Democrats are running an accusation convention

There are two types of conventions for a party in power, as Newt Gingrich once said: accusation conventions and achievement conventions. Accusation conventions run against their opponents' record; achievement conventions highlight their own.

In 1984 President Ronald Reagan ran an achievement convention. He rarely mentioned Jimmy Carter's record, even though it had been so poor. Instead, his campaign slogan was "Leadership that's working." He ran an uplifting campaign focused on America's turnaround and that it was "Morning in America" again.

After day one of the Democratic National Convention, it seems the Democrats are running a quite different convention.

Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio and the keynote speaker Tuesday night, pulled no punches in blaming the economic status quo on the Bush years. "Their theory has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed. The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price. Mitt Romney just doesn't get it," Castro said.

Former governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, made it a little more personal, "If Mitt was Santa Claus, he would fire the reindeer and outsource the elves," Strickland said in a speech full of attacks on Mitt Romney.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, speaking about young Americans, took it a step further. "Today's Republicans and their nominee for president tell us that those first-graders are on their own — on their own to deal with their poverty," he said. Republicans will leave them with, "an underfunded school, with neighborhood crime and blight, with no access to nutritious food and no place for their mom to cash a paycheck, with a job market that needs skills they don't have, with no way to pay for college."

I watched last night which resulted in my inability to get to sleep due to the ignorance on display. I vowed not to watch tonight although I must admit - would hate to miss a live presentation of Elizabeth Warren being a disaster tonight or Bill Clinton turning on Obama.

The only reason an incumbent party can get away with running on the accusation model is that the MSM have so completely failed to hold them accountable for the results of their own policies. "Blame Bush" would otherwise be as attractive as (and not unlike) a dog returning to its vomit.

I don't think it's particularly sound politics, myself. They can't hide the real meaning. "Bush screwed the country up so badly we couldn't fix it in four and so we want another four" is awfully weak sauce, particularly in the face of Madeleine Albright's bleating that they intend to "Blame Bush forever." Fine, but what happens to the country in the meantime? Oh, right, gay marriage and free sterilization for schoolchildren. Sorry I asked.

This nonsense should be costing them more than it is. Compare the frenzy of hysteria that followed Mr. Akin's oddly worded statement with the complicitous silence that follows the barrage of silliness coming from the DNC podia and you will see the only possible recourse left to the Democrat party: ride the media train one more time and hope it can throw enough lies out on the track ahead to smooth the ride. But this isn't 2008. And they are the incumbents.

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