David Weinberger asks:

Will we ever do this again? Is 2004 the last year we’re going to have national conventions like these?

If the cost of a convention in terms of fear, disruption, and lost
business remains as high as it was this year  — and maybe this
year was
exceptionally paranoid and media-frenzied — then I think the Globe
letter suggesting we hold them out in the middle of the ocean is worth considering. Sort of like having a G8 summit on a fortified island.
In terms of the democratic process, I doubt an
exclusive boat in the middle of the ocean would be much worse than what’s happening this week at the Fleet Center

In the era of the reality TV show, it astonds me that the marketing /
media whizzes in both parties script the life out of their conventions,
then complain that the media won’t give their pre-packaged
pablum much air time. (Pity the bloggers. At least ScriptingNews
is aptly named for convention coverage.) The
sad part is that despite all the scripting, the
Kerry campaign still manages to find the right cool distance from its
constituency. I suppose it’s like trying to teach a sociopath to make small talk. Take this
email I got “from” Mary Beth Cahill exhorting me to host a house party
for Kerry:

When John Kerry accepts his party’s nomination, it will be a special moment –
his one chance to lay out his vision for the country, uninterrupted, and with
the undivided attention of the nation.

At thousands of events in 50 states, Washington, D.C., and four territories, our
supporters are going to convert this night into an organizing opportunity. Last
week we set a goal to sign up 100,000 new volunteers in one night at our
convention parties. Now we’re poised to blow past that goal.

Well,
don’t you deserve an ice cream cone now? Is this campaign all about
John Kerry and crew, or is it about we the people? Because I sure don’t
see much in this that tells me I’m part of his vision.

This is the first time a presidential campaign has ever kicked off the general
election with so much energy and grassroots support.

Ms. Cahill, I don’t advocate excessive exclamation points, but if
you’re going to make a patently absurd hyperbole you may as well go all the way: This is the first time a presidential campaign has ever kicked off the general
election with so much energy and grassroots support!!! If you’ve got the balls to make this kind of assertion, bring in the heavy artillery!!!

“Grassroots support” isn’t just a talking point.
Grassroots support is about people. And people can’t be scripted. So
when I read Terry McAuliffe saying,

I’m going to what will be the most nonevent, harmonious
Rules Committee meeting in the history of the Democratic Party. The
press
sometimes says, ‘All this harmony – don’t you want some action?’ No. I love it. I think it’s great.”

… I know that I’m just a patch of crabgrass on the Democrats’ lawn.

(Funny, isn’t it, how we “liberals” quelch dissent in our own
ranks so that we can defeat Bush, even as we dispute the claim that
opposing the war gives comfort and aid to our enemies.)

Will we ever do this again? I hope not. The concrete barriers
around the Fleet Center are nothing compared with the moat between
Americans and the Democratic Party Politboro. To paraphrase the very
man who made me a Democrat to begin with: Mr. Kerry, tear down this wall!