name] for various complaints he had about my behavior at the CD3 GOP Convention. I replied to him, correcting him on his multiple factual errors and reminding him that no convention staffer at any time told me not to take pictures. If he stands by any sliver of the complaint he expressed on yesterday's NARN show, I would very much like to hear from him. Everyone at the convention was polite to me.
The convention featured an invited speaker, Lieutenant Colonel [Ret.] Michael Baumann, author of Adjust Fire: Transforming to Win in Iraq. No other speaker addressed Iraq during the convention. Baumann believes the war was a great idea and supports Pres. Bush's open-ended US commitment in that country. The CD3 GOP convention rewarded Michael Baumann with a standing ovation; it seems fair to infer that Baumann's full-speed-ahead view on Iraq is supported by the delegates.
I didn't get a chance to speak with the droning, charisma-free congressional candidate, who spoke in generalities and again promised not to be out-hustled--my personal favorite Paulsenism. Rep. Ramstad spoke with emotion concerning himself and with somewhat less emotion when extolling Erik Paulsen's various virtues. The best pro-Paulsen speech was his daughter Cassie Paulsen's introduction.
Later, at the convention's ostensible dénouement, Ramstad offered an on-stage bear hug to Paulsen. Paulsen responded by expressing a preference for a more symbolic, prissy embrace: By extending his elbow forward, Paulsen maintained his preferred 1-humerus distance from bear-hug-seeking men, reinforcing propriety. Erik Paulsen: A gray Eden Prairie minivan, in human form.
Paulsen is ducking the main issues. He refuses to speak on the topic of Iraq; his issue statements generally are very soft-focus.
Yes, the candidate received a standing ovation, but it was a lifeless standing ovation. Paulsen is running a silent majoritarian campaign of generalities and sound bites; that's why the hall never ignited with any gusto during the entire convention. To picture the emotional tenor prevalent at the CD3 GOP convention, imagine if a DFL state representative had come into the CD3 DFL convention unopposed. In such a situation, the candidate might sense he'd be better off throwing as little red meat to the base as he could get away with, so as to aid his post-convention effort at seizing the moderate middle. Whether such a strategy works or not, it makes for a boring convention.
The delegates appeared to be about two-thirds male, though I was confined to a very small area so it was a bit difficult to tell. If I took two steps in any 'wrong' direction, I had a constant minder ready to bark out a command to assume the position. Weird, I thought, that the CD3 GOP convention's floor-access enforcers--at a private, partisan political event taking place in Bloomington--were identifiable by their City of Edina public safety vests.
[Correction: A sentence misidentifying a member of Minnesotans for Global Warming as a t-shirted Paulsen volunteer was removed, above, after it was brought to my attention that the M4GW fellow wasn't in the Paulsen-volunteer brigade. Mea culpa.)
2 comments:
The Strib quotes Paulsen as saying:
"Our venture into Iraq has been badly mishandled," Paulsen acknowledged in an interview. "It's important for the United States to draw down responsibly. We created a mess. But we should not have a precipitous withdrawal that's going to create a vacuum ... for extremists to take over who could be a threat to the United States."
It's the only time I can recall seeing him address the issue. I do have to admit I'm a little surprised by his position.
It took me a while to track you down. Your blog is not easy to find. I noticed you at the CD3 convention last weekend. You were the only attendee with a media badge that was obviously intrusive to the convention. I went to ask convention staffers who you were and if you had been credentialed. They knew your name but not your blog name.
I thought it was pretty open and considerate to of CD3 to let someone walk up and say they are a blogger and give them media credentials to enter the convention. Unlike some other political conventions, CD3 GOP was very open and inviting.
As is with most Democrats that politeness if often taken advantage of. You were the only "media" person taking an inordinate amount of pictures. Not just of candidates but delegates and alternates. It was quite noticable.
While I agree as a blogger myself it is nice to get media credentials when you attend an event. The word media should prescribe some margin of nonpartisan fact finding. Your report of the convention attacks candidates not for their views but their personalities. Your assessment was also inaccurate on the amount of male versus female delegates and the mood of the room.
I would expect that anyone who reads your blog would quickly understand its partisan nature and I would encourage your readers to take that into consideration.
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