papa flip-flopper

now playing: andrew gold, "lonely boy"


so the first night of the convention is over...i spent last night (once i finally managed to get home, more on that coming up) flipping back and forth between as many different coverages as i could - MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and yeah...Fox.

i felt energized by clintons' speech, and wished out loud he'd been that passionate when he was in office. i don't remember him ever speaking that intensely. of course, i'm a lot more sensitive to this particular arena than i was then.

i got a kick out of the whackjob that chris matthews pulled off the street to talk to, who said, essentially, that "kerry is too much of a flip flopper...and bush might make mistakes, he might be wrong, but he sticks to his guns, and that's cool."


i just sat there next to my son on the sofa, stunned.


this is to say that if someone is dead wrong about something, that they've made an obvious mistake on an issue, that the more desirable reaction is to ignore the fact that you were wrong and continue beating the drum like you always have? that to ignore your fallibility and stick your chest out and insist that you're staying the course is preferable over admitting the error of your ways and adjusting your position?


god-DAMN, we sure are a country of idiots.


i also got my moneys' worth in the "afterhours" coverage on msnbc, with ron reagan (whom i'm developing a sincere admiration for) sitting next to joe scarborough and his undiagnosed-downs'-syndrome-like head. it got interesting when talk turned to michael moore and fahrenheit 911...you could see the vein in scarborough's neck starting to stand up when ron reagan first spoke to moore directly, and then discussed the film after the interview. reagan said to him, "i think that people take the comedic moments with a grain of salt...no one's going to remember moore circling the capitol reading the patriot act when they walk into the voting booth, but the most damaging portions of the movie are when he lets george w. bush, john ashcroft, donald rumsfeld, condoleeza rice speak...the footage of them, in their own words, is the most damaging part of the film."

then, of course, the scarborough sewage duct opened up full throttle for a few seconds...just long enough to get to a commercial without any rebuttals or opposing viewpoints. timing is everything.

moore said that he gets over 6000 emails a day, and a lot of them start with, "i've never voted before, BUT...", or "i voted for bush last time, BUT..."


i'm going to try to watch as much of the convention as i can, between unpacking, awards dinners, and visitors from out of state...and i'll try to watch the republican convention as well, although that just seems like premeditated rage-mongering on my part - but i will. i can't not, i think.


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i scrambled from work last night to get to keith amos' shop to pick up a pair of guitars that i sold recently from my own collection and make it to a rendevous with the buyer on time. i went to pick dylan up first, so he could come along.

the guy who bought the guitar - Vic - what a guy. he moved here from manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11 - he said that his wife had been trying to get him to move here for quite some time before that, but 9/11 sewed it up for him...he was buying the guitar for his daughter, who is becoming a beatles fanatic. anyway, we had a great conversation there in the parking lot, for half an hour or so...nice guy.


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tomorrow night is jayda's upward bound awards ceremony/banquet/talent show. she's told me that she's singing a song that she wrote with one of the staff members, who plays guitar. she also got an award for student of the week in composition/literature during her stay there.

i'll be running the video camera. having something to do with my hands will be a nice shield for allowing myself to get completely weepy and become an embarassment. i can save the weepy moment for when i watch the tape later.

or at least that's my position at this time. and i stand by it.

'course, some "flip flopping" is certainly possible....