Just Barely Off Broadway, the G.O.P. Puts on a Show
THE TV WATCH
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY, NYTimes on the Web, September 2, 2004
New York City -- The Democratic convention in Boston looked like a convention.
The Republican convention in New York looks like a television special -- Dick Cheney as "Dr. Phil" does the Super Bowl halftime show.
Broadway medleys are followed by pop tunes, Christian rock, country, gospel, the national anthem and a tape of Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York."
Video vignettes between speeches reflect each night's theme. On Tuesday, convention impresarios showed a "People of Compassion" video:
a clip of Republican delegates in red and blue aprons cheerily serving soup at the Bowery Mission shelter.
On last night's "Land of Opportunity" program, the campaign turned downright giddy.
In a taped sketch about the president's dog Barney, Karl Rove, the White House political adviser, did a Howard Dean impression ("aaeegghhh"); Andrew H. Card Jr., the chief of staff, raced across the White House lawn in jogging shorts; and Karen P. Hughes, Mr. Bush's longtime adviser, fed Barney red meat and urged him to "stay on message."
The greatest legacy Ronald Reagan left the party of business is show business -- the Bush campaign has inherited an unrivaled command of visual imagery and cinematic production values.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California was not the only ham at the convention.
The props in Madison Square Garden are simple (including the rubber flip-flops delegates held up as they chanted "flip-flop" during Mr. Cheney's attacks on Mr. Kerry).
The vast space was refashioned to look cozily intimate.
A huge video wall behind the sleek, carpeted stage shows a Patton-size American flag or a nighttime New York skyline.
On the convention floor, young women from the Republican National Committee holding microphones roam the audience interviewing well-prepared delegates as if they were news reporters ("Back to you, Yohanna").
The Democratic convention, in contrast, had memorable speeches by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, but few lasting images -- one was the botched balloon drop on the last night.
Republicans have had their share of missteps, including Mr. Bush's blundered statement that the war on terrorism could not be won and the statement of Alan Keyes, a conservative radio talk show host who is running for Senate in Illinois, who told a radio interviewer that a gay is a sinner and "selfish hedonist," including Mr. Cheney's daughter Mary.
But the visual cues at the convention are intended to blend the president's conflicting message of optimism and extreme danger.
A wrenching reminder of Sept. 11 follows a tingly ad-like pastiche of happy, hardworking families.
Renee Amoore, an African-American business entrepreneur from Blue Bell, Pa., led an ersatz, Oprah Winfrey-style talk show discussion, explaining feistily how it is "O.K." for a black woman to be a Republican.
A gauzy film tribute celebrating the sunny magnetism of Mr. Reagan preceded Mr. Cheney's dire warning:
"Just as surely as the Nazis during World War II and the Soviet communists during the cold war, the enemy we face today is bent on our destruction."
(Even the lame comedy sketch about Barney must have been intended as a sign of serene good humor at the top.)
The Kerry campaign had a simpler message: The decorated navy war hero is ready to be commander in chief.
The Democratic stage was designed to suggest the prow of the ship, but its setting in the vast FleetCenter -- the faux marble and mahogany podium and multiple screens -- looked cluttered and confused on the small screen.
Mr. Kerry has said the world is "complicated." So was his convention design.
The broadcast networks have scaled back convention coverage to three hours for the entire four-day event, forcing both parties to fight for viewers.
In Boston, Kerry aides tried to work television demands into their schedule.
In New York, the Republicans tossed the schedule and put on a television show.
They allowed only one daytime session on Monday and stretched the roll call over three days so that important states could announce their votes closer to prime time on local stations.
(If a gavel falls and nobody sees it, not even on C-Span, did the battleground state of Pennsylvania really re-nominate the president?)
It does not appear that Republican razzle-dazzle drew in that many more viewers.
The ratings of Fox News soared, beating even the networks, while CNN's plummeted, but over all, about the same number of people tuned in for each convention.
It's a campaign loss leader: images that the Bush campaign created are likely to echo in advertisements and news stories in the weeks to come.
"We assume that every image says something, everything communicates," Mark McKinnon, Mr. Bush's chief media adviser told The Times this week.
"So we want to make sure that everything communicates something that reflects the character of the president."
|
