I Wish We Would Go Back To The Old Way Of Selecting A Party's Candidate.....

[Agnosticsherbet]

9. My earliest memory of a nominating convention was 1968...

I was 17 and thought it was cool. My grandfather sat around making disparaging remarks. He was a Rockefeller Republican and did not think Nixon could polish Eisenhower's shoes. My grandmother, a Democrat true and blue, supported Senator Eugene McCarthy against Hubert Humphrey, especially after several local boys we all knew died in Vietnam. That convention was what led to the adoption of binding primaries and zero surprises. But it was also surrounded by riots outside and Dan Rather was roughed up inside when he attempted to talk to a delegate. Walter Cronkite called them thugs.

I was unaware of any of what went on behind the scenes at those conventions. The pageantry of the whole thing was a hell of a spectacle. I remember Goldwater from 1964, because he appeared at our school and handed out cans of "Goldwater" soda, that tasted like Orange Crush.

I find the current Republican National Convention, with the Party elite attempting to push out Paul's delegations, and even Texas in one report, to be interesting and telling concerning the fight inside the Republican Party between Party big business Corporate Conservative leadership and the Teaparty and radical Christian insurgents. But I read reports only and don't watch. I get enough political advertisements on regularly scheduled television to last me a lifetime.