Tim Russert called it “a very effective political night” for the Republicans, and I would have to agree. Democrats must be seething at the extensive usage of 9/11, its widows, and interviews and messages from veterans, police, and (Milwaukee!) firefighters.
I didn’t see very much of the Democratic convention (only what PBS showed), so I don’t know if they used a similar idea, but going via satellite to the speech by the Milwaukee firefighters’ union leader was near genius (except for the exuberant “RNC” reporter). In one move they took the audience from the out of touch elitism of New York to a midwestern battleground state where a key constituency sung the praises of the president. Combining that with the endorsement of the New York Police Sergeants’ union scored back-to-back home runs for the GOP.
Presenting the three 9/11 widows struck the right tone, also.
Michael Moore seemed to enjoy his part in John McCain’s speech. And Giuliani justifiably went long.
I think it came down to this difference between the Republican and Democrat conventions: innate patriotism vs. contrived patriotism. I think it comes more naturally to conservatives. Democrats have squawked for weeks now about Republicans challenging their patriotism, when in fact there has been no such challenge. But they do have that problem to overcome, the perception that the GOP is more patriotic and therefore more protective of the country, and they know it.
Maybe if they hadn’t made “Fahrenheit 9/11” such a blockbuster success they might have started to change that perception.
