OK, quick update during the dinner break. I’ve seen perhaps a dozen of the three-minute speeches at and around the platform presentation. No chanting yet; I know the hall is pretty near empty, but when the mayor of Tallahassee said we Democrats would make sure that all votes count I started up an ‘All Votes Count!’ chant in the apartment. Well, I tried.
The best of the ones I saw was Roberta Achtenberg, who gave a pretty rousing old-fashioned civil-liberties proud-to-be-a-Democrat speech. I was wondering, though, how long it’s been that an openly homosexual speaker could get even a three-minute slot at the microphone. Did it happen in 1984? In 1988? I remember in 1992, when Bill Clinton spoke to GLAAD (or somebody) and said ‘I will be your president, too,” it sent chills down my spine.
Admiral Perry had a nice three minutes, as well. Or at least I enjoyed it. It was a break from the badly polished style of the rest of the parade, who seemed to speak off the tops of their voices, projecting by shouting (more in triumph than in anger). The Admiral spoke softly, and trusted the microphones. It worked, at least from home.
More to say, probably in the morning, after looking at transcripts.
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-Vardibidian.