"Delegates are not the noblest sons and daughters of the Republic; a man of taste, arrived from Mars, would take one look at a convention floor and leave forever, convinced he had seen one of the drearier squats of Hell."
That's Norman Mailer from his famous Esquire essay on the 1960 convention "Superman Comes to the Supermarket."
The two young men in this delegate diary aren't the the practitioners of small town political judo sweating out the low levels of the political machine. In the long shadow of Lyndon Johnson's machine, they're the new new Texas democrats inspired by Howard Dean and his Internet movement and they want to have a voice. These young men are earnest and thoughtful; I wondered though as I read Mailer on Kennedy: "...in fact it is a mystery to the boss how Kennedy got to where he is, not a mystery in its structures; Kennedy is rolling in money, Kennedy got the votes in primaries, and, most of all, Kennedy has a jewel of a political machine. It is as good as a crack Notre Dame team, all discipline and savvy and go-go-go, sound, drilled, never dull, quick as a knife, full of the salt of hipper-dipper, a beautiful machine; the boss could adore it if only a sensible candidate were driving it..." whether Kerry is the man this generation is pining for.
Two young, rabid Austin (former Deanic) delegates remind us why, despite lobbyists, big donors and done deals, delegates bother to herd into convention halls. These two breathlessly convey a touch of excitement their jaded elders often lack.
Comments for Texas Delegate Diary: Nick Lawrie and Karl-Thomas Musselman Day 1
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Mary McGrath
Posted on July 28, 2004 at 06:02 AM | Permalink
Review of Texas Delegate Diary: Nick Lawrie and Karl-Thomas Musselman Day 1
"Delegates are not the noblest sons and daughters of the Republic; a man of taste, arrived from Mars, would take one look at a convention floor and leave forever, convinced he had seen one of the drearier squats of Hell."
That's Norman Mailer from his famous Esquire essay on the 1960 convention "Superman Comes to the Supermarket."
The two young men in this delegate diary aren't the the practitioners of small town political judo sweating out the low levels of the political machine. In the long shadow of Lyndon Johnson's machine, they're the new new Texas democrats inspired by Howard Dean and his Internet movement and they want to have a voice. These young men are earnest and thoughtful; I wondered though as I read Mailer on Kennedy: "...in fact it is a mystery to the boss how Kennedy got to where he is, not a mystery in its structures; Kennedy is rolling in money, Kennedy got the votes in primaries, and, most of all, Kennedy has a jewel of a political machine. It is as good as a crack Notre Dame team, all discipline and savvy and go-go-go, sound, drilled, never dull, quick as a knife, full of the salt of hipper-dipper, a beautiful machine; the boss could adore it if only a sensible candidate were driving it..." whether Kerry is the man this generation is pining for.
Sydney Lewis
Posted on July 26, 2004 at 01:08 PM | Permalink
Review of Delegate Diary - Nick Lawrie and Karl-Thomas Musselman
Two young, rabid Austin (former Deanic) delegates remind us why, despite lobbyists, big donors and done deals, delegates bother to herd into convention halls. These two breathlessly convey a touch of excitement their jaded elders often lack.