A BELATED LOOK AT THE OBAMA-ROMNEY CONVENTIONS
The Shining - The synthetic glow of a dark convention
The line: "Go ahead, make my
day," from the 1983 movie Sudden
Impact is probably Clint Eastwood's
most famous line and perhaps joins "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," as
one of the most familiar utterances in cinematic history.
But it might not his most
chilling. I think Clint delivered a much
icier and far more Bernie Goetz-like come on during the scene in 1971's Dirty Harry when his
character, Det. Harry Callahan cocks his colossal 44 mag. point blank at a chancy
thug's mug and asks: "Do you feel lucky,
punk?"
For many reasons -- some
related to recent events occurring in both Tampa, Florida, and Charlotte, North
Carolina -- there are a lot of Republicans right now who might answer that
question with a reverberating, "no."
That aside, in the wake of all
that could be absorbed nearly a month after taking in both Republican and
Democratic Parties' National Conventions in front of a television set, the question
remains: Since President Obama had to
show his birth certificate shouldn't his Republican challengers be required to
take random field polygraphs because of claims they've made during the
campaign?
Actually, the Tourette's-like compulsion
imbuing the falsehoods
about the Obama Administration that raged in Tampa -- a
welfare check in every pot; millions in Medicare budget cuts; a nation that's a
larger economic basket case than four years ago; and Tampa's marquee misnomer: "YOU
DIDN'T BUILD THAT!" -- scarcely reflect the extremes of the contrast
between the two conventions. Charlotte paid
reverence to substance, enthusiasm, and inclusion while Tampa seemed a dour,
off-putting charade; an infomercial peddling little more than the politics of dark
delusion. Such differences laid bare the
clear demarcation line between starlight and shadows.
Smelly
ghosts
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