Tuesday, July 27, 2004
DNC Tuesday Afternoon Speakers
The giant tv has gone to the hospital, and I wrestled the medium size one downstairs into the entertainment center. All hooked up, and able to display most of the afternoon speakers. Here are my impressions as they happened:
Betsy Cavendish – NARAL – seemed like she was delivering a standup routine. Very odd energy. Just walked away when she was done. “The right way to protect our freedom, the right way to protect our future.” Ended on a low energy tone and volume. No “Thank you!” Made it seem incomplete. Maybe if there had been a larger number of delegates present, or if any of them had thought to cheer, it would have been better. She definitely had supporters present – there was a little cluster of them in front, waving their signs. Why didn’t any of them applaud, whistle or otherwise signal their support so she wouldn’t have to walk off the stage in silence?
Rep. John Tanner (TN) – Anyone? Anyone? Ferris? But see? If you say thank you and wave your hand when you’re done, it’s like an alarm clock that reminds everyone that it’s time to applaud.
Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA) – Good energy, appropriate emphasis. Wow – she and her sister are both members of congress, the first sisters to be both elected? Good plan – go into congress with a ready-made ally! She’s also a “proud, dues-paying member of the IBEW union.” Hope it’s not IBEW 103. Probably not, since she’s from California. Good bilingual, upbeat closing and exit.
Rep. Nita Lowey (NY) – Not a good idea to open your speech with images of death by diarrhea. Work into it after a couple of paragraphs. The blue on her jacket makes her blend right into the backdrop. “More than a million billion people live on less than one dollar a day.” Her delivery gave no indication that this was a correction from “million” to “billion.” It sounded like 1,000,000,000,000,000 people are eking out life on $365/year. I know the population’s been growing rapidly, but WOW! Good thing she pointed out that Kerry-Edwards will put more funding into family planning. “God bless America” with a hand wave works for a closing too.
Rep. Diana DeGette (CO) – Hey, she’s kind of cute and peppy. Whoops – she lost the energy once she got to the podium. Important topic (stem cell research), but dull delivery. Good thing I was watching this on Tivo, as I kept drifting off.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR) – Okay. Black jacket, white shirt, blue grid-patterned bow tie and a large red bicycle lapel pin. Is he the love child of Orville Redenbacher and C.W. Post? Pretty good delivery of environmental concerns and energy policy, though. For some reason the camera (C-SPAN) shifted to the back of his head during his closing. Kind of diminished the impact.
Break time.
HEY – It’s delegate Rick, from the Orange Line yesterday! He’s chatting up some other young woman delegate, not the one from yesterday! Hi Rick!
T-shirt on random delegate – Go vote, Go run, Go lead, Go girl – where do I get one of those? Looks like voterunleague.com. Here's their store.
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Betsy Cavendish – NARAL – seemed like she was delivering a standup routine. Very odd energy. Just walked away when she was done. “The right way to protect our freedom, the right way to protect our future.” Ended on a low energy tone and volume. No “Thank you!” Made it seem incomplete. Maybe if there had been a larger number of delegates present, or if any of them had thought to cheer, it would have been better. She definitely had supporters present – there was a little cluster of them in front, waving their signs. Why didn’t any of them applaud, whistle or otherwise signal their support so she wouldn’t have to walk off the stage in silence?
Rep. John Tanner (TN) – Anyone? Anyone? Ferris? But see? If you say thank you and wave your hand when you’re done, it’s like an alarm clock that reminds everyone that it’s time to applaud.
Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA) – Good energy, appropriate emphasis. Wow – she and her sister are both members of congress, the first sisters to be both elected? Good plan – go into congress with a ready-made ally! She’s also a “proud, dues-paying member of the IBEW union.” Hope it’s not IBEW 103. Probably not, since she’s from California. Good bilingual, upbeat closing and exit.
Rep. Nita Lowey (NY) – Not a good idea to open your speech with images of death by diarrhea. Work into it after a couple of paragraphs. The blue on her jacket makes her blend right into the backdrop. “More than a million billion people live on less than one dollar a day.” Her delivery gave no indication that this was a correction from “million” to “billion.” It sounded like 1,000,000,000,000,000 people are eking out life on $365/year. I know the population’s been growing rapidly, but WOW! Good thing she pointed out that Kerry-Edwards will put more funding into family planning. “God bless America” with a hand wave works for a closing too.
Rep. Diana DeGette (CO) – Hey, she’s kind of cute and peppy. Whoops – she lost the energy once she got to the podium. Important topic (stem cell research), but dull delivery. Good thing I was watching this on Tivo, as I kept drifting off.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR) – Okay. Black jacket, white shirt, blue grid-patterned bow tie and a large red bicycle lapel pin. Is he the love child of Orville Redenbacher and C.W. Post? Pretty good delivery of environmental concerns and energy policy, though. For some reason the camera (C-SPAN) shifted to the back of his head during his closing. Kind of diminished the impact.
Break time.
HEY – It’s delegate Rick, from the Orange Line yesterday! He’s chatting up some other young woman delegate, not the one from yesterday! Hi Rick!
T-shirt on random delegate – Go vote, Go run, Go lead, Go girl – where do I get one of those? Looks like voterunleague.com. Here's their store.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 5:14 PM 
