Lest we forget (at our great peril): while all this is going on at home, Dick Cheney is over in Georgia doing his best to stir up conflict with Russia. If he succeeds in creating an international crisis, it could help the Old Warhorse McCain in the eyes of frightened Americans -- though unquestionably Obama, whose response to every threat isn't to bomb someone, would be the better man to confront the crisis.

Someone needs to put a muzzle on Cheney, or at least "bear witness out loud" to what he's doing.

What's so heroic about being shot down while bombing a "heavily populated" (McCain's own words) area of Hanoi? They had to shoot him down, he was bombing civilians! What would you or you or you doing if it was your home and your children that were being bombed and the bomber fell into a lake where you could get your hands on him or her? John McCain served his country in a war of near-genocide against the Vietnamese, who never attacked our country...well, I could go on. I just think we need to do it carefully, but do it at all costs: bust this Hero-POW miracle-bubble that McCain has enveloped himself within.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-jrk2e0MMs

Richard M. Nixon is smiling in his grave.

It looks to me like whoever said that the whole Palin pick was just a Rovian trick to steal the wind from Obama's sails was right. Now she can withdraw her name for family reasons, and they can get on with the real nominee.

It's also possible that after the spectacle of the Democratic convention, the mainstream contenders for McCain's veep job took their hats out of the ring.

It's obvious, it's been said a million times, but it bears repeating: there's a special place in Hell for those who choose life for themselves and their own but choose death for the children of others by supporting wars of choice.

Did you read it recently? Ever? It's about adultery in 17th-Century Boston. It's not about lousy parenting and rank hypocrisy in 2008.

I don't see how the Rebumblicans are going to use Gustav to their advantage if disaster should truly strike. If the storm veers away or weakens then they can boast about how ready they were...this time. That's pretty weak, but it's something. If the levees do fail...again, on the other hand, then what the F have they been doing the last three years? If the pumps that were installed by a Jeb Bush-connected company on a no-bid contract fail, how are they going to make lemonade out of that? Of course, we all hope Gustav wreaks no damage and BushCo and McCain are left with the first option. I just don't see how anyone can imagine this storm is going to do them much good, or that it doesn't have the potential to do them a great deal of well-deserved harm.

The RNC knows their convention is going to look like a quilting bee compared to the emotional and rhetorical firewords (I.P.) of the Dem convention. So, Gustav is really a gift: they can get embarrassing Bush and Cheney out of there and say they're "paring down" the convention to explain why it isn't very exciting, which it was never going to be in the first place.

When it was their job to protect the citizens of N.O., they screwed it up royally -- now, three years of taking crap for their bumbling, they're going to make it part of their political theater.

Having Bush and Cheney (and maybe even McCain??) down there only adds to the complexity of confronting the emergency because of the enormous security operation that has to accompany them. All the citizens of the area need is professional disaster relief and assistance, not bloviating politicians. This is pure political theater and does nothing to mitigate the Bush's administration's reputation for rank incompetence.

I haven't read all the posts, so maybe I'm not the first. But what about the possibility that, following the speeches leading up to and including Obama's stemwinder on Thursday night, McCain's campaign received calls from the leading contenders (you know, the ones with at least a little credibility) asking to be removed from the list of those under consideration for Republican VP. Kind of like a group of clairvoyants canceling their tickets on the Titanic?

The best way to show scorn, derision and contempt for the RNC and everything the Republican party represents, is to ignore their convention altogether.

No, we're not chewing over Obama's speech. It was wonderful, it was inspirational and we want him as our president. What else is there to say? If our attention turns to McCain and his VP pick it's because we got burned in '04, we want to know who Obama is up against. What's mysterious about that?

Who gives a cr@p about "making history"? Obama could cut off his right hand and be the first one-handed candidate in history. This was a bad pick for McCain, a good pick for the rest of us. Unless, of course, you want to insult Hillary Clinton by positing that her supporters only wanted her because she doesn't have a dick? That any woman will do?

Sure, it's great to have foreign policy experience. But Palin also lacks experience in other areas. A United States senator quickly learns a lot about how things are accomplished on the Big Stage of Washington, D.C. The give and take, the advise and consent, the arm-twisting and the coalition-building. Mayor of a small town? We should have a look at that town's charter to see exactly what being mayor means there. Governor of Alaska, a state with a tiny population and an economy driven mostly by oil revenue? Again, let's look at what kind of "experience" an Alaskan governor would acquire in a couple of years that would qualify her to even breathe the air in Washington, D.C.