Van Hollen, Bush, GOP make for easy targets at Dem convention
Even as he prepares to hightail it out of Washington, President Bush remains the default target of Wisconsin Democrats looking for easy applause from partisans.
And they are learning to take aim at the Republican who would replace Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain.
But the best punchline of the state Democratic convention in Stevens Point was Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
The mere mention of the state's highest-ranking Republican, whose office has been mired in controversy and who recently attracted embarrassing headlines about a proposal by members of his staff to provide Van Hollen with a state security detail at this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, drew howls of laughter.
"I can't blame him," state Democratic party chair Joe Wineke said of the Van Hollen team's unprecedented demand for protection. "I wouldn't trust those damn Republicans anyway."
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton upped the ante when she took the stage at the Democratic convention with the theme music from the mock-spy film "The Pink Panther" booming.
The state's No. 2 official was surrounded by a "security detail" that warily eyed the crowd of Democratic delegates, who got the joke instantly and laughed uproariously.
Noting that Van Hollen's aides thought he would need taxpayer-funded protection to visit a neighboring state that has not traditionally been considered dangerous by Wisconsinites -- Lawton allowed as how she might need security when she visits "Lake Wobegon, Minnesota."
Lawton also got in the convention's best dig at McCain, who has suggested he will maintain the Bush administration's economic policies.
"We can't have four more years with a president that thinks the economy is a faith-based initiative," said the former Hillary Clinton co-chair who is now an enthusiastic backer of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama.
The notion that a McCain presidency would simply put a new face on the unpopular policies of the Bush years was a popular one at the Democratic convention. "People everywhere are energized, they're ready to work for Democrats, they're ready for change and they are ready to stop John McCain from being elected and serving George Bush's third term," U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee, told the crowd.
Other rhetorical highlights of the convention included:
Most hopeful assessment of Wisconsin's role in the presidential race: "Wisconsin, this is our time," declared Gov. Jim Doyle. "We could well be the state ... that will decide what the results of this election will be."
Bluntest assessment of Wisconsin's role in the presidential race: "If Barack Obama loses Wisconsin, he loses the presidency," said U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton. "It's as simple as that."
Pulling the punch on Bush: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, referred to the current administration as the "most destructive, debilitating and demoralizing in memory, and perhaps even history."
Delivering the punch on Bush: Congressman Dave Obey, D-Wausau, eschewed Baldwin's qualifiers. "In 144 days we will change the direction of this country by electing Barack Obama to replace the most befuddled and disastrous president in American history," Obey told the delegates.
Roughest dismissal not just of Bush but of all Republicans: "They don't belong in Washington, they don't belong in our statehouses, they don't belong in our local governments for centuries to come for what they've done to our country," said Congressman Steve Kagen, D-Appleton.
Edgiest endorsement of Obama by a former Clinton backer: "I'll fight to the death for Barack Obama," declared Democratic National Committee member Tim Sullivan.
File photo
State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's staff members asked for a security detail for Van Hollen at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
