Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Brokered Convention Is Not a Broken Convention

I remember brokered conventons. Political conventions, when I was a kid, were boring affairs in the summer which took up valuable television viewing time in the evenings. No Star Trek. No Flip Wilson. Just a lot of smoke and parades.

Then came 1968, Chicago, a lot of smoke, parades, protests and police.

Ezra Klein, sitting in for Rachel Maddow, is at his wonkiest in educating the public, many of whom were too young to remember or just too ignorant to understand, in the fine art of a brokered convention and what it would mean.



Sounds like a cakewalk for the Democrats, right? Klein is right to reference Adlai Stevenson, but he should also remember 1952, for the Republicans, was also a brokered convention, which saw Dwight Eisenhower being drafted into a candidacy to defeat the ueber conservative Robert Taft. Eisenhower went on to serve two terms in the White House.

Very true what Klein says at the end - that if a GOP saviour emerged and wrested the nomination from the cold, rich hands of Willard or the righteous, religious paws of Rick Santorum, he or she would have two months to match the Obama campaign in funds, messaging and general momentum, plus the added disadvantage of running against an incumbent.

However ... never underestimate the Republican party. They play to win, and that's what scares me. As far as finances are concerned, the Koch brothers are standing in the wing with a bevy of blank checks, and all it would take to unite the party faithful who are decidedly indecisive in the face of unpopular, dishonest or downright lunatic candidates is one name, familiar yet unfamiliar ... Jeb Bush.

Be careful what you wish for, says the old saying ... You just might get it.

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