[offeror]

Depending on what channel you watched, a different person seemed to be speaking. Judy Woodruff thought that Ms. Heinz Kerry accomplished everything she needed to do and came off as un-scripted. Maybe, for the people in the building.

But on FOX, the commentators were flabbergasted by what they all seemed to agree was the sheer oddness of the woman's whole speech. One of them said that "odd" is an understatement, that she was "borderline bizarre."

The newsman on the floor of the convention said he expected her to break into "Don't cry for me Argentina" at the end, which got a laugh from Brit Hume despite their efforts to maintain decorum in the after-speech critique. She wore a red dress and the faithful all raised red banners when she started speaking, making the convention floor look reminiscent of a third world commie rally. No kidding, this was weird. She talked about herself and her sons while ignoring her stepdaughters and mostly the candidate, instead telling her sons to be grateful for the memory of her dead FIRST husband...

I guess when a billion-heiress educated in 50s-60s South Afrika (when apartheid was still on the rise) tries to speak like a "woman of the people," this is how it comes out -- strained, heavily accented, heavily rehearsed and yet still too slow, talking mostly about her own philosophies rather than "John's", claiming the Peace Corps would be America's best foot forward right now, talking about how America should be nice, and how John would repair "our alliances," being proud of being "opinionated," and exhorting "the women of the world" to finally unite and lead their world with the strong voice they deserve -- a voice that apparently says "shove it," I thought to myself. It was almost as if SHE were running for prime minister or something. One of the commentators noticed that too, and said afterward that the Clintons had initially positioned themselves as "getting two Clintons for the price of one" and how that did not go over well for them.

The scuttlebutt says that those around Kerry are horrified that the wife's "shove it" remark to a journalist yesterday may become as bad a gaffe as Dean's primal scream. But after tonight, the concensus seems to be that the FIRST major convention speech by a potential First Lady may be the LAST major convention speech by a potential First Lady.

I had to laugh because I thought maybe it was just me -- but when the commentators all shook their heads afterward and reacted to the lady's presentation in such amazed terms -- as strange, self-indulgent, bizarre, Evita-like, I now realize it wasn't just me -- it was more of an "American gut reaction" and that others who caught the performance will surely be, to say the least, divided in their reaction. Now it's a given that for Democrats she can probably do no wrong, but for the rest of us who were really paying attention, especially the undecided, she is no asset. When she finally mentioned John "the man" said, forcefully, "John earned his medals the old-fashioned way!" -- the inescapable reaction in my mind and probably some others was "Yeah; he threw them over a fence!"

I also hear that Ms. Heinz Kerry spends most of her time "in the West" (which I assume means Philadelphia) while Kerry has been in the Senate, so it's not clear they can live well under the same roof. Kerry's girls have said they supported the marriage because they met and "liked the boys," and they made it sound like 10-11 years together wasn't a very long family history (?). Most of Ms. Heinz Kerry's Phillie friends say how nice she is -- and invariably explain that impression by telling how much money she has given to their causes. Hmmm.