The Republican national convention

[Brian]

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I've closely watched every national convention of both parties since I was 10 years old in 1968, and I remember so much. Most of them have been scripted television shows, yet each one has delivered surprises at the podium, on the convention floor and in the TV news booths.  Everything is live.  The Republicans have pulled off predictable presentations every year since Detroit in 1980, when Reagan spent about 24 hours negotiating a co-presidency with Gerald Ford before he nominated George H.W. Bush for vice president.  Their last contested convention was 1976.  Absent any delegate counting drama, I live for moments like Clint Eastwood talking to a chair containing an invisible Obama in 2012 and Pat Buchanan's nativism speech in 1992 -- which, as Molly Ivins said, "probably sounded better in the original German" -- harbingers of the Trump phenomenon.

At least 60 percent of the delegates this week are not Trump fans.  They're pledged to other candidates or they are establishment and grassroots regulars who are voting for Trump on the first ballot because they convinced themselves that they had no other choice.  How will they deal with the latest Trump reality show that he and his kids are mounting for their grand old party?  And how will he address a hall where more than half of the delegates do not like or trust him before what could be his biggest national TV audience ever?

I really, really hope that the protesters and the police outside the conventional hall behave themselves nonviolently.

[Brian]

Jul 17, 2016 23:00:17 GMT -8 Brian said:

Most conventions have been scripted television shows, yet each one has delivered surprises...

Michelle Obama gave a great speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  She spoke about her family's values -- saying "that your word was your bond" and "that you treat people with dignity and respect."  What if it had come out that Michelle's speechwriter had taken those lines, and many others in sequence, virtually verbatim, from a convention speech by Laura Bush?  Imagine how Republicans would have handled that.

About an hour after Melania Trump left the podium Monday night, MSNBC was reporting the word theft. A blogger named Jarrett Hill in Culver City had found himself finishing Melania's sentences, which led to him remembering that it was Michelle Obama who had spoken them first.  He broke the news to the world on Twitter.  The Trump campaign took a long time to respond that night, and at this hour they're still maintaining that they did nothing wrong.  Nobody has been fired.

By the way, Michelle Obama's speech was written by Hillary Clinton's chief speechwriter.

[Roberta]

Am I wrong to really, really enjoy the big flap over Mrs. (Ms.?) Trump's speech?!? So much so that Brian having been 10 years old in 1968 hardly bothers me at all.

[Brian]

While watching the Republicans this week, Anni and I decided that the best way that Democrats could counter this insanity would be to ignore Trump entirely. Every speaker should be instructed to never mention his name.  Just be relentlessly positive about America and our hopes for the future.  That would create suspense -- and drive up the ratings for Hillary's speech.

With a backdrop like that, Hillary can give the speech of her life.  Offer specific prescriptions for what's ailing people without being too wonky.  Speak the way she has lately at smaller gatherings and provide needed contrast to Trump's fear mongering and, yes, his yelling.

I have no doubt that her people will come up with a speech that's even better than the one that they wrote for Melania Trump.

[Oss Rae]

There's an impersonation of Melania Trump at the beginning of this edition of The Jimmy Dore Show. www.jimmydorecomedy.com/jimmy-dore-show/the-jimmy-dore-show-podcast-july-22-2016