Wednesday, July 28, 2004

That's politics folks

I've spent far too much of this evening shirking work and indulging my history fetish by watching old convention acceptance speeches on CSPAN2.

If you get a chance, do check it out this week - they're playing them every night.

The end of Reagan's speech is brilliant:

I have thought of something that's not a part of my speech and worried over whether I should do it. Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe free? Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain; the boat people of Southeast Asia, Cuba, and of Haiti; the victims of drought and famine in Africa, the freedom fighters of Afghanistan, and our own countrymen held in savage captivity.

I'll confess that I've been a little afraid to suggest what I'm going to suggest. I'm more afraid not to. Can we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer?

10 seconds of complete silence through the convention hall, with the cameras panning over the entire hall, ending with a closeup of Reagan breaking the silence with:

God bless America.

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