#62 - Convention Recap: A Search For Compassion

Tuesday's theme at the Republican National Convention was "People of Compassion." We listened intently so that you didn't have to:

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Arnold immediately showed his compassion with a helpful bit instructing immigrants on how they can tell if they're Republicans (helpful tip #7 - if you're an economic girlie-man, you're not a Republican). And then came the immigrant bear hug: "… I want you to know how welcome you are in this party. We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future."

Well, yes, but that's only as long as you aren't stealing across rivers to get here, or stuffing yourself into a rickety boat, or attempting to immigrate while brown.

But after the shout out to his co-immigrants, Arnold stuffed the rest of his compassion down the deep pockets of one George W. Bush:

"He's a man of perseverance. He's a man of inner strength. He is a leader who doesn't flinch, who doesn't waiver, and does not back down."

"The president did not go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls. It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions."

No word from Arnold on what kind of leadership it is if it turns out that your decisions are wrong but, not knowing what else to do, you stand behind them anyway.

Survey says: Arnold clearly showed compassion for immigrants, as long as it is the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps kind of compassion and not the hand-out-money kind of compassion. Otherwise, the Terminator was pumped up about the war.

Laura Bush: We were counting on Laura to be the standard bearer for compassion in the Republican Party. So we were encouraged when she brought out a hypothetical cup of coffee and told us all the things she could talk about when recommending her husband for a second term:

I could talk about my passion, education.

I could talk about the small business owners and entrepreneurs who are now creating most of the new jobs in our country.

I could talk about health care.

I could talk about the fact that my husband is the first President to provide federal funding for stem cell research. [! - eds.]

I could talk about the record increase in home ownership.

But she didn't talk about these things. She talked about war:

All of these issues are important. But we are living in the midst of the most historic struggle my generation has ever known. The stakes are so high. So I want to talk about the issue that I believe is most important for my own daughters, for all our families, and for our future: George's work to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world.

Survey says: compassion preempted by war yet again. We're begining to understand the whole "compassionate conservative" thing.

We'll cut to the chase. Here's what passed for compassion on Tuesday at the Garden:

Rod Paige touting the Leave No Child Behind Act, which pulls the rug out from under struggling schools, leaving school districts, kids and entire communities behind.

Bill Frist hawking the troubled prescription drug discount card for seniors.

George P. Bush adding some much needed color: "Juntos, debemos abrir la puerta de oportunidad por la reelecion del Presidente George W. Bush!"

And Elizabeth Dole, standing far to the right of anyone at the podium as she reminded us of the true compassion in the Republican platform: praising marriage between a man and a woman as the "cornerstone of civilization and the foundation of the family." Insinuating that only Republicans support the sacred lives of the "frail elderly and the infirm." Lambasting "activist judges trying to strip the name of God from the pledge of allegiance, from the money in our pockets, and from the walls of our courthouses." And holding up as sacred the "compassionate life of service," by which she meant sending our sons and daughters to war.

In the end, compassion for the Republicans extends only as far as they want it to. If it does not fit into the GOP's box of "right" behavior (a right way to be an immigrant, a right way to marry, a right way to honor God, a right way to honor life), well, you can forget about any of that compassion.

We thought compassion meant extending yourself to help those whose circumstances fall outside of your own. From what we could tell during last night's "People of Compassion" gala, the Republicans prefer to view their world through the WAR ON TERROR! lens. We can feel compassion for the father struggling to make sense of his children's pink laundry while his spouse goes off to war, for example, but only if that spouse is a woman, and only if she salutes a god of a particular stripe.

That's not compassion. It's faking your way through. And it's a reason to dump Bush on Election Day.