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In the Fall of 1989, I was able to score a ticket to see the Rolling Stones on their huger-than-huge Steel Wheels tour. At the time, there was some controversy whether it was an appealing spectacle to see men in their mid-40’s put on a full blown rock ‘n’ roll show that included strutting, gyrating and 50 foot inflatable women. Aaah, it was a more innocent time.
One of the hits the Stones were taking was that the show was so big, there would be little room for spontaneity. The Boston Globe brought this charge to Mick Jagger’s attention, and Jagger responded with words to the following effect: “At this level, ‘spontaneity’ is another word for ‘mistake.’
WHICH BRINGS US TO RUDY GIULIANI. First, a couple of disclaimers. As everyone knows, I’m a Romney guy. If that means you’ll consider any critique I make of Rudy to be inherently worthless, stop reading now. May I suggest you do a Technorati search for sweet and innocent American Idol contestant Antonella Barba to otherwise occupy your time. Boy, are you in for a shock.
I should also add that while I am a Romney man, I admire Rudy. If Rudy’s the last Republican standing, I will vote for him enthusiastically. I can’t say the same of all the other nomination-seekers. McCain leaps to mind in that regard.
One of Rudy’s charms is his genuineness. One of the manifestations of this genuineness is that he wings his speeches. He has an outline, but there’s a lot of room for spontaneity. Which is another way of saying there’s a lot of room for mistakes.
Rudy began his speech by doing his now-familiar riff on what a waste of time non-binding resolutions are and comparing the duties of a congressman to the duties of a pundit. In this context, he labeled as good pundits George F. Will, Michael Barone and Chris Matthews.
Yes, he called Chris Matthews a good pundit while addressing a bunch of conservatives. Predictably, the audience greeted this assertion with a bunch of catcalls.
In the scheme of things and even in the very limited scope of judging this afternoon’s speech, the Matthews faux pas was a tiny thing. But it was revealing. The entire speech didn’t work. The whole thing was off. It was boring. Rudy entered the hall welcomed as a rock star. He then put the crowd to sleep as his lack of preparation became a glaring weakness.
Such is the price of a surfeit of spontaneity.
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