(Delayed) Thoughts on RNC Night 1

Unfortunately I did not see, or even hear much about, John McCain's and Rudy Giuliani's speeches. I did however catch the end of Schwarzenegger's speech and saw much about it after the fact. I would first like to partially commend Mr. Schwarzenegger on his embracement of those in his party who may disagree with himself or with George Bush and the current administration. If only he had extended that embrace to all Americans, not just Republicans. There two other moments that stand out to me. First, was Schwarzenegger's statement that it was Richard Nixon who was his hero of sorts, and the man who drove him to declare himself a Republican. As much as I wanted to be respectful, I almost laughed at this. When the delegates broke out in a massive cheer however, I did laugh (A man who resigned from the Presidency in shame just doesn't seem to be the figure the Republicans should be lauding, especially not at their convention). I experienced a very different reaction when he reverted to what is apparently one of his favorite lines, girly men -- in this case economic girly men. I was very pleased when the next night on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with John Stewart, Stewart jokingly pointed out that the 1.3 million people who fell into poverty this past year, should "suck it up" according to Schwarzenegger. All in all though, Schwarzenegger's speech turned out to be one of the best prime time speeches of the convention. More convention thoughts later -- including those on the not so good, bad, and just plain disgusting speeches that unfortunately dominated some nights.