republicans second night

A good start but (like the Democrats if not more so) a little unfocused. Bush used his time well and disappeared as intended. Fred Thompson very strong, where was he when he was running? Lieberman effective but for a narrow category of voters, most people who agree with him would vote for McCain anyway. He looked a little sad, a fish out of water, he should probably become an R already and give up the fence-sitting. Maybe the D's will decide for him.

Amazing the way the Palin story has taken over the convention. What is odd about this is that McCain was actually doing pretty well one-on-one: the enthusiasm for her (which I share) is a good thing but now risks drowning his message entirely. My guess is that she, and he, will come through with some pretty strong speeches and knock the thing back in the 3-to-5 point range which is basically where it was before all this started. But they will have to do something more than talk down Obama: give people a coherent reformist vision, including domestic as well as foreign policy issues, that stands as an alternative to Obama's rhetoric and casts the election as a choice of talk vs. action which is the party's best, if not only, story line at this point.