During day one of the Democratic National Convention, Markos Moulitsas of The Daily Kos tweeted a few tweets about the volume of the speakers that all went something like "Why is [insert speaker name here] yelling at me?"
My response to Markos after the third one was "Why not focus on the message instead of the volume?"
Well...tonight, when Jennifer Granholm made her impassioned speech about how Barack Obama saved the automotive industry and all of the jobs that rescue entailed in several states, my first thought was of Markos' tweets from day one, so I thought he'd find it funny--I did--that someone who sort of chastised him (not sure he remembered it) had the same thought he did during day one (he was right, some of them were pretty loud--but the messages were great). So I tweeted:
GregTReich
Damn you, @markos ! My first thought during Jennifer Granholm's speech was "Why is Jennifer Granholm yelling at me?" You're contagious.
Markos retweeted my tweet, then Keith Olbermann picked it up and also retweeted it. Antics ensued, but one tweet concerned me:
@GregTReich would you question a man about "yelling at you" in a powerful passionate speech? I don't think so.
This tweet came from Rep. Angela R. Bryant from North Carolina.
I can understand where Representative Bryant would get this impression, having seen my tweet out of context. I can't stress enough, however, that if I'd heard a man speaking at high volume during today's speeches, I would have had the same thought. It wasn't malicious or misogynistic; I respect Jennifer Granholm. I watch her show. We have some disagreements about the role of religion in public life, I think, but we agree on policy, and I think her show on Current TV, The War Room, is well done, has great guests, and has a great host. I have a lot of respect for my former governor.
And the speech--I thought the speech was great! When she said the line I think more people tweeted than any other, "In Mitt Romney's world, the cars get the elevator, and the workers get the shaft!", I was among the first in my feed to tweet it. I admired her passion in that speech--I had never seen her so fired up...but I had that little tingle, that one funny little though, about Markos' tweets on day one, and I had to share.
I don't blame Markos for my tweet. How could I? I don't blame him for retweeting it, either. I just wanted to explain that I didn't mean it maliciously; I meant it humorously. It wasn't a condemnation of Jennifer Granholm. I'm not like Republicans--I want to hear women roar. Bring your message loud, and with passion, and I will support you in every way possible. You deserve a loud, passionate voice--the Republicans certainly have enough of them. Anyone who reads through this blog's articles will know that I support women's rights and have no malice against women--except maybe Sarah Palin, but that's not because of her gender.
I encourage Jennifer Granholm to speak with the same level of passion in future speeches.
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