John McCain

John McCain's mostly boring, "bi-partisan", "centrist" acceptance speech was certainly at odds with the rest of the RNC's speakers. That's been noted. And clearly it will set the agenda for what will come out of *his* mouth from now until the election. Nothing but good old faux-populist rhetoric and unity and changing washington 'together'. While all this is silly and easy to see for the sham it is, there's another issue at the core of that speech and of the McCain campaign that seems to have escaped many.

John McCain's new credo is 'country first' and his speechwriter used McCain's time in a POW camp to frame the discussion, to give credibility to the idea that John McCain is a patriot first, who first learned to truly love his country when in his prison cell, doing his duty.

As he said, when he left for Vietnam - and right up until he was shot down - he was arrogant and selfish. In prison he learned humilty and patroitism and from the moment he was set free he has always put 1) himself second and 2) country first.

Then why did he cheat on his wife upon his return home? And why did he divorce her?
After she was in a debilitating car accident, after he promised before his God and community that only death would do them part? She didn't ditch him when he was imprisoned for 5 years. So why did he drop her for a beauty queen, heiress to a fortune?

Mind you, I'm not a saint and I can't say what I would have done in his shoes. But I know what he wants me to believe about him, and I know better than to believe it.

Because he is completely full of it.

GOP self-contradictions on ALL the Palin mess

Live by the 'Enquirer', die by it?

The sleazy National Enquirer, which exposed the sleazy John Edwards, is reporting that Palin cheated on her husband with his business partner. With the amount of rage conservatives hit the "mainstream media" with for not following up on the Edwards affair, I wonder what the response will be to this news.

Palin's speech

Well, what can I say. I thought the speech was awful. It was poorly delivered. She was too clearly 'reading'. She didn't seem to 'feel' or 'identify with' the lines. She came of as disingenuous. Then there is the issue of mockery and condescension. When will republicans learn that it is just this sort of talk that is exactly what people are tired of in politics, and a major part of why Obama has been so embraced; He doesn't insult and mock people.

Perhaps it was the incredibly insulting Giuliani speech that preceeded Palin's that set the tone, but I came out of those two speeches feeling like I needed a bath.

If I'm right, this speech went over like a lead balloon outside of the convention room floor. I look forward to seeing polls on this. And I feel quite certain we'll see just the same sort of aggressive condescension from McCain. So if I'm right there's going to be little to no bounce off this. In fact, I'll predict a drop. McCain will never get over 45%.