"Physically damaged, mentally tough and emotionally open, he is often compelling and effective."

I know you're just trying to find one good thing to say to make it seem not a one-sided article, or maybe you actually believe this, but I disagree entirely.

Michael Beschloss last night said it was "by far the best speech John McCain ever gave" and I have to agree. It was a dismal, halting, boring failure but it was slightly less weird than other dismal halting boring failures John McCain has delivered every other time I've heard him speak.

Maybe I didn't see him years ago enough, or don't remember, but everything I've seen him say for several years now has been just awful. Let's face it, he's simply one of the worst speakers on the political scene, certainly the worst I've ever seen running for President.

His myth is what was "compelling" for so long, certainly not anything about his speaking style when telling it. It was told by others so often, for one thing, he didn't really have to. The thing about being known for myths though is that when people get to know who you really are, it's a big letdown. It has to be. Just being seen as a normal man would be a let down for McCain. Being seen as a pandering, stuttering, dishonest liar makes it much worse.

I understand every word.

You can't imagine, before you see it, that anything could live up to the reputation. Well, because let's face it, most things don't. I read in the guidebook on the train going there that "Venice is like some insane Baroque dream" and I thought "yeah, yeah." Then I arrived, and that first hit, standing at the Grand Canal where you get on a boat to go into the rest, I thought good god. Venice is like some insane Baroque dream. Why didn't anyone tell me? It just gets better after that.

It's kind of sad, too, I think. It's sinking, for one thing. The tourists, which have ruined entire cities for me, Rome for example, and I mean I've lived there, not just visited, somehow in Venice you don't care.

I think a lot of it is just such a bustling place but no sound of cars. Or trucks. Bustling with swishing noises instead of engine sounds. I don't know. You understand that a little though when you leave, and the sound returns.

In Rome, by the way, when I mentioned Venice to my Italian friends I then said "But I imagine it's just a touristy cliche to you?" and they said nope. They felt the same way about it that I did.

One last thought: One of my favorite lines ever, from an old Woody Allen standup CD I have: "I met this woman in Italy, but she left me. Last I heard she went and became a streetwalker in Venice. And drowned."

So did I.

Q) What's the difference between Bush/Cheney and McCain/Palin?

A) Lipstick.

Bill O'Rielly, Rush Limbaugh, and all the rest of the tabloid right wing media:

Barack Obama can't win because he's black.
Barack Obama can't win because he has a funny name.
Barack Obama can't win because people think he's a muslim, partly because of the funny name.
Barack Obama can't win because a preacher at his church said scary things.

Salon.com:

Add "It's a concern that...." to all of the above statements.

Edit lightly, print and serve.

Voila! "Alternative" media, using a right wing stock.

Thank god we have alternatives. Adding "I'm concerned that" to what the right says changes it completely!

Read this.

All of it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/8/133841/3210/755/591133

PS you're not helping, and no one cares.

"As the poll numbers pour in, the evidence is growing that the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin was the winner of the dueling convention/V.P. choice fortnight. ...so far the GOP has gained in five of the six national surveys from its position prior to the two conventions..."

I'm afraid you left out the most important mitigating factor which contradicts what that first paragraph says, and it's this:

Convention bounces evaporate. They pretty much always do.

So McCain's will, just as Obama's did. This will leave things back where they started, with Obama leading by 3 to 6 points, more or less like he has for months.

So the idea that "McCain was the winner", well, yeah at this particular point, on this day, a few days after his convention, sure. A few days after Obama's showpiece, he was the winner. And his bounce took him higher than McCain's has so far. Which makes sense because Obama was already ahead. So that means again that when it all evaporates, we're back to that.

Simpler than all that other stuff.

Next week should give the first chance anyone can talk about "winners" of the convention period, this is too soon after one of them to do that yet.

Sorry, somehow I skipped over your first in the list on first reading. Never mind.

I do think that's the one that sort of makes the others almost meaningless. However, my mistake

I shall now play "my mistake..."

her speech was "a home run" because she was nasty, snarky, and sarcastic and didn't sound as inept and awkward as John McCain does whenever he opens his mouth.

Thanks for a voice of sanity, and all you've really done is list the most obvious reasons that she has no reason being anywhere near the Presidency of this country, unless we've suddenly become a theocracy.

Sometimes I wonder.