Does He, or Doesn't He? He Does.

"Another vice president who's a hunter. What could go wrong there?" - Jay Leno.

Long Story Short: "Pssst! Wanna buy a bridge?"

The Republicans played a game of "Who can lie more about the Democrats" at their convention all week. Lie after lie after easily-disprovable lie. If the Dems had uttered a single fib about the Republicans in Denver you can bet that their words would have been played and replayed on Fox News until their hard drives slagged. If you haven't noticed, they've been kinda quiet in that regard.

Why do Republicans allow so much lying by the heads of their party? Because they're not lying to Republicans. They're lying to everyone else. When George Bush lied about being a fiscal conservative or a uniter (not a divider) he was lying to YOU, not the people that voted for him. When told that FEMA was doing a heckuva job members of the GOP just looked at one another, winked, and went back to figuring out what country they'll invade next. Once you understand that is when you understand exactly where you stand.

As for Thursday's speech in general, McCain offered nothing but code words, disingenuousness and meaningless sentimentalism. The only surprise was letting slip the idea that global warming is real, something his corporate masters won't be too happy about.

The audience was more entertaining as large sections were populated by a boistrous, manly glee club whose job was obviously to instantly leap into a chant of "USA! USA! USA!" on cue, whether the moment demanded it or not. This wasn't unbridled enthusiasm, this was someone's job. To break up the monotony they'd attempt a half-hearted "H-E-R-O, H-E-R-O" but it didn't sound like their hearts were in it. Too silly.

After wandering from topic to topic for forty minutes McCain abruptly began exhorting the crowd to stand up, rise up. It was a horribly contrived attempt to make his speech seem as though it had reached an emotional azimuth but the crowd's half-hearted reaction was less one of rapture than of relief at having endured.

Phony. Contrived. Desperate.

=mike=