I’ve come to the conclusion that, although writing about politics is fun, writing about political campaigns is boring. For reasons surpassing understanding, I watched the prime-time hour of the GOP convention last night. Both of the speeches were vicious, petty, and totally without substance. The pathetic spectacle of angry, red-faced men chanting “drill, baby, drill” was a sad commentary on the decline of a once-impressive political party, as was the unfathomable decision to make fun of Obama for doing community organizing work after graduating college.

Why did Palin lie (again) about her support for the bridge to nowhere? Why didn’t McCain’s handlers consider camera angles when picking backdrops for the speakers? (*) If you’re going to run a vapid, empty campaign based only on imagery and personality, shouldn’t you at least be able to get the stagecraft right?

I don’t think this election is going to be close. And I’m looking forward to next year, when our politics can be about the details of health care legislation, about renewable energy, about slowing down global warming, about serious things.

(*) During Herr Giuliani’s speech, they were projecting a skyline of New York. But it was way too high and way too big, so on TV, Giuliani was standing in front of a grayish-orange fog (a close-up view of some water) that made it look like someone was loading up Diablo II in the background.

Posted by Ben Brothers at 10:08 am, 4 September 2008 and filed under 2008 Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.