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At conventions, it’s preaching to choir

By MICHAEL BOYLAN

In the musical “Chicago,” attorney Billy Flynn performs a number in the courtroom called “Razzle Dazzle,” which basically states that if you give the people, in this case the jury, a show, it doesn’t matter what exactly you are saying and what the truth is.

Democrats gave their followers the old “razzle dazzle” with their convention earlier in the summer and this week the Republicans put on their dancing shoes and attempt to give their followers and the rest of America a good show.

I’ll tune in, but I’m not expecting much. I watched a bit of the Democratic convention, on C-Span to avoid the talking heads, but there wasn’t too much that excited me.

Truth be told, for every cool moment, and there were a few, there were some really lame parts as well.

I didn’t like the applause that lasted so long it held up the beginnings of speeches, the silly looking hats and outfits worn by the delegates and I thought some of the music that was played after speeches seemed a bit silly too.

I can only imagine what the Republican convention will be like as the thousands of delegates clap and wave flags, banners and signs to songs about 9/11 by some country artist.

It will all feel just as scripted and choreographed as the Democratic National Convention. You’d find more reality on “The Amazing Race.”

The message that is trying to be spread by these conventions is, “We’re having a great time and so would you if you belonged to our party. Vote (fill in the blank)!” Yet, it seems like everybody has just about made up their minds already.

People talk about the importance of the undecided voter, and though it will be a close election and every vote will count, who is really undecided right now? How could anyone be?

Polls shift for each candidate between 49 and 46 percent, back and forth, both ways, practically every day. Nader is still apparently getting votes from misguided people on both sides of the fence, but who are the rest of these people?

Are we really having conventions to sway the undecided voter? Of course not. The conventions in this election are just pep rallies and just like a pep rally, they are only considered effective if your team wins.

That’s what bothers me about both conventions. Nobody is trying to change anyone’s mind. Heck, in states that already appear decided, the candidates aren’t even campaigning.

That’s why we never see any of the Swift Boat or MoveOn.org ads, because Georgia is apparently going Bush. What a message to send to voters: “You don’t count because your state is going one way or the other.”

President Bush will address the nation this week, accepting his party’s nomination to run for re-election, but he won’t really be talking to the Democrats or the fence-sitters. He’ll be whooping up the Republicans promising four more years of the same things he did for the last four, which sounds great to his fans and like a terrible nightmare to the Democrats.

Even John Kerry didn’t really hit a home-run announcing his plans for change at the convention. He mentioned them and then started addressing the issues afterwards, until his time in Vietnam became a swampy issue.

The whole convention thing is just preaching to the choir and it may not change until the debates. It certainly won’t change at any Bush-Cheney rallies, where people are asked to sign a loyalty oath to the President.

This actually happened. It’s not a myth. People in New Mexico were asked to fill out a loyalty oath before attending a rally where Vice President Cheney was speaking. If they did not, they were not allowed to attend. Organizers said this was done so that there would not be any disruptions.

Gee, I’m sorry. I thought this was America. A place where any candidate should have to face and answer questions from the public that would be voting.

Some people may be vehemently opposed to Bush, but I’d like to think that some people would be able to politely ask a question without screaming their head off and acting like a lunatic. If someone can ask a question like a civilized human being, the candidate should have to answer it.

I realize that most of these campaign stops and rallies are for the candidate’s supporters and most of the questions, if any, will be softballs, but maybe some of those people who were turned away were undecided.

Too bad: Both parties should know by now that every vote counts.