Olympicevents

Is it
just me…or do all political conventions seem kind of silly
to you?



Not to pick on the Democrats from last week as I am certain
the upcoming Republican one will be just as bad, but aren’t
these just a little too predictable? I mean, come on, you
and I could look at film footage from the past 15
conventions and the format would be essentially the same.




Let’s get dressed up in funny clothes and act silly. Then we
can drink and party.



If you sit the average person down in front of his boob tube
and play some variety or talent show from the fifties,
they’d get up and leave after fifteen minutes. What played
in Peoria in the fifties won’t cut it today. Nope, the
networks had to adapt to changing taste (?) and the desires
of the viewing audience. Comedy that was funny forty years
ago won’t even rate a chuckle these days.



So, what happened to the convention planners? Where is their
sense of creativity?



You and I could write the script for either one of the
political conventions in this country.



First we have three or four nights of opponent bashing in
which we list all of the evils of the other candidate. Then
we drag out either an old congressman or a very young, maybe
both, to speak on the virtues of their current candidate.
Then we have to have some family member come out and talk
about how Daddy was always there when he was needed. Then we
get the war veterans, if he was in the war. If not in a war,
we get subjected to a variety of colleagues who like to hear
themselves talk and do so for what seems like hours on end.
Next we get the wife, who has stood by her husband through
the dark and lonely days. The wife who has suffered, right
along side of old what’s his name. The wife, who will
probably end up writing a tell all book about him once they
are out of the political spotlight.



It won’t be flattering. Trust me, but she will make a lot of
money on it, no matter how many years later it is when it
gets published. It also won’t matter how badly it is
written.



Then we turn our attention to the audience. These are grown
up adults wearing funny hats and clothing. They appear to
have saved these various pieces of dress over the years and
see no shame in making bad clothing decisions. Where do they
get this stuff they wear? I’ve never seen anything like what
they wear in any of the stores I shop. Who hands out this
many pins to stick on their vest or hats? What do the pins
say or mean? These are the things I’d like for someone to
tell me.



All of this must have originated at the start of our country
when someone needed an excuse to throw a party. One of our
founding fathers probably said something like…”I know what
we can do….let’s rent a hall, dress up funny and drink….then
we’ll nominate old what’s his name for president.”



These conventions people appear to be at a fever pitch in
the waning hours of the evening. I’ve often wondered about
what they do during the day. Do they go to seminars and
training sessions to learn about their candidate or do they
just sleep and eat? What kind of topics can they discuss at
the seminars anyway?-



I’ve also wondered how these people get off work to attend
one of these things. In fact, if you want the truth, I’m
kind of jealous. It looks to me like several thousand folks
have a pretty cushy deal for a week or so listening to
speeches and yelling. I can do that.



Who pays for all of this anyway? How can I sign up? I never
see any ads in the paper looking for folks to join up and
attend some orientation session on convention going.



You can look around at the preparations they have to do just
to showcase the candidate. It looks to me like it takes
years to organize and prepare for the convention week. It
also looks expensive.



This stuff must cost a fortune just to pay for the balloons
and decorations alone. How’d that get started anyway? What
did they do before they had balloons? Drop pine cones or
something, I suppose. I still would like to know how they
fill those things….I suppose it’s still by hand…don’t think
a machine could do one….certainly looks like a lot of time
consuming work to me. Couldn’t that time be used in some
better way…like teaching a kid to read or something?



Probably not. That would require the old time honored
traditions to change and heaven help us, but that’s never
going to happen.



We might as well buckle down and get used to it, since it
doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. That’s the
American way. Dress up in funny clothes and throw a party.



I could do this.