I'm hardly representative of the average young person: I'm a political junkie. Nevertheless, the convention gave rise to a feeling of outrage I haven't experienced since Bush had the audacity to commute Scooter Libby's sentence, or even the response to hurricane Katrina.
This year is the first time I've paid attention to our conventions. In 2004, I was 16, and didn't quite understand the significance of them (amazingly, the only parts of convention I caught was Barack Obama's speech because my debate coach made us watch; and John Edwards' acceptance speech). Thus, the scornful and derisive rhetoric that was directed towards our nominee (and us) may be something that folks that have been engaged for a long time are used to.
But for the lot of us who are coming of age, and have been aquainted with the Republican Party through the series of failures of the Bush administration, last night was an opportunity for the Republicans: to persuade a new generation of Americans that this is not the party of Bush-Rove-Cheney-Rumsfeld anymore. But they failed. (more after the jump)
A few examples:
*A text message from my apathetic elder sister:
Tasteless. They remind me of the people trying to sell timeshares.
*While waiting for the bus this morning with fellow students, there were groans and shaking heads when discovering the front page of our daily student paper: a large picture of Cindy McCain and Laura Bush
*A friend (without a college degree and apathetic, no less) who expressed anger with Rudy Giuliani's outright mockery of Obama, and donated money to a political candidate for the first time in his life
*A classmate described Sarah Palin as akin to a small, yappy puppy that tries to confront a dog three times its size
Me? I shook with anger during Giuliani's speech. The mockery of Obama and his accomplishments was thoroughly off-putting, and frankly, that was where the Republican convention turned into a hate-fest, if it wasn't already. The smug declaration that the Democrats can't even say the words "Islamic terrorism" should be universally condemned.
Sarah Palin's speech was an after-thought. "The future" of the GOP is uninspiring, incompetent, intellectually lazy, and a liar. I have no idea why commentators suggested her speech was good-- it sucked. And as a young woman, her ascendency means nothing to other hard-working women.
Where Obama inspires us to live to our highest ideals as human beings, the Republican party appeals to our worst human emotions-- fear, insecurity, jealousy, vulnerability, inferiority-complexes, and mistrust.
The Republicans just alienated an entire generation.