A Pause In Content

Didn't really want to do any blogging during the Democratic Convention.

Honestly, I didn't really watch any of it, save the occassional snippet of members of the media attacking each other - always fun to watch.

Now that the Republican Convention is in full swing ( as they weren't able to milk the NOLA / Gustav connection since it landed 85 miles away from the target Republicans were hoping it would hit ) I'm starting to wonder if I should pay much attention to their "we're so awesome" party.

Hindsight being what it is, I think that I should have written something about the DNC. But, what would that have been?

Would it have been about how Fox"News" practically ignored most of the speeches? About MSNBC's infighting? Maybe I should have written about the ridiculousness of right-wing bloggers "jokes" about Obama. Maybe I would have written about how the DNC is more "show" than substance.

While Obama's speech was powerful and insightful, I couldn't even bring myself to write about that.

This isn't to say that his words were meaningless. They revealed to me that he does have a plan, a vision for this country that all could benefit from.

The one thing that I did do was read - a lot.

I read as many blogs as I could find about politics. I tried to find out why the conservatives feel as strongly as they do about a candidate like McCain. And, with Sarah Palin thrown into that equation, why conservatives are so easily manipulated and will forget their previous positions of a vast array of issues.

Any person, of any political stripe, can change position. Their reasoning for that shift in "idea" is what matters.

Is it done out of convenience? Is it done out of serious consideration? Is it done as a flippant jesture?

The conservative party, in more aspects than one might imagine, is the party of "against". Pick any issue that you can think of and any conservative pundit, commentator, writer, or blogger and you'll see that they frame their responses in the "against" fashion.

Even if they are "for" something, they will always pick the theme of "against".

Recently, this writer was labeled a "cut-n-paste" political blogger simply for the reason that other, more visible bloggers, often share the same opinions as myself. I often link to these pieces as a point of reference. The verbal altercation that ensued - with topics ranging from drilling for oil, Sarah Palin, John McCain's "cross-in-the-sand" story, to abortion and the election - got pretty fierce and eventually devolved into nothing more than mere name-calling.

This episode was interesting, if a bit childish at times, because it proved a point that many progressive bloggers have made about their conservative opponents. You don't have to address the message fully, simply attack the messenger, do your best to invalidate the person who is talking.

This is how the DNC was viewed by more conservative bloggers than I can name at this point. No issues were really addressed, they just wanted to make jokes about Obama, or how the DNC press-passes looked, or the fact that there were "crazies" marching in the street.

It will be interesting to see how the progressive community will address the RNC.