12.29.2004
In a Clueless Party (WashingtonPost.com)
By Michael Gecan
Wednesday, December 29, 2004; Page A19
Thirty-two years ago, in the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago, I believe I witnessed the destruction -- actually, the self-destruction -- of the Democratic Party. I was attending a rally for George McGovern. The place was packed. And the stage held scores of Chicago pols -- red-faced aldermen and county committeemen in dark suits.
There were the usual speeches from the usual Democratic functionaries, but the warm-up act for the candidate was not some tongue-tied Polish pol from the Northwest Side. Onto the stage strode an actor everyone knew -- Warren Beatty. He was a vision -- handsome, tanned, long-haired and dressed almost entirely in black leather. He dramatically discarded his floor-length leather coat, only to reveal leather pants and shirt. The crowd inhaled, gasped and burst into applause. The faces of the pols onstage went white with shock or red with rage.
Beatty is now a married man, with a family, back in California, but the Democratic Party is still the same star-struck, celebrity-driven, immature mess that it was in 1972. Instead of Warren Beatty, this year's headliners were Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the inimitable Michael Moore.
Incredibly, on the night before the election, in the crucial swing state of Ohio, in the incredibly important city of Cleveland, John Kerry appeared at a rock concert headlined by The Boss. If any of those jowly pols who were on that auditorium stage in Chicago are still alive, they must have howled with disbelief and expired. If buried, they were rolling in their graves. There is nothing dumber than bringing all of your troops out of the trenches at the very decisive point of a major battle. While Kerry was playing McClellan, the distracted, cautious and self-involved Union general who led from the rear, Karl Rove was Stonewall Jackson, using maximum force with maximum mobility for maximum effect at all the key points and moments of the campaign.
(More ... In a Clueless Party (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 19:23
Wednesday, December 29, 2004; Page A19
Thirty-two years ago, in the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago, I believe I witnessed the destruction -- actually, the self-destruction -- of the Democratic Party. I was attending a rally for George McGovern. The place was packed. And the stage held scores of Chicago pols -- red-faced aldermen and county committeemen in dark suits.
There were the usual speeches from the usual Democratic functionaries, but the warm-up act for the candidate was not some tongue-tied Polish pol from the Northwest Side. Onto the stage strode an actor everyone knew -- Warren Beatty. He was a vision -- handsome, tanned, long-haired and dressed almost entirely in black leather. He dramatically discarded his floor-length leather coat, only to reveal leather pants and shirt. The crowd inhaled, gasped and burst into applause. The faces of the pols onstage went white with shock or red with rage.
Beatty is now a married man, with a family, back in California, but the Democratic Party is still the same star-struck, celebrity-driven, immature mess that it was in 1972. Instead of Warren Beatty, this year's headliners were Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the inimitable Michael Moore.
Incredibly, on the night before the election, in the crucial swing state of Ohio, in the incredibly important city of Cleveland, John Kerry appeared at a rock concert headlined by The Boss. If any of those jowly pols who were on that auditorium stage in Chicago are still alive, they must have howled with disbelief and expired. If buried, they were rolling in their graves. There is nothing dumber than bringing all of your troops out of the trenches at the very decisive point of a major battle. While Kerry was playing McClellan, the distracted, cautious and self-involved Union general who led from the rear, Karl Rove was Stonewall Jackson, using maximum force with maximum mobility for maximum effect at all the key points and moments of the campaign.
(More ... In a Clueless Party (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 19:23
