Dissing the darling daughters

Barbara and Jenna Bush's light-hearted introduction of their father, President Bush, who appeared via closed circuit from a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, at RNC last night has tongues wagging

"My worry is Arnold's amazing speech will be drowned out by two amateurs speaking as if at a family wedding," writes convention blogger Scott Sala of Slant Point, and we think he's onto something.  That bantering "wedding toast' by two ebullient free spirits is being dissed left and right this morning. It began immediately following last night's speeches, with Brit Hume's "FOXNews All-Star" panel's grim, fuddy duddy take. Old Fred Barnes opined that (rough transcript) "the President's wife and daughter have no place onstage at the party convention.  We aren't electing a royal family; they have nothing to do with public policy or the direction of the country."

NOTHING?  What about the power behind the throne, Fred?  It's well known that Laura is a calming influence on her husband, and the energy and humor of the darling daughters must surely lighten the load for the Leader of the Free World. Besides, what is a party convention if not a party? Convention blogger David Adesnik of OxBlog shares Fred's stuffy take:

They started out with bad jokes and stuck with their bad jokes all the way to the bitter end . . . the twins came across as childish and totally lacking in substance. That is not what George Bush needs to help him overcame his reputation for being a lightweight.

And Roger L. Simon, who's usually right on, is huffy:

Jokes are fine, indeed needed, but these are serious times and these are young college graduates, not teenyboppers. Next time a little more gravitas, please.

Well, la di da.  We're with Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters, who recognizes the value of authenticity:

It doesn't take much imagination to know on what subject tongues will wag tonight and tomorrow, and it won't be an analysis of Arnold's speech. Instead, talking heads will focus on the performance of the Bush twins, introducing their mother's keynote speech for Day Two at the RNC. Inevitably, the girls will be compared to John Kerry's children and stepson, and just as surely they will suffer in the comparison . . . and it's unfair.

True, I would have held them back a bit from treating the introduction as a wedding toast, which was one criticism I heard (sotto voce) in the Garden on the way out. But that would mean having them put on an act, which would have seemed a lot more phony. The one quality that strikes people most about the Bushes is their genuine nature, in that they don't pretend to be people they're not. Clearly, as we have been reminded on several occasions, the Bush twins are -- as they said in their speech -- young, irrepressible, and a little immature. Personally, I found their humor a little charming, if overdone. I noticed Rudy Giuliani laughing his butt off at the Sex In The City joke, doubled over in his seat.

When we think of those 200 traumatized schoolchildren being held hostage in a Russian region bordering Chechnya by attackers wearing suicide-bomb belts, Fred Barnes & Company's outrage sounds at least as silly as anything Jenna or Barbara said last night.

Speaking of supporting a man who has the resolve to carry on the War on Terror, it's Wictory Wednesday, that day of the week when over one hundred bloggers like us ask their readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign. After today -- by law -- no more contributions to Bush/Cheney 04 allowed. Let's add our behind-the-scenes support of this great leader to that of Laura, Barbara and Jenna.

Mazoltov!

Comments

[CoolBlue]

I agree with you Sissy. I found the daughters introduction and Laura's tribute to her husband touching.

So it was a Wedding moment. I find weddings touching too. Lay off'em pundits.

Not that it matters what they think.

[Sissy Willis]

I think we are in the minority, but hey, as you say, what does it matter? We are in good company. :)

[Pat in NC]

These girls are young, they obviously love their family, they are not accomplished public speakers but they had the courage to speak. Give them a break. They are 5 years younger than Kerry was when his speech was so obviously destructive to our nation. The girls did nothing to deserve disrespect.

[Timothy Horrigan]

Not since William Jennings Bryan gave the "Cross of Gold" speech in 1896 has the country been so electrified by a convention speech! It is shocking that the Twins have not been used more often as spokespersons for their father's administration.