DNC Day 3

The Democratic Convention has been a kinder, gentler affair. I don't think that they really needed the extra police officers and hookers that were sent up from Colorado Springs. The protesters have been pretty well behaved, and the rowdiest time seems to be had by the crowd surrounding MSNBC's panel and coverage team. It's ironic that a moderate to liberal news show has resurrected the career of Pat Buchanan, but he seems to thrive in the atmosphere.

The big speeches were from Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, and they performed well enough. Mr. Clinton showed that he is a good politician and campaigner, the elder statesman passing the baton smoothly to the next generation. He didn't try to match or outdo Hillary's speech, kept it fairly loose and informal.

I've always like Joe Biden, and I'm looking forward to the Presidential debates. I don't think that we'll have any knock down, drag through the mud times, like back when Gore Vidal trashed William Buckley so badly that Buckley stormed off the set and pouted in his dressing room, but one can only hope... I've heard it said that Joe knows John McCain so well that he knows what buttons to push, and might get John to lose his temper and ruin the carefully crafted image his handlers have been projecting.

Next week it will be the Republicans turn, but I just don't see them generating as much excitement or hope for the future. The albatross of the Bush and Cheney administration's policies, the failure of the radical right to improve our economy or to be right about anything, is too much of a burden for John McCain to bear. That he is using Carl Rove and creating negative ads despite saying that he would not produce them says how spineless and easily corrupted he has become. I think that Abraham Lincoln would be very disappointed to see what his Party has become.