"Oftentimes during the period in which conventions really did business, you had situations where the delegates were divided and you would have ballot after ballot before there was a final nominee"
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There is a quiet provocation in Beschloss's phrasing: "during the period in which conventions really did business". He is puncturing a modern myth that party conventions are where democratic choice happens in public. The subtext is that today's conventions mostly ratify decisions made elsewhere (primaries, donors, party elites, media ecosystems), while the older convention was a bargaining arena with actual uncertainty and leverage.
His chosen detail - "ballot after ballot" - evokes a kind of messy legitimacy: not pretty, not efficient, but undeniably real. It conjures smoke-filled rooms without saying "smoke-filled rooms", letting the listener supply the nostalgia or dread. Beschloss is also, subtly, rehabilitating a form of intra-party conflict that contemporary politics tries to outsource or sanitize. Multiple ballots signal division, but they also signal process: factions have to count noses, trade promises, and face the consequences of stalemate.
Context matters here. As a historian of the presidency speaking into an era of hyper-managed political theater, Beschloss is reminding audiences that what looks like chaos can be the mechanism of compromise. He's not advocating for backroom dealing so much as warning that our current system has traded deliberation for choreography. When conventions "did business", outcomes were contingent and delegates mattered; now, the suspense is manufactured. The line functions as a gentle corrective - and a critique of a political culture that confuses unity on camera with unity in fact.
His chosen detail - "ballot after ballot" - evokes a kind of messy legitimacy: not pretty, not efficient, but undeniably real. It conjures smoke-filled rooms without saying "smoke-filled rooms", letting the listener supply the nostalgia or dread. Beschloss is also, subtly, rehabilitating a form of intra-party conflict that contemporary politics tries to outsource or sanitize. Multiple ballots signal division, but they also signal process: factions have to count noses, trade promises, and face the consequences of stalemate.
Context matters here. As a historian of the presidency speaking into an era of hyper-managed political theater, Beschloss is reminding audiences that what looks like chaos can be the mechanism of compromise. He's not advocating for backroom dealing so much as warning that our current system has traded deliberation for choreography. When conventions "did business", outcomes were contingent and delegates mattered; now, the suspense is manufactured. The line functions as a gentle corrective - and a critique of a political culture that confuses unity on camera with unity in fact.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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