I agree that the dems may suffer once again at the hands of the vicious attacks the republicans seem to have no ethical problem with making, their lies and deceit know no limits.

However, I don't think slinging mud will help...but staying silent and just praising them won't either. Obama and Biden, in every single speech they made from now until November, need to have a few lines about how they respect their opponents and will not stoop to the tactics of denigrating them as individuals, and state that the American people deserve a better conversation than that, and that America is better than that...just keep hammering away at how low and pathetic the republican strategy is and it will help win over a lot of independents. Independents by definition are usually the group most turned off by that bullshit mudslinging.

release the Hillary!

If the Democrats can't pull off a little righteous anger over where the country has gone in the last eight years, then they don't deserve to win. I'm mad as hell and somewhat terrified that our country is sliding over the edge into an Orwellian abyss. Aren't Biden and Obama the slightest bit upset? They need to quit playing a part that they think appeals to some imaginary "American people" and show some honest passion. Bush and Company are basically murdering criminals and McCain is not really offering any alternative. Republican platitudes are vicious; Democratic platitudes are just mealy-mouthed. I've had it with this pretense that Republicans are anything other than they have shown themselves to be. I mean they've shown it over eight years. It's right there in black and white.

From Obama's acceptance speech last week:

"If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have."

They don't hit this temperament point hard enough, but they have slowly begun to include it on a more regular basis.

Unfortunately, we only have John McCain on tape making ridiculous claims about the economy and his consistency with Bush. We don't have him really losing his temper. You could argue that the "follow bin Laden to the gates of hell" nonsense and the tasteless jokes about Iran would be effective, but they might just miss the mark.

Obama received no poll bounce after his convention, just as I predicted. That's a really bad sign. Why do the dems always try to play nice? How many elections do we have to lose? Obama should be ahead in the polls by double digits, if he actually knew how to run a campaign. This Sarah Palin pick is a golden oppurtunity they are letting slip through their fingers. They should be hammering how inexperienced she is. How it reflects poorly on McCain's judgement. They aren't doing anything, which makes me sick. If Obama loses, it's because he deserves too. Only an absolute moron could lose to the repugs in this elections.

Sorry to worry about fringe issues

Who will control David Addington in a McSarah administration?

-- ondelette

I hope you understand that, speaking for myself, defeating the Sarah Palin facade is a step in destroying any possibility that David Addington will see a McSarah administration. Right now, on this day, there should be a torrent of talk about Sarah Palin in order to smash the facade before it hardens.

Glenn: Only in a shooting war and in the kid's game "king of the hill" is it beneficial to occupy the high ground. In a political battle, one must avoid the high ground (the mind) and dwell in the low (the gut). Machiavelli urges the wise prince to keep a good dose of fear in his satchel. Aristotle reminded us that without moving the emotions of people you cannot win. That is why an appeal to blind nationalism is so effective as we just saw with the hugely favorable reaction by the Russian people to the Russian invasion of Georgia.

Maybe the Democrats will never understand this. Last night, listening to lightweight Palin criticizing Obama made me cringe. I expected her opponents would come out swinging today. What did we get?

Joe Biden tells us Palin made a good, effective speech that impressed him however she omitted mentioning some stuff.

This is the same Joe Biden who told his convention audience what a fine man McCain is. I wondered why I wanted them to win when they were praising the virtues of their opponents.

The Republicans tell the people that they are running against two slime balls. The Democrats tell the people they are running against two admirable people who may have omitted addressing some issues. Who wants to vote for slime balls?

The Democrats must learn they cannot win the election appealing only to the peoples mind. Gore and Kerry were too fine to get muddy. They lost. I'm afraid Obama and Joe Biden want to be seen as a nice guys. What did Yogi Berra say about nice guys? (Or was it Red Auerbach)

"It is quite possible that enough Americans this year are so alienated from the GOP brand that they are now largely immune from these kinds of substance-free personality assaults, that they won't be blinded by cultural tribalism and personality appeals into handing this political party an additional four years of power. But these tactics have worked in the past because cultural tribalism, resentment and alienation are very powerful influences in how people think -- in general, they're more powerful than rational assessments of policy positions or even one's self-interest -- and the Democrats' gamble that they can win this election without really engaging those issues, while allowing that war to be waged in a one-sided manner yet again, is a true gamble."

These things seem cyclical. I'm inclined to believe that, like the abusive husband, the Republicans have worn out their welcome and what once seemed charming to the naive American public, now seems like pathetic and vacilating and cynical manipulation. This happened once before with the Reagan revolution that you mentioned, and after twelve scandal and war ridden years, the old tactics stopped working and Americans chose something less abysmal.

I think in this age of youtube and internet, that the Republicans are more easily exposed as pandering tapdancers than before. Last night's Daily Show was a virtual feast of Republican hypocrisy, and Stewart even bitch-slapped guest Newt Gingrich, who looked like a doddering fool without the aid of pliant Fox personalities and a teleprompter.

I could be wrong, but I think last night will be known as the Republican apex for a few years to come. Everything's going to be downhill for a while.

But in four years, I shudder to think. They may in fact know they're sunk, and this may be the first wave of rebranding themselves as the opposition party. there are shades here of the early nineties, Contract with America days.