Democratic Delegates Should See Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” (1964) Before They Make Their HUGE MISTAKE Tonight…

Late on Sunday night (August 24), Turner Classic Movies aired “The Best Man,” the 1964 film based on Gore Vidal’s 1960 play about a power struggle for the Presidential nomination. The movie stars Henry Fonda playing Secretary of State William Russell, an intellectual in the Adlai Stevenson mode (Vidal said JFK was part of the blend) and Cliff Robertson, who plays Joe Cantwell, a brash Senator running as a populist who is maneuvering to stop Russell from winning the nomination (some reviewers think he’s “Nixonian.”)

Neither candidate has enough delegates on the first ballot, so watching this film is like experiencing “deja vu all” in many ways.

Along the way, the viewer witnesses all sorts of political shenanigans, which includes the hiding of a broken marriage, an attempt at blackmail through the threat of revealing a medical history of one candidate, and the revelation of the homosexual past of the another. (Cheating on a wife, however, is of little consequence in the scheme of things, unlike today.)

There are some great lines in this flick, many coming from the dying former President Hockstader who is reinvigorated by the battle for his endorsement; at one point he says, “There’s nothing like a low-down political fight to put the roses in your cheeks!” One of the best scenes involves  Hockstader and Cantwell.  Cantwell, who believes the ends justify the means of getting into office, including taking his positions based based on polling, is told by Hockstader that “there are no ends, Joe, only means.”  Hockstader also tells the stop-at-nothing Cantwell that if he begins to believe his own “myth” and then gets to the Oval Office without having any real ideas of his own, he’ll be creating a recipe for disaster. As the plot unfolds and Cantwell threatens to reveal a secret from Russell’s past, Hockstader has another great line: “It’s not that I mind your being a bastard. . . . It’s your being such a stupid bastard, I object to.”

At another point in the film Hockstader, reflecting on how times have changed since his campaign days,  observes that when he ran “you had to pour God over everything, like ketchup.”  Back in 1960, the issue of Kennedy’s Catholicism came up, but today, we’re really back to the “ketchup” days with religious groups being pandered to by the Democratic Party like never before.

Howard K. Smith, then a real network anchor, appears in the scenes covering the Convention which makes it seem even more realistic.  This is a real rough-and-tumble affair…and the votes swing quickly at the surprise ending. This film sure made me wish that we were back to the old-style conventions! As a kid, I remember Mike Wallace prowling the conventions and the genuine excitement on the floor.  There was much less polish and a damned site more more grit and excitement.

You’ll see how little has changed in nearly 50 years with respect the status of women in the Party beyond the lack of concern over the philandering of a candidate.  Ann Southern plays Mrs. Gammadge, who despite here flighty image, is a savvy women’s leader who knows all the players and knows her own power as she drops hints to the rivals about how they should appeal to women.  But the scene at the pre-Convention dinner clearly displays where the REAL power lies.  During his pre-Convention speech, Hockstader says to the delight of the men in the crowd that after the Party takes care of a couple of constituencies, which includes the “colored” folks,  “then we’ll take care of the downtrodden majority, the ladies” to a roomful of appreciative laughter.

Last on the list then…and last on the list now…So, have we really come a long way, baby???  If you ever get to see “The Best Man” you’ll probably say, “NO!”

If the delegates could tear themselves away from the trendy “eco-food” for a couple of hours before tonight’s fake “roll call” to view “The Best Man,” they might be in for a shock and realize that they could use their power to right a ship that’s taking on water.  But they’d have to really face themselves and be brutally honest about who they’re all falling in line for.   Sadly, as they struggle to stay in the “no-fry” zone and eat their fruits and veggies, they won’t have time to really think about doing the right thing, which tonight  should be nominating “The Best Woman.”

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SPOILER ALERT

For an excellent rundown on the plot (which doesn’t give away the ending), check out this essay.

If you want to know who actually wins the nomination, check here.

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For a brief bio on Gore Vidal which explains his family ties to both the Gore and Kennedy families, and his runs for the House and Senate,  see here. Gore Vidal actually ran for Congress in 1960, the year “The Best Man” was first produced on Broadway.  For a picturesof Gore greeting JFK when the latter attended a performance as President-elect, click here.  According to historian Michael Bechloss, Kennedy “blinked nervously at the references to Russell’s infidelities, which he (correctly) presumed to be based on his own.”

Pundits, Pollsters and Should We Be Getting Ready for the Next Play of the Race Card? (Clues in the latest Zogby survey I received?) (Updated 1X)

A nice, quiet Sunday became a test of my patience, already in danger of being lost, as I was drawn into “the fog” of what this election season is shaping up to be.  I never watch the mainstream anymore, so seeing what was being dished out by CNN yesterday morning on the gym TV made me nuts.  And the current interactive Zogby poll is another thing that has made me aggravated and apprehensive.

Since I don’t watch CNN anymore, I have no idea who the guy was who was hosting the pundits as I was on the Wave.   Out of the studio,  Bill Schneider had a straw hat on and Gloria Borger’s hair was blowing, as was the hot air. In studio, I recognized Chris Cillizza, the Washington Post’s blogger who writes “The Fix” but didn’t know who the other man was who seemed to be the one doing the all commentating on McCain.

The first bit was about Biden as the VP nominee. Cillizza quoted decades of history about how it probably won’t make much of a difference. McCain’s age, according to Cillizza, might make his choice more important, perhaps, but in the long run, it’s still the top of the ticket that matters…Nothing we haven’t heard before…

The next topic that came up was the ad war and a clip was shown from an Obama ad in Nevada, with the discussion focused on how Obama was “targeting” areas in the “all politics is local” mode of operation. The ad was about how McCain supported storing nuke waste at Yucca Mountain.  Asked how McCain should counter, the other commentator said that McCain would need to present a “comprehensive” plan.  Really? My first thought would be that McCain should pull out Obama’s Exelon ties and how he rewrote his nuke safety bill to suit the Republicans, which really ticked off his constituents in Illinois. I would assume the Republicans will get to that in places like Nevada–if they don’t, they’re stupid.

Then they showed a clip of the McCain “housing ad” which mentions Tony Rezko. They cut it short, of course, so the full impact was lost.

Like many others, I’ve found McCain’s recent ads very successful in rebutting Obama and managing to drop into the conversation issues that the media has ignored.  McCain has basically gone around the media to “report” what they have largely ignored.

These McCain ads have shifted the polls but from what I heard today on CNN, you wouldn’t know it.  The discussion was like watching “news” people in reruns, because the conversation seemed out of date.  Or, more likely, there was a deliberate effort to ignore the most recent shifts in voters’ minds.

I listened to the CNN anchor say that McCain had trouble with his base and the pundit duo talk about how he really needed to get independents and conservative Democrats to win.  The way the conversation went, it sounded as if Obama was in a much stronger position than McCain and that McCain hadn’t made a dent with these groups.  During this entire segment I didn’t hear ONE reference to any polling trends to support the discussion.  The average viewer would think that Obama was in the catbird seat.

Now, maybe I’m wrong, but hasn’t Obama been bleeding lately?  Among independents? Even among young voters?  Even Zogby has found the trends shifting!  As for McCain’s base, doesn’t he have a higher rate of commitment as compared to what is going on within the Democratic Party?  You’d never know it from the conversation I heard yesterday morning…

As for those “targeted” ads, I think this post by Bud White that appeared at No Quarter on Saturday, August 23,  should be check out for a different perspective:

Obama “Adjusts” Ad Buys

“Follow the money,” is the famous advice from Deep Throat, Woodward and Bernstein’s key Watergate source. The Associated Press is reporting, in an article titled “Obama Adjusts Ad Strategy During Convention,” that Obama is pulling ads from certain Red States. The key word, of course, is “adjust.” This is a familiar euphemism for pulling ads from states where those ads cannot move the numbers, and the media advisers always say it’s temporary.

And it goes on to detail how Kerry played the game in 2004 and how this relates to what the Obama campaign is doing now.  It sounds like the 50 state strategy has been ditched.  Remember how Hillary Clinton was taken to task about her focus on those large industrial states?  That was the “old” way, of course.  But now that Obama is facing reality, we’re supposed to see things differently according to his campaign machine.

Meanwhile, I got an invitation to participate in the the current Zogby “interactive poll”  a few days ago. I didn’t get to it right away, and, in fact, had decided I’d probably skip it.  With everying “sewn up” in DNC-land, I didn’t feel any compelling desire to do it.  Sunday morning, a “reminder” appeared in my inbox, which I found rather unusual since I’ve never gotten one before.  My first thought was, “Are they having trouble getting their full quota of respondents?”

Aside from the standard questions about whether the “American Dream” exists and the usual “are you a NASCAR fan?” question, the survey this time was really heavily about race. The questions seemed to be coming from the DNC; if so, it appears that Team Obama must be trying to figure out more ways to inject race into this election…

Take a look.

One group of questions was framed by asking:

“Over the last 12 months …do you feel you were treated worse than, the same as, or better than people of other races?”  The questions included a questions involving the respondents’ feelings in terms of the specifics of how people felt “on average,” “at work” and in connection with “healthcare.”

Another set as asked if the respondent had felt “emotionally upset” (specifically suggested by Zogby as including, for example, being “angry, sad, or frustrated”)  as a result of how they were treated during the past 30 days.

There were a couple of questions on affirmative action (basically trying to find out about attitudes which included the “separate but equal” concept) as well as how a respondent would feel if a close family member were dating a person of another race.  Then there was an immigration question which asked if immigrants were need to fill jobs or if there were plenty of Americans who could be trained to fill those jobs.

Perhaps the most interesting question asked how the respondent would consider Obama in terms of his race. The choices were:

White

Hispanic

African-American

Asian-Pacific

Other/mixed

Not sure

If this is the DNC/Obama polling on race, you have wonder what the plan is. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to sell him as every race to targeted groups, although I’m not sure how they would turn him into an Hispanic…  Maybe the Obama camp is looking to for an excuse to replay the victim card.  Or, perhaps they’ll link the “feelings” about racial experiences with the affirmative action answers and turn it into another manipulative, sleazy string of innuendos or outright attacks that will turn McCain into the biggest racist of all time.

Whatever they do, when I saw this string of questions my heart sank, because I think race will be leveraged somehow…they just don’t want to let it go.

I expect to see the worst coming out of the Obama campaign.  And, if the media continues to embrace him, we’re in for a disgusting and disheartening few months.  I can’t believe that I’m actually hoping that McCain can handle all this.  That’s how turned-off I’ve become with the Democratic Party and their chosen path to force Obama on us.

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Tidbit….Last night, Turner Classic Movies chose to air “The Best Man,” the 1964 film based on Gore Vidal’s play starring Henry Fonda pllaying the Secretary of State and Cliff Robertson playing the brash, young conservative Senator. It’s about “power struggle for the Presidential nomination.”  It was almost “deja vu all over again,  to quote Yogi Berra, as neither candidate had enough delegates on the first ballot and the favorite…well…you have to see this movie!  You’ll see how little has changed  in 44 years and please note the the depiction of women….that hasn’t changed much either, apparently…

UPDATE

I did another Zogby survey today (Funny, when Hillary was running, they seemed to stop coming to me…guess I was “old”)….

This one was all about the role of government, questions about Social Security, values, etc. Lots of stark  questions with very sharply delineated choices, many of which I answered with a lot of “Not sure’s”…