Some quick links as a little pre-convention warm-up.
1.) A Balloon Juice regular the other day:
but mccain didn’t have any kitchen tables when he was a POW!
John McCain last night on Leno:
“I didn’t have a house. I didn’t have a kitchen table. I didn’t have a table.”
Kinda funny watching McCain turn his service into a running joke.
2.) The most depressing thing you will read all week:
So, to the extent that I am paying attention to the convention, my understanding is that some are worried that the Democrats haven’t really come out swinging against their opponents or offering big, bold themes…
4) If they did come out swinging, the media would no doubt make them look bad for it. All of the Serious Talking Heads would say “Well, I was disappointed with the negativity here. Compare that with the dignity of John McCain, who plays down the fact that he was a POW for five and a half years.” Yes, yes, there is indeed such a thing as too much negativity, but any amount of negativity would get the wrong play from the press. So, at the risk of sounding like an apologist for the Dems, I have to admit that their ability to put on a coherent and aggressive media event is compromised by the fact that everything passes through the filter of the same media that treats torture as a debatable subject. (Did you know that John McCain was tortured when he spent five and a half years as a POW? It’s true! He doesn’t play it up much, but it actually happened.)
3.) This quote from a piece on the Pumas had me giggling:
A few minutes later, a parade of about a dozen women wearing buttons with pumas (the actual felines) marched past holding “Elected, not selected” signs on their way to find Chris Matthews. A woman sitting next to me on a park bench leapt up at their approach. “Oh, it’s the Hillary dumbasses,” she said. “I’d best get out of here before I get to fighting.”
But the dumbasses were already primed for a fight.
That about sums it up.
4.) John McCain is so old that on Wednesday, when former Bill Clinton speaks, it is important to realize that Clinton spent 8 years as President, 8 years as a former President, and is STILL ten years younger than McCain.
5.) We have taken steps to fix our server problems. If they do not end, I guess a new host is in line.