Are you watching the RNC?

I'm a former republican who became an independent after the takeover of the party by Dirty Dickie Nixon.  However, out of fairness, I feel I have to give a listen to them.

I'm not feeling very fair though.  Why are these people so conformist?  I haven't seen so many black suits and red dresses since the last RNC.  Then there are the delegations all dressed the same, like some kind of square dance team - Texas has identical red shirts and straw (I think) cowboy hats.  Another delegation is all dressed in blue denim shirts.  I long for the craziness of the DNC.  They had some music but nobody was dancing in the aisles - the just sat demurely in their seats, clapping in time or sort of bouncing their heads.  What duds.

Then there's this little tidbit

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3934/rep ublicans-lobbyists-party-with-hookers-and-blo w

I suppose they have to let off all that pent up steam somehow. 

The speeches so far are about what you'd expect.  Fred Thompson talked about McCain's life, but stopped with him being a POW.  didn't he have a life after that?  Not one mention of his two marriages and all those kids. 

I intend to stick with this.  Who knows, maybe there will be something said or done that will change my jaundiced mind.

What do you think of it?  And feel free to disagree with me - I don't mind - it's called free discourse.

One caveat: no discussion of Sarah Palin - we have a thread for that already.

Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:

Best part about that: When Heart recieves the royalties for the use of their song, they have stated they will donate all of it to Obama's campaign.

 Wonder if the people who sang  songs that were played at the Dem convention will go ahead and donate to McCain? 

EDIT:  Here's one I found right off the bat.

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur41178.cfm

Wouldn't it be funny if he donated to McCain's campaign and they ended up cancelling each other out?

Original Post by peaches0405:

EDIT:  Here's one I found right off the bat.

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur41178.cfm

Wouldn't it be funny if he donated to McCain's campaign and they ended up cancelling each other out?

To be fair, Sam Moore didn't say he was endorsing McCain, either, only that he had decided to not make his support of any candidate known, and didn't appreciate not being consulted as to the use of his song.

What gets me is that this isn't the first time this has happened ("Dole Man" anyone?  In this election:  John Mellencamp and Tom Petty have issued statements too.)  You'd think that whoever is making these selections, in either campaign, would look at a little history and do some prep work.

Original Post by santonacci:

Original Post by peaches0405:

EDIT:  Here's one I found right off the bat.

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur41178.cfm

Wouldn't it be funny if he donated to McCain's campaign and they ended up cancelling each other out?

To be fair, Sam Moore didn't say he was endorsing McCain, either, only that he had decided to not make his support of any candidate known, and didn't appreciate not being consulted as to the use of his song.

What gets me is that this isn't the first time this has happened ("Dole Man" anyone?)  You'd think that whoever is making these selections, in either campaign, would look at a little history and do some prep work.

 You are right, Santo.  Sam Moore was smart enough to keep his political feelings to himself.  The same can not be said about Heart.

I do also agree that both parties should do a little checking before they start making these selections.

Original Post by peaches0405:

I do also agree that both parties should do a little checking before they start making these selections.

 And not just with the artists, but actually know the freakin' lyrics instead of selecting based off the title of the song or the chorus.  Let's face it, "Takin' Care of Business" is not about getting stuff done and "Born in the USA" is not about nationalistic pride.  Some of the selections are just downright funny when you think about it.

Yes, Santo.  Take this one for instance...

http://donteattheshrimp.com/2008/08/27/market ing-rant-democratic-convention-song-choices-f or-women-speakers/

Every once in awhile I interrupt this blog to allow me to rant a bit about marketing tactics, strategies or just bad ideas I run across. I’ve got a few, this week related to the Democratic National Convention (don’t worry, this is a non-partisan blog and I’m sure I will find many marketing gaffes at the upcoming Republican National Convention):

• Why do the songs that accompany all of the women speaking at the Democratic National Convention focus on the fact that they are women and not that they are capable, accomplished trustworthy etc?
• Following Michelle Obama’s well done speech, the song that played was “Isn’t she lovely” by Stevie Wonder. Sure, she’s lovely, let’s trivialize her accomplishments and the great speech she just gave about community engagement by saying she’s lovely.
• The video that preceded Hillary Clinton’s speech started with “She’s Really Got Me Now,” by The Kinks, and then went into “American Girl,” by Tom Petty. I was waiting for them to play “Legs” by ZZ Top, but Clinton took care of that with her reference to “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits.” For me, this would be like if at the Republican convention after Mitt Romney spoke they played “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems,” by Notorious B.I.G. or after Giuliani speaks they play a song about leaving your wife.
• For all of the above, FAIL.

^5 peaches. Too funny.

And I'm sure the Reps did some too....just can't find an article.  My Google is working slow right now.

Would someone like to start a new thread to cover the campaigning and debates?  Or maybe a few threads - campaign, Presidential debate, VP debate?

I started this one so somebody else should have a chance.

You are correct, Claire.  This thread has kind of been used as a catch-all.  The RNC is over, and most of us have moved on to other subjects that might better be addressed in a new thread(s).

Peaches0405, would you like to start a new thread?  I could edit my OP and link to it.

Original Post by santonacci:

Original Post by peaches0405:

EDIT:  Here's one I found right off the bat.

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur41178.cfm

Wouldn't it be funny if he donated to McCain's campaign and they ended up cancelling each other out?

To be fair, Sam Moore didn't say he was endorsing McCain, either, only that he had decided to not make his support of any candidate known, and didn't appreciate not being consulted as to the use of his song.

What gets me is that this isn't the first time this has happened ("Dole Man" anyone?  In this election:  John Mellencamp and Tom Petty have issued statements too.)  You'd think that whoever is making these selections, in either campaign, would look at a little history and do some prep work.

 I thought I would provide a little information on this point --

both conventions made all the necessary arrangement with the royalties/rights holders (mostly thru ASCAP)

none of the songs played at either convention had any restrictions about who may play them or at what sort of events they may be played

artists do retain the right to restrict who they will allow to play their songs (in the context of a business or endeavor where someone has something to gain, and therefore has to pay royalties to the artist(s))

So Mellancamp, Heart, Petty et al need to make changes to their listings if they want to prevent them from being used by political candidates -- it's well within their rights to do so

if they placed those restrictions and a campaign ignored it and used the song anyway, then there would be a basis for a lawsuit

anyway - point being - neither convention did anything wrong - none of the artists had any restrictions on any of those songs

i understand that a lot of musicians are now placing restrictions about their songs not being used by the political party they oppose or by any political party