September 1, 2008
Cindy and Laura at the convention.
I've watched dribs and drabs of the GOP convention tonight, but the coverage is annoying. Gustav turned out to be a routine hurricane coming ashore -- which is great -- but I don't want to see repetitious shots of reporters in windbreakers in the rain in front of a tree that is blowing the way streamers taped onto air conditioners blow: enough to send you the message that indeed there is a breeze. But I did stop and watch Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, who read some words off the teleprompter in support of charitable giving -- which is nice -- but I didn't listen. I hope after tonight we get the normal convention schedule as originally planned and no more of this all-about-Gustav business. Aside from Gustav, today was such an insane day, focused on a 17-year-old's pregnancy. How could that possibly be news? And yet it was. So all I want to say is, wow, Cindy McCain had on a fabulous dress. I love the color, the collar, the cut, the ropes of pearls, the big pin. And I love the white blonde hair with the bangs and the tendrils. Lovely! Laura Bush.... not so much, but maybe that was intentional. Modest. Knowing her place. Not stealing the show.
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Got to meet Laura Bush once, during preparations for a commencement address she was giving in 2006. Even the dozen or so known liberals and/or Democrats in the room were in basic awe of her. She came across as classy and completely without airs, gave no sense of being in a rush or uncomfortable whatsoever.
Great Woman.
Ah, the GOP convention begins -- so there won't be any cruel neutrality this week! Unless it's about Obama.
Admittedly I'm only seeing the outfits in a photo, but Cindy McCain looks as though she's in a rain slicker. I much prefer Laura Bush's understated white outfit and the scoop neck works well on her. Both handsome women.
Time is running out on the far left to try to fill in the blanks on Palin before she does so herself on Wednesday.
They are getting pretty desperate, too.
And in some cases, the pretenders' masks are coming off.
In other news that probably wasn't covered tonight, the Japanese Prime Minister got bored with his job after one year and surprised the nation by resigning yesterday.
Wow. This is a much better look for Cindy McCain. She looks like she's had a complete makeover. She must have read your comments about Palin's bangs.
"Arianna Huffington: Saving the GOP and The Unbearable Lightness of Being Sarah Palin"
The above is the title of Arianna's column at Huffpo today. I guess she didn't consider the irony of callling someone else "light" as in a lightweight.
CNN was a disgrace in their coverage of the Bristol Palin situation. Every 15 minutes they revisited it in terms of some great earth orbit altering secret has been unearthed. they didn't even have the whole speech of either Laura or Cindy that I saw. Just snippets. They made MSNBC look classy tonight.
Hurricane reporting just hasn't been the same since Dan Rather went away. No one these days can cling to a lampost and scream into a microphone the way ol' Dan did.
Now we can see what adults look and act like.
During the broadcast, Cindy's dress didn't look as yellow as it does in that photo (at least on my monitor). I thought she looked fantastic. Laura, whom I admire very much, looked dowdy by comparison. On the broadcast, the nice detail on her suit was lost.
And can I say that the blue backdrop on the big video screen made for horrible TV? It was a shot of a flag blowing in the breeze, but the flag took up so little of the video screen's space that the effect was one of a blue screen. It was very difficult to look at the speakers when they had that all-blue background. When they switched to the red (seen in the photo), it was much better.
And Dan Rather was good in hurricanes, too!
Cindy's hair looked much better - the stretched-face bun things is not cool. Emphasizes the ice-bitch vibe (not that it's all bad).
The timing of Hurricanes Gustav and Bristol suck for the GOP, but since Obama got very little convention bounce, it may be a wash. Palin needs to get herself on TV more and soon - I think she's great but she needs to define herself - if CNN does it, the GOP is hosed.
Wow she does look great.
Whenever Cindy McCain appears on the TV screen, my girlfriend always snarkily asks, “Do you think she’s had much work done?” And she knows I really don’t care. Cindy is gorgeous and her outfit is ultra-sexy. In that convention picture, she reminds me of her. (It may be a kind of Queen Maleficent collar, but Cindy wears it in a Billie Burke good-witch sort of way.)
And not to slight the allure of John McCain’s VP choice, which is bountiful -- my girlfriend hates her too, natch -- but ever since she burst into the national consciousness on Friday, Gov. Palin somehow makes me think of her.
Weird, I know.
She does look much better without the pulled-back hair. I don't like that mustardy yellow color. I wouldn't like it on anyone.
Cindy McCain reminds me of Tom Wolfe's "social X rays". There is something disturbingly blank about her.
They made MSNBC look classy tonight.
It was fun to watch Bill Bennet call BS on CNN right after they aired one of their hit pieces. Wolf did his best to defend it. We were then treated to Campbell Brown belittling Palin’s role as the head of the Alaskan National Guard. I must have missed all the segments she did on the O's military leadership experience.
Cindy looks smokin', and Laura looks like she needs a smoke.
So this will be the Convention that is bookmarked by hurricanes: Gustav at the beginning, and Hanna at the end. The news Friday morning will not be of the convention speech, but of Hurricane Preparations on the southeast coast. So get ready for more silly Reporter shots, this time from Charleston or Savannah or Myrtle Beach.
I think this is good for McCain. There will be less time spent talking about his speech. Is there anyone here, my friends, who truthfully anticipate a better, more electrifying speech than Obama's? I think it could happen, but it's unlikely. And I get the sense that among some supporters, the more McCain talks, the less headway he makes. Does Gov. Palin talk on Wednesday? Her speech should be uninterrupted by weather events.
The comparison in natural disasters that occur when the Democrats met vs. when the Republicans meet is interesting. Did Republicans consult with climatologists re: Hurricane possibilities when scheduling their convention? I think not. But as I say, I don't think all this interruption is necessarily bad for McCain.
Neither of them are wearing red!
I knew I liked Sarah Palin at once, because she wore basic black rather than the look-at-me red so many female politicians have been sporting.
Can you imagine McCain, Obama or Biden in a red suit?
Oooo, I thought you could.
There will be less time spent talking about his speech. Is there anyone here, my friends, who truthfully anticipate a better, more electrifying speech than Obama's?
Obama is better at reading prepared speeches than McCain is, so I expect it to be worse in that regard.
Since the actual content -- or, rather, lack thereof -- of Obama's speech had me rolling my eyes, I'm hoping McCain will do better in that regard. None of Obama's pablum about replacing "tough talk in Washington" with "tough direct diplomacy", please.
Did you read the text of Obama's speech? What a bunch of nothing that was. He may have delivered it well but he said nothing at all. And he surely did not explain how he was going to do all these things he did mention. Nor were there any specifics there either. Just a lot of hot air.
Ann wrote:
So all I want to say is, wow, Cindy McCain had on a fabulous dress.
WOW! I just came home, after having watched Don Cheadle in "Traitor". I haven't caught one shot of the scaled-back RNC today.
I just clicked on your link, knowing that you thought the dress looked FABU, but when I actually saw it, I fell back in utter admiration too.
There is something Elizabethan about that collar.
Or perhaps, in a less effusive reference, it recalls the best of Elsa Schiaparelli, Captain Molyneux, or better YET, Mainbocher who created the wedding dress for the Duchess of Windsor.
The tight stomacher pleating on the Duchess' dress really reminds me of Cindy McCain's dress.
BUT THE COLOUR. And her hair! Wow.
(I really wish Titus were here. He liked when Palladian and I were talking about Lagerfeld v. YSL, when the latter died)
Cheers,
Victoria
"Arianna Huffington: Saving the GOP and The Unbearable Lightness of Being Sarah Palin"
And so come out the big attack dogs.
They say the nauseatingly elitist Mrs. Ben Bradlee (Sally Quinn) is coming out with an attack piece on Palin today.
*Googles*
Ah yes, here it is.
"Palin's Pregnancy Problem"
Nice title, huh? Jibes real well with Obama's unfortunate phrasing about pregnancies.
But THIS, this crap gets me angry. You know what, the Left are starting to turn me into a proto-feminist.
McCain claims he knew about the pregnancy, and was not at all concerned. Why not? Not only do we have a woman with five children, including an infant with special needs, but a woman whose 17-year-old child will need her even more in the coming months. Not to mention the grandchild. This would inevitably be an enormous distraction for a new vice president (or president) in a time of global turmoil. Not only in terms of her job, but from a media standpoint as well.
WTF. A woman can't have a high-powered job and be a mother now? Palin copes very well, not just because she's a good mother, but because she has a supporting and helpful family. I'd bet my bottom dollar she'll do just fine as VP because of it.
Is this REALLY the message the Democrats want to spread now?
God, Jesus H. Christ.
Cheers,
Victoria
Drew W wrote:
(It may be a kind of Queen Maleficent collar, but Cindy wears it in a Billie Burke good-witch sort of way.)
LOL!
Man, now I feel like an egghead for bringing up the Gloriana ruff.
Okay, then my mind wanders to more pop culture 'popped collar' ladies.
Remember?
Endora
I think at least one of the Bushes already got the New Look memo, though.
Cheers,
Victoria
Just caught the ladies on CSPAN. Cindy looked much better on TV than in the NYT photo, where she looked like a surgically-altered virago. I prefer the old hairdo--it had a Tippi Hedren vibe.
Ralphed nailed it. Tippi Hedren.
I prefer the old hairdo--it had a Tippi Hedren vibe.
Noooo. All that forehead is scarey.
focused on a 17-year-old's pregnancy. How could that possibly be news? And yet it was.
It's news because it's akin to hypocrisy. People always look for a disconnect between attitude and actions.
In Sarah Palin's world, women stay virgins till marriage. Any sex education other than abstinence-only grants tacit permission for premarital sex. Proud dads take their untouched daughters to Purity Balls, giving them rings as signs of their keeping their word.
But as her daughter reminds us, in the real world, teen couples have intercourse. Pragmatic people plan for this, and provide access to birth control. Mrs. Palin held unrealistic expectations about what her daughter and her boyfriend would do.
Former law student ....
Been to a WalMart ... or ANY OTHER mega grocery/departement store lately?
No one has to ask the pharmacist ... who, oh, by the way, plays Bridge with your parents every Friday night ... to get condoms from behind the counter and hand them to you any more. They are easily accessible, relatively inexpensive, and no one at mega grocery/department store cares if you buy them or the latest DVD.
Have questions about birth control? Look on the Internet.
By all accounts I've read, Palin is NOT opposed to birth control, but it wouldn't matter if she was. The information AND some form of birth control is out there and easily accessible to teenagers if they want it.
So why do teenagers keep getting pregnant? Because they are teenagers. They don't plan ahead - and wouldn't do any better if Mom was standing at the door handing them a condom as they walked out of it to go on their date. They think they are invincible and it won't happen to them despite the fact they have three girl friends who are pregnant. They want to be liked or they want to appear more sophisticated than they really are. They want someone to love them.
They are teenagers.
When I was in school (a hundred years ago) we were challenged as much as the males to do well in school and to go to the best colleges. Babies were something we definitely worked on avoiding because it was the end of your career dreams if you got pregnant first.
Now, I process students for a college and see their test scores. I've talked to dozens of 2008 high school graduates with great test scores who, oh BTW, had a baby their senior year.
Most - now - recognize having the baby will make their effort to get a degree harder, but still don't see it at impossible.
Palin, as governor, applied for abstinence only grants because that is what is available from the government. (I speak from personal experience on that subject.) If you don't like it, change the governments ruling on the subject.
Your comments about "Palin's world" are nothing more than assumptions. You have no way of knowing if what you claim is true or not.
In the REAL "real world" plenty of girls who mothers took them to get birth control or who know where the condoms and know Mom (and/or Dad) don't care if they use them still get pregnant.
Why?
Because they are teenagers.
There is no "one-size fits all" solution for the situation and its silly to claim there is.
as to Cindy McCain's dress....the best money can buy I assure you.....must be the family motto....best money can buy....money/buy....buy
They are easily accessible, relatively inexpensive, and no one at mega grocery/department store cares if you buy them or the latest DVD.
Have you lived in a 5700 person town lately? You know every checker at Fred Meyers (or whatever) and every checker knows you -- and your parents. Especially a good looking guy dating the Governor's daughter. Throwing a box of Trojans on the belt would get around that town within 72 hours.
It's news because it's akin to hypocrisy.
"Akin" in a very literal sense, since people are attacking Sarah Palin over her 17-year-old daughter's supposed hypocrisy.
Pragmatic people plan for this, and provide access to birth control.
Bristol Palin and her boyfriend, like all teenagers in America, had access to birth control.
Have you lived in a 5700 person town lately?
I love how the town gets smaller every time left wingers mention it. The estimated population is 8471, although obviously that's still a very small town.
Anyway, the way kids in small towns have been getting around the gossip problem for decades now is by going to another town to engage in whatever naughty activity they don't want Mom and Dad to find out about. Wasilla is a small town, but it is a short hop away from scads of other small towns and an hour's drive from Anchorage.
I.e., you don't buy condoms at the Wal-Mart your Aunt Mabel works at. You buy them in the next town over at a gas station where you don't know the attendant.
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